Table of Contents
The location: Conway Hall
We had the honour to take part in Breaking Convention this year. The event took place on 4/20, the international cannabis celebration day, on a surprisingly sunny Saturday in the centre of London. Not only the day of the event has been particularly well chosen, but the location too. Conway Hall is owned by the charity Conway Hall Etical Society and aims to curate, support and facilitate people and ideas that make ethics matter in the world.
After finishing installing our booth, the 3rd coffee of the morning and some conversations, the conference started with an opening talk from the Breaking Convention committee, including one of the directors Nikki Wyrd, who I found to be a super warm inspiring and humble person.
The Talks
I sadly couldn’t attend many talks as I had to hold the fort at our booth. But the ones I went totally caught my attention!
The Seed Sistas
Starting with The Seed Sistas with knowledgeable and entertaining performances. They share their knowledge about plants through sketches and talks. Their mission is: “to open peoples’ eyes and minds to the magic and medicine of the hedgerow to see nature through new eyes. Nourished, wild and free.”
I asked them later how they got the idea of creating a show around herbs and plants: “We wanted people to remember”.
Iryana Mosina
I couldn’t miss a talk called “recreational use of psychedelics at festivals“, because I feel deeply connected to those topics. I related so much to a lot Iryana said. She did a study, covering the following main topics:
- What is the motivation for the choice of a music festival as a setting to explore the effects of psychedelics?
- What kinds of experiences does the festival setting in combination with psychedelics induce and do these influence people’s lives?
- What can we learn from these experiences?
In the online survey used for the study, 212 volunteers answered different questions for example what substances they consume at festivals:
You can read the full study here.
My experience and takeaways
This was personally my first psychedelic conference ever. I came super curious, excited and without expectations. It was so nice seeing so many people moved by psychedelics, that are already dedicating their lives to it or would like to be more involved in the field.
My overall experience of Breaking Convention was great:
- The venue was beautiful, well-prepared and big enough to fit everyone. The only minus was that the room for people to exhibit their booths was at the back and a bit hidden
- The talks where insightful and entertaining
- The organisers were helpful and came often to check on us. I would recommend that other businesses and organisations in the field have a booth there.
It was insightful to understand who are the people going to those conferences and what are they looking for. We met:
- doctors, nurses and therapists willing to work with psychedelics
- people studying psychedelic therapy or coaching
- organizers of festivals, looking for harm reduction teams
- curious psychonauts
- people looking for support to integrate psychedelic experiences
- people from different Psychedelic Societies
The question that came the most often was “How to become a coach/therapist specialised in psychedelics?“. We will therefore create a blogpost around that topic, stay tuned!
The After Party
I can’t talk about Breaking Convention without mentioning the after-party! I personally don’t know a better way to move around energies – and take a break from a long day – than dancing. The place was amazing, the line-up carefully curated with eclectic sets going from UK Garage to Bass, to Techno and even Psy Trance. I particularly liked the set from Om Dream, Limi and Ruari. We also had amazing visuals by Innerstrings and Bathuvian Cyber Alchemist. It was a sweet way to end this amazing day.
Conclusion
This in-between-years edition from Breaking Convention was only a snippet of the full potential and reach of the biennial multidisciplinary conference. And it already convinced me! I am super looking forward to the 2025 full edition.
