Listening to Ecstasy

The Transformative Power of MDMA

By: Charles Wininger

Narrated by: Charles Wininger

Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

A personal narrative and guide to the safe, responsible use of MDMA for personal healing and social transformation

• Details the author’s 50 years of responsible experimentation with mind-altering substances and how Ecstasy has helped him become a better therapist
• Explains how he and his wife found Ecstasy to be the key to renewing and enriching their lives and marriage as they entered their senior years
• Describes what the experience actually feels like and provides protocols for the safe, responsible, recreational, and celebrational use of MDMA for individuals and groups

In a world that keeps us separate from each other, MDMA is the chemical of connection. Aptly known in popular culture as “Ecstasy,” MDMA helps us rediscover our own true loving nature, often obscured by the traumas of life. On its way to becoming a prescription medication due to groundbreaking research on its use to treat PTSD, Ecstasy can offer benefits for all adult life stages, from 20-somethings to seniors.

In this memoir and guide to safe use, Charles Wininger, a licensed psychoanalyst and mental health counselor, details the countless ways that Ecstasy has helped him become a better therapist and husband. He recounts his coming of age in the 1960s counterculture, his 50 years of responsible experimentation with mind-altering substances, and his immersion in the new psychedelic renaissance. He explains how he and his wife found Ecstasy to be the key to renewing and enriching their lives as they entered their senior years. It also strengthened the bonds of their marriage.

Countering the fearful propaganda that surrounds this drug, Wininger describes what the experience actually feels like and explores the value of Ecstasy and similar substances for helping psychologically healthy individuals live a more “optimal” life. He provides protocols for the responsible, recreational, and celebrational use of MDMA, including how to perfect the experience, maximize the benefits and minimize the risks, and how it may not be for everyone. He reveals how MDMA has revitalized his marriage, both erotically and emotionally, and describes how pleasure, fun, and joy can be profound bonding and transformative experiences.

Revealing MDMA’s versatility when it comes to bringing lasting renewal, pleasure, and inspiration to one’s life, Wininger shows that recognizing the transformative power of happiness-inducing experiences can be the first step on the path to healing.

©2020 Charles Wininger (P)2021 Inner Traditions Audio

Critic reviews

"Wininger's book can throw open cosmic windows in even the most mundane reader". (Tom Robbins, author of nine novels including Even Cowgirls Get the Blues)

“A deeply personal story from a therapist who is done hiding in the chemical closet. Wininger says, ‘I’ve lived through it all, and now it all lives through me.’ In modeling responsible recreational MDMA use, he not only heals the shame that binds him, he helps to heal us all.” (Julie Holland, MD, editor of Ecstasy: The Complete Guide and author of Good Chemistry)

“Reading Wininger’s book, Listening to Ecstasy, is like a lovely conversation with a joyful, liberated person.... He and his wife are having enough fun in their seventies to rid aging of its anxieties.” (Peter Coyote, actor, author, and Zen priest)

Fantastic

Entertaining, informative, inspirational. Opened my eyes to the beauty and potential of this substance. Loved it

Embraces MDMA intelligently and enthusiastically

Reading this gem, I feel charged to shed the shame and breathe in life, connections, and my full potential that MDMA offers us all.

Pure

I learned a lot from listening to this book. I have experience the mdma once about 5 years ago and it really open my hearts, but when I decline was not fun at all. I was all depressed and anxious, and the reason is that I overdose and didn’t follow any quittance. recommend this book.

Admirable Life Journey

Along with important info and entertaining stories about MDMA journeys or “rolls,” this is also a story about aging with a youthful spirit. I am grateful to the author for sharing his life’s journey thus far and thrilled that he has been living his bliss. It’s a great lesson for all of us. I recently had a guided MDMA journey myself and related to so much of what was said about this sacred medicine. This is a book that should definitely help the psychedelic revolution and its positive progress.

It makes an interesting story, but ignores risk.

It's an interesting story, but not very informative for someone wanting to experiment. Mdma is a powerful and wonderful drug, but it can also be dangerous when mixed with other medications or taken on an empty stomach. In his "guide for safe use he mentions not mixing with other drugs, but says nothing of the high risk of serotonin syndrome if taken on an empty stomach.

got boring

didnt finish, 20% was useful the rest was just a boomer boasting on and on about how privileged his life is.