255. From Psychosis to Purpose with Shane Gregory255. From Psychosis to Purpose with Shane Gregory
The Alcohol ReThink Podcast
Shane Gregory shares his journey from early drug use and psychosis to finding meaning through Chinese medicine and body–mind practices. The conversation looks at how rebuilding the body, embracing creativity and following natural rhythms can support a different relationship with alcohol and other substances.
48:21•27 Jul 2026
From Psychosis to Chinese Medicine: Shane Gregory’s Journey Beyond Addiction
Episode Overview
- Addiction often begins with a powerful first high that people spend years trying to recreate.
- Heavy drug use can create a split between an expanded mind and a depleted body, fuelling ongoing distress.
- Sustainable recovery may require rebuilding the body through nutrition, physical treatments and gentle movement.
- Energetic practices like breath work, qigong, Tai Chi, yoga and creativity can offer natural highs without substances.
- Living in rhythm with nature and the seasons can support emotional balance and reduce the urge to chase extreme states.
“"It's not the drugs. It's us. We're the drugs."”
Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of psychosis, addiction, and the surprising ways people rebuild their lives. This episode follows Shane Gregory, an addiction specialist and Chinese medicine practitioner, as he traces a journey that starts with drugs at 14 and spirals into years of weed, meth, MDMA, and terrifying psychosis. Shane talks frankly about hearing voices, believing he was Jesus and then the devil, and even being told by those voices to peel his own face off.
At one point, he ends up in a psych ward, sitting in front of a psychiatrist while a voice in his head warns him, "You don't want these meds. They're going to ruin your life." Instead of finding relief in the system, he keeps searching for another way to understand what’s happening to him. The turning point comes when heroin temporarily silences the voices, showing him that feeling better is possible but that chasing chemical highs is too dangerous.
From there, Shane throws himself into learning about the human body: personal training, massage, going back to school, and eventually Chinese medicine. A book on Chinese medicine and drug addiction finally clicks for him, explaining why he still felt depressed and why drugs seemed to "work" long after he’d stopped using.
Shane shares his model of body, mind and energy, arguing that addiction tears the body and mind apart and that recovery means rebuilding the body and cultivating practices like breath work, massage, qigong, Tai Chi, creativity and rhythm with nature. "It's not the drugs. It's us. We're the drugs," he says, challenging the idea that substances are the only route to feeling good.
Host Patrick Fox keeps the chat grounded, asking what this all means for men trying to change their relationship with alcohol and how they can find balance without going all-or-nothing. If you’ve ever wondered whether you can feel "fucked" in a good way without booze or drugs, this conversation might spark some new questions for you.
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