Josh TrentIdentity Transformation Architect and award winning Host of the Wellness + Wisdom Podcast—a decade-strong show with over 750 episodes and 15M downloads.

Spiritual bypassing? #spiritualjourney #spiritualawakening #podcast

30 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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In this podcast excerpt, Speaker A and host Josh Trent discuss the phenomenon of spiritual bypassing, describing it as a form of self‑satiation where individuals chase intense, fleeting experiences—such as multiple ayahuasca ceremonies, plant‑medicine trips, breathwork, mushroom sessions, and exotic retreats—in an attempt to feel "spiritual" or healed. They share personal anecdotes: a man who completed 50 ayahuasca ceremonies yet felt empty, and Trent’s own pattern of attending peak‑experience events with a victim mindset. Both critique the consumption‑driven approach, noting it often leads to depression and a sense of vacancy. The conversation shifts to a contrasting approach: cutting out the constant search for external highs and instead cultivating a daily, sustainable practice that fosters consistent well‑being, suggesting that true growth comes from everyday effort rather than episodic peaks.

I met a guy who had done 50 ayahuasca ceremonies and there was nothing to him. He was empty. He was a spiritually vacant man. And his path was to then walk through a threshold of 2 years of depression to recover himself. It's spiritual masturbation, man. It's not actually self-growth, it's self-satiation. It's like, what do I need to do to feel certain things? It's like, it's just a constant pursuit of this. Trips around the world, Bali, Tulum, all this stuff, it's just feeding, it's consumption.
I would go to peak experiences, plant medicines, breathwork, mushrooms, weekend workshops, and I was just constantly striving. But I went to those experiences with like a very victimy energy.
Totally. Give me the thing I need to be better. Yeah, yeah. Instead of I need to do the thing I need to be better on a Tuesday morning, I've cut away all the things I thought I needed to feel good, and I've built a world where I feel good every day.