If you had told me a few years ago when I was struggling with a cannabis dependency that the route out of my suffering at the time would involve an Israeli-American metaphysician and researcher called Erez Batat, I would’ve thought that perhaps you were talking about a psychologist, or a psychiatrist. 

Indeed, Erez is an incredibly skilful psychologist and a psychiatrist (as far as I'm concerned), but it’s all the other dimensions of his being that make him and his Consciously High Self-Help  Programme so special.

Here are just a few core elements  to Erez Batat: kabbalah student and teacher, translator, writer, Consciousness Research Institute founder and Independent Researcher. But also someone with a background in business, having worked as a Development and Strategy director at Hewlett Packard in Palo Alto, California - a former colleague describing him as “able to parachute into any situation, assess it and take action, as appropriate”.

If you had told me that Erez would be the answer to my cannabis koan (how to continue using the substance in a non-dependent way) I would have thought you were tripping on something, but this has certainly been the case.

In the interview you’re about to hear, we’ll be focusing mainly on his development and creation of the Consciously High Programme which I and many others have benefited from since its inception.  We will also explore his own journey and relationship with cannabis and how it has fed into his spiritual and personal development.

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4:50 Erez's initially skeptical and mistrustful attitude towards cannabis culture

8:00 How cannabis has expanded Erez’s consciousness

16:00 Breaking one’s word - the beginning of dependency

20:00 The Inner child and Inner adult with regard to cannabis: Desire vs. Will

26:00 How personality styles affect our cannabis use

29:00 Contracting between the Inner Child & Adult: strengthening our Word

33:00 The Four Phases of Dependency: 1) unconsciously dysfunctional, 2) consciously, dysfunctional, 3) consciously functional, 4) unconsciously functional

36:00 The importance of spirituality and connecting with our deep (value-driven) desires, expressed via Will, when establishing a good relationship with cannabis

40:00 The best tools and strategies for fighting craving

42:00 Erez’s love-hate relationship with meditation

44:00 The power of ping-pong & The Law of One

48:00 Getting the best out of meditation and other practices by paying heed to our personality's “Operating Systems” (the Enneagram)

50:00 Harnessing the active and passive elements of Fire and Water for personal growth

52:00 Some words of reassurance and hope for those currently struggling with cannabis