In this episode of Onaya's In & Through podcast, host Dr Simon Ruffell is joined by Matthew "The Spider" Morton: professional bare-knuckle boxer and student of naturopathic medicine, and currently taking part in Onaya's Psychedelic Mentorship Training programme. Matthew is also part of Athletes Journey Home, working alongside Ian McCall to support fighters and athletes recovering from traumatic brain injury and addiction through plant medicine.
The story Matthew shares here begins in childhood sexual abuse and, by twelve years old, heroin and crack addiction. He describes a life built on chaos until he found bare-knuckle boxing: what he calls the purest, most primal form of the sport, and the discipline that began to provide a home for the impulsive nature he'd never previously been able to channel. Now three and a half years sober and off the psychiatric medications he was once prescribed by the handful, Matthew credits microdosing psilocybin, structure, and his devotion to his Christian faith with rebuilding his mental, physical, and spiritual health from the ground up.
Simon and Matthew trace the arc of this journey in detail: the random Instagram message that led to a flight from Newcastle to a retreat in Colombia; his first ayahuasca ceremony with Athletes Journey Home; and the shift in perspective he brought back with him, from a harder-edged, conditional view of love and loyalty toward something closer to presence and acceptance. They discuss why he believes athletes in particular, whose careers leave a legacy of concussions, impulse dysregulation, and unprocessed trauma, stand to benefit from natural medicines and sacred plant medicines, and how microdosing has changed his relationship to his own body and instincts inside the ring.
The conversation also moves into Matthew's current chapter: training in naturopathic medicine, using his own psilocybin practice as a year-long case study, and preparing to return to Colombia to volunteer and begin integration coaching at the retreat that changed his life. Throughout, Matthew is candid about skepticism from old friends, the pull of self-sabotage, and what it actually takes to keep choosing a different "frequency" to live your life to.
Links
Matthew Morton: BKB Fighter Profile
Athlete’s Journey Home
IG: @matthewmorton
