The first time Cory Poolman did an Iboga ceremony last year, the Navy SEAL veteran believed the powerful psychedelic medicine he took as part of the ritual had sent him to hell, literally.

The integration coaches on hand to help guide Poolman through his Iboga journey at the treatment center in Mexico had all become demons in his mind; they couldn’t be trusted.

In a tiny village in the Central African nation of Gabon, the blond, hazel-eyed SEAL recently recalled that early episode in his long healing journey with a smile and a laugh. When Poolman left the SEAL teams in 2018, he was suffering from depression and anxiety. Though the nightmarish visions he experienced in his first Iboga journey were terrifying at the time, he’s come a long way since venturing through some of the darkest parts of his psyche. On the other side of his temporary descent into hell was the beginning of what he and many other U.S. military veterans have described as a sort of spiritual awakening — a cognitive reset that brings a new outlook and lease on life.