On the Wisdom of Psychosis with Anneke Sips

Anneke Sips and I were supposed to record this episode together in India. But when her Emirates flight was cancelled, our plans unravelled, the internet failed us twice, and we finally ended up recording from opposite sides of the world, me in Bali, Anneke in the Netherlands, hoping the connection would hold. It did. And what followed was one of the most honest and expansive conversations I’ve had on this podcast.

Anneke is a psychiatric nurse, yoga therapist, and author of a brand new book, The Wisdom of Psychosis, seven years in the making and just now landing in the world. In it, she bridges Western psychiatry and yogic philosophy to offer a completely different way of understanding psychotic experiences, not as something broken, but as something deeply human.

In our discussion, you’ll hear Anneke go out on a limb and be critical of both the psychiatric system she was trained in and the spiritual communities she belongs to. She shares her own psychotic-like experiences with remarkable vulnerability, and what she says about the relationship between connection and healing will stay with you.

In this episode, we explore:

• A spectrum of experience from ordinary to extraordinary – normal altered states, everyday psychotic-like experiences, spiritual emergence, spiritual emergency, trauma-induced altered states, psychotic episodes and mystical experiences
• Why trying to convince someone their beliefs aren’t real destroys the therapeutic relationship, and what to do instead
• Anneke’s own extraordinary experiences, shared with disarming honesty
• The difference between informed consent and engineered consent in psychiatric care
• Where medication fits, and why ‘you’ll need this forever’ deserves questioning

If you stay to the end, you’ll hear Anneke’s message to anyone who has experienced psychosis, and her words about resonance as both gift and challenge are quietly powerful.

Anneke Sips is a community psychiatric nurse, trauma therapist and yoga therapist based in the Netherlands. With over 25 years of experience in psychiatry, she specialises in childhood and religious trauma and in supporting people through extraordinary and spiritually profound experiences. Anneke founded Network Yoga Therapy in 2010, organised The Yoga Therapy Conference in 2015, and is a founding member of the Global Consortium of Yoga Therapy. Her new book, The Wisdom of Psychosis, is available now.

Connect with Anneke

Join the free 10-day Yoga-informed Therapist Interview series

Access my nervous system regulation playlist

LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS, SPOTIFY + EVERY WHERE YOU FIND GREAT PODCASTS