About

About (me) Derek Dodds:

My Past: A Winding Path & Wonderlust

It’s interesting to write about one’s life. What do I pick and what do I leave out for you to read about? What do I want you (the reader) to know about me? The short answer is that life is mysterious, and I have good days and bad days. I have struggled with addiction and significant loss. I am a work in progress. At my core, I love surfing, animals, and sacred plants.

I felt a strong pull to the East and traveled to Asia to find myself in my 20s. I was lost and running from my childhood trauma. I could feel the pull of something sacred, but I could not fully embrace it because of the layers of pain from my youth.

I studied Buddhism, Yoga, and Vedanta in India and Nepal—I spent time as a part-time monk at the Kopan Tibetan Buddhist Monastery before venturing into the mountains for a solo journey through the Anapurnas. It was on that first trek at the top of the sacred mountain that I experienced something sacred. It is hard to explain, but I got a glimpse, an inking, a knudge from spirit that whispered—keep searching, keep going, be patient.

At Kopan Monastery, I picked up a book called The Awakening of Intelligence by Jiddu Krishnamurti that changed the direction of my life for the foreseeable future. Krishnamuti’s teachings were exactly what I needed then. I would eventually spend sixteen years of my life dedicated to his work. My close relationship with K’s work was an important stepping stone in my spiritual journey. This was a beautiful chapter of my life, and I am deeply grateful for the experience.

Love is anonymous. I may love my wife and my children, but the quality of that love is anonymous. Like the sunset, love is neither yours nor mine.

~ J. Krishnmaurti

The Turning Point: Mother’s Death & Sacred Plants

My mother died in 2015, and my entire world fell apart. I left the Krishnamurti Foundation the same week she died and spun recklessly toward an uncertain future and path. I started therapy—for the first time—and began the journey of healing my childhood traumas and understanding the web of pain that had entangled my heart. I had leaned on alcohol for over 25 years to mask my pain, and ayahuasca was about to help me sever that dependence.

I had been working with Planet Medicine on and off since my first trip to Bali in the 1990s, but it was haphazard, sporadic, and rarely ceremonial. The medicines always found me, usually while traveling through some exotic location. I seldom searched for them, and my relationship with them—and everything—was shallow. My heart longed for a deep connection, but I couldn’t see a path through the forest of my own pain.

Ayahuasca: My Greatest Teacher

In 2009, I drank ayahuasca for the first time in a small village near Machu Picchu while on a surf trip to Peru. However, I wasn’t ready to continue my relationship with ayahuasca at that time. It took me twelve years to return to her side—preparing myself psychologically and spiritually for her magic.

Trip to the Amazon Rainforest with Noke Koi: 2023

This time around, the spirit of ayahuasca took me under her wing, and now I have a close relationship with her. I traveled to the Amazon in 2023 and deepened my connection to these medicines as part of my journey. Being in the Amazon, among the plants and animals, was medicinal. Studying and living alongside the Noke Koi rooted my love for Indigenous teachings and helped me discover parts of myself that had been dormant for years—what better place to grow new spiritual roots than in the Amazon Rainforest?

I went to Egypt on a spiritual pilgrimage in 2022 and discovered the Emerald Podcast from a friend on the trip. In 2023, I signed up for the Mythic Body one-year course, and it changed my life. I just finished my second year of the course, and my roots to the sacred are stronger based on the practices of devotion—a theme that I was allergic to a few years ago.

Giving Back: Exploring My Enthusiasm

In 2024, a group of us who went on that first trip formed a non-profit to help protect the Amazon Rainforest and gather resources to assist the Noke Koi in creating a sustainable life—building homes, providing wells for drinking water, and installing solar panels to improve daily life. You can find more information on the non-profit called Vozes Da Floresta here.

I wrote a book introducing Ayahuasca for Beginners to help people find their way to her magic. I also published a book on Hape Sacred Tabocco & Sacred Geometry—subjects that exploded in my life as I continued to work with plant medicines. This year, I launched a podcast that explores plant medicine and other spiritual modalities.

My professional journey has been a random path from the very beginning. I have a Master’s in Public Policy and Administration, specializing in Behavioral Development, which I never used professionally. During my nomadic years, I was an adjunct professor at the European School of Management in Spain and Universidad del Noreste in Mexico. After my sixteen-year tour at the Krishnamurti Foundation of America, I co-founded a literary rights agency with my lovely partner. A few years later, I decided to explore product and brand development, and I’ve been doing so ever since. But my true love is for the sacred plants.

I live in Ojai, California, with my partner Mar and an adorable cat named Millie.

Thanks for reading—please reach out if I can help you in any way.

~ Derek

Ojai, California | 9/2025