Think there’s more to life? That’s your first clue.

I first heard about cannabis breathwork at a lovely summer afternoon party. I had just met a woman who would become a dear friend, and we found a quiet corner and talked for hours. When her husband finally came to get her, it came up almost in passing.

He’d been going to cannabis breathwork classes, and he told me it was as powerful as any psychedelic experience he’d ever had. I was skeptical. But curious.

A few weeks later, my first relationship after my divorce ended. Deep in heartache, I made the space to try the practice. The online class was led by Mar at True Nature Collective, the same facilitator my friend’s husband had been raving about. It was everything he had promised and more. Deep somatic healing led by the breath, amplified by cannabis. I cried and released stored emotion, I gained insight, I connected to my body and breath in a way I never had in my life.

For the next six months, I went twice a week without fail. And from the beginning, I knew there was something deeper to this practice than healing trauma or a broken heart. I had no idea what it was, but I could feel there was more, and I wanted to go to that very depth.

That led me to work with Mar and 5-MeO-DMT in Mexico. Over the two years that followed, I developed a twice-daily breathwork practice (just breath, no cannabis) and a commitment to my own evolution.

It had been a while since I’d done cannabis breathwork, but this summer Mar was teaching and I decided to join. And there it was, the depth I knew existed: non-duality, unity consciousness, bliss — and I was able to move in and out of that depth using my breath.

After years of suspecting there was more, I’d finally found it. And what it showed me was that there is the thinnest of veils between our everyday reality and “everything that is,” and that the breath is the portal.

Not long after, a friend who is a longtime practitioner of Raja Yoga told me that samadhi is the beginning of the journey, not the end. I found this incredibly inspiring, because the end of a treasure hunt is always a mix of delight and a little disappointment. Delight at having found the truth, and disappointment that the mystery is gone.

But on this path to liberation, there’s plenty of mystery left. So, I just keep taking the next step, listening to the people life puts in front of me, and being open to the next unveiling when it comes.

If you have a feeling there’s more to life, listen to it. Go on the treasure hunt! Maybe someone at a summer party will give you a clue that sets you on an incredible adventure.