The Impact Of Healing Journeys With Pardis Mahdavi, PhDThe Impact Of Healing Journeys With Pardis Mahdavi, PhD
I Love Being Sober
Tim Westbrook talks with Dr Pardis Mahdavi about her journey from workaholic academic to healing-focused retreat leader, touching on plant medicine, meditation and transformational travel. The conversation shares how intentional practices and community can support recovery, mental health and a more fulfilling sober life.
1:03:38•1 Jul 2025
From Workaholism to Healing Journeys with Dr Pardis Mahdavi
Episode Overview
- Work can function as an addiction when it’s used to numb pain and is continued despite severe negative consequences.
- Daily meditation, breath work and journalling are core tools that help calm anxiety and create lasting inner change.
- Plant medicine should be approached with clear intention, careful preparation and strong integration support, rather than as a one-off "bucket list" experience.
- Travel to new cultures can disrupt stagnant patterns, create new neural pathways and offer powerful rituals and healing practices.
- Feeling stuck is already a key step, as awareness opens the door to building a personal spiritual toolbox and finding supportive community.
“The greatest thing I can do is heal myself so that I can be a better support for the people around me.”
What drives someone to seek a life that feels genuinely good, rather than just looking good on paper? This conversation between Tim Westbrook and Dr Pardis Mahdavi speaks directly to anyone stuck in workaholism, burnout, or emotional pain while trying to stay sober. You'll hear how Pardis went from being a university dean and president – seemingly "killing it" by outside standards – to a point where she was so depressed and anxious she attempted suicide.
She describes work as her addiction, her way of numbing, and how chasing validation left her family life in pieces and her mental health collapsing. As Tim puts it, "addiction is something that you continue despite negative consequences," and Pardis is brutally honest about how that showed up in her own life.
From there, the episode shifts into how she started to heal: coming off SSRIs, committing to breath work, daily meditation, energy work, and eventually carefully guided plant medicine ceremonies. She explains why community and integration are crucial, and why "you're definitely not doing ayahuasca to have a good time – you're doing it so that you actually have a good life afterwards." Travel plays a huge role too.
As an anthropologist who’s lived and worked across the globe, Pardis talks about transformational travel and why being in new cultures – from India to Egypt to Costa Rica – can act like a reset button for the brain, opening up fresh neural pathways and new ways of seeing yourself. Her retreat work through Entheon blends science, spirituality, ritual and local healing traditions to help people shift out of stagnation and loneliness.
Underneath it all is a hopeful message: if you’re stuck, that means you’re already aware something needs to change, and that’s the start of a new chapter. So what might go into your own "spiritual toolbox" for living a kick-ass sober life?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.