How to Change Your Mind on Netflix: Episodes, release date and Michael Pollan explained

How to Change Your Mind is the new thought-provoking docuseries on Netflix and fans want to know more about the episodes, release date and author Michael Pollan.

If you're a fan of docuseries like Stacey Dooley Inside the Convent or Secrets of the Krays, you'll like this new production.

Join Michael Pollan for a journey to the frontiers of the new psychedelic renaissance as he looks back at its almost-forgotten historical context to explore the potential of these substances to heal and change minds as well as culture.

The show is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Pollan. Directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Alison Ellwood and two-time Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker Lucy Walker, we look at all you need to know about the series...

How to Change Your Mind episodes

There are four episodes of How to Change Your Mind on Netflix. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney and New York Times best-selling author Michael Pollan present this documentary series event in four parts, each focused on a different mind-altering substance:

• Episode 1: LSD - From its 1943 origins to today's microdosing trend, LSD has been expanding minds and changing lives with the help of counterculture gurus - and the CIA
• Episode 2: Psilocybin - Magic mushrooms, long considered sacred by the Indigenous Mazatec in Mexico, become the subject of scientific studies measuring their intense effects.
• Episode 3: MDMA - Championed by both therapists and ravers, ecstasy stands out as the first psychedelic likely to become legalised, thanks to passionate advocates.
• Episode 4: Mescaline - Mescaline, the psychoactive molecule in San Pedro and peyote cacti, a sacred medicine that Native Americans have had to fight for the right to use.

How to Change Your Mind release date

How to Change Your Mind premiered on Netflix on July 12 and you can stream all four episodes of the limited series on the platform now. To have a sneak peek at what the show is about, watch the official trailer below...

What did Michael Pollen say?

Michael Pollan once famously said everything he's learned about food and health can be summed up in seven words, "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." But when it comes to his latest docuseries, Michael opened up about having his own psychedelic experiences captured on camera. He has a "tobacco trip" which is aired in the very first episode. 

Speaking about that journey to Netflix Queue, he said, "The most powerful experience I had was filming the tobacco ceremony at the beginning of the first episode. To realise that the same substance that kills hundreds of thousands of people in a different context could be such a positive — could actually be a medicine — was a real lesson about how important context and intention are. 

He explained, "Tobacco is a sacred plant in many cultures, but we in the West turned it into these evil and addictive cancer sticks. Of course, this was the only “psychedelic trip” we could film because it’s legal, and we weren’t going to film anything that wasn’t. 

"I was just amazed at the speed it came on and the powerful sense I was purging emotion. You felt all these emotions flowing out of you, like weather systems. You feel emptied in the most wonderful way, but it’s also very physical. But for me to see that on screen is a bit cringeworthy. I mean, I can’t believe I did that."

He added, "In a way, a tobacco trip, if we can call it that, is much more physically visible because you’re stamping your feet and your arms are moving wildly. There’s all this involuntary movement, which does not happen on psilocybin or L.S.D. where you can be very physically calm. So I felt like I was revealing something about myself on camera that I didn’t plan on. If there’s a sequence I’m nervous about, it’s that one."

How to Change Your Mind is available to stream on Netflix now.