Fiann Paul is a Zürich-trained Jungian psychoanalyst living and working around the globe.
The world’s most record-breaking explorer, he has led pioneering expeditions in the world’s most challenging environments, earning 42 Guinness World Records. Though known for his ocean expeditions, his favorite frontier has always been consciousness.
Initially trained as an architect and formerly a professional artist, Fiann is the creator of several national-level art projects. Today a Jungian psychoanalyst, leadership consultant, and lecturer at the C.G. Jung Institute Zürich, he merges exploration, leadership, psychology, and art into a unified inquiry into human transformation and lived initiation into the unknown.
His background includes what he regards as three forms of experiential education: completing the Ocean Explorers Grand Slam (rowing all five oceans), living on five continents, and twelve years of personal and clinical experience with plant medicines, psychedelic-assisted therapy and integration, supporting individuals through transformational processes.
He is the founder of the International Jungian Psychedelic Association (IJPA), serves as president of the Ocean Rowing Society International (ORSI), and holds the distinction of Freedom of the City of London, in addition to the title of Chartered Geographer of the Royal Geographical Society, among many other distinctions. He describes himself as a psychologically self-made person, devoted to the quest for meaning, authenticity, and self-expression.
Next month, Fiann will be presenting a series of public lectures and seminars at the C.G. Jung Institute in Küsnacht, Switzerland. The lectures will be available to attend online. On Monday, February 9th, he will deliver, “BDSM Archetypes, Useful Typology Not Exclusively Sexual: Powerful Embodied Metaphor for Shadow Integration Process via Symbolic Landscape of Archetypes,” and “The Healing Power of Music: AI Tools for Engaging Music in Therapeutic Process.” On Tuesday, February 10th, he will present “Healing Plants and Psychedelics: Categorization, Profiling, Effect, and Therapeutic Potential,” and “Gifts of Wounds and Personality Disorder Traits: Exploring Their Multi-Leveled Causes and Potential Rather Than Focusing Solely on Symptoms.” You can attend the online lectures by registering with the C.G. Jung Institute Zürich (click here).
This audio interview was recorded on Wednesday, January 7, 2026. It’s 02:18:39 long and 133.1 MB. You can listen to it right here in your browser (click the play button in the bar below) or on our YouTube channel.
SHOW NOTES
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Dream App Record, organize, explore, share, and even interpret your dreams with the app Jungians use, Temenos Dream.
Speaking of Jung, Ep. 145 with Fiann Paul Our first episode with Fiann, recorded on Jun. 11, 2025
Paramahamsa Wikipedia page (best resource we could find)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake (“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is – infinite.”)
The Doors The band’s official website
On Noise by Arthur Schopenhauer
The Family Reunion by T.S. Eliot (cited by James Hollis in A Life of Meaning: “in a world of fugitives, the person going the right direction will appear to be running away,” p. 44)
“Logical Fallacies: Seven ways to spot a bad argument” by Amanda Ruggeri, Jul. 10, 2024, BBC.com
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? (CBT) American Psychological Association
Operation Midnight Climax PDF document from the CIA Reading Room; declassified in 2004
T. Lobsang Rampa Books in English on Amazon US
The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven: A Remarkable Account of Miracles, Angels, and Life Beyond This World by Kevin Malarkey and Alex Malarkey
Kūmāré Full documentary movie on YouTube
Beyond the 5-HT2A Receptor: Classic and Nonclassic Targets in Psychedelic Drug Action by Lindsay P. Cameron, Joseph Benetatos, Vern Lewis, Emma M. Bonniwell, Alaina M. Jaster, Rafael Moliner, Eero Castrén, John D. McCorvy, Mikael Palner and Argel Aguilar-Valles; Journal of Neuroscience, 8 November 2023, 43 (45) 7472-7482 (full text)
The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness by Erich Fromm (where he coins the term “biophilia”)
James Hollis, Ph.D. Jungian psychoanalyst
The Healing Journey: Pioneering Approaches to Psychedelic Therapy by Claudio Naranjo (Second Edition)
Erowid Experience Vaults Advanced Search page
A.I. Artificial Intelligence Film by Steven Spielberg, 2001
Gilded Kingdoms Brass Metropolis Steampunk Thriving City Series, Episode 1 (YouTube video)
Epic Steampunk Vehicles & Brass Cities The Unreal Age (YouTube video)
Connectome Coordination Facility Public research data on connectome
Photon Film by Norman Leto, 2017 (The last twenty minutes of this film explains the concept of connectome.)
International Jungian Psychedelic Association Transformative Learning – Join Now
IJPA Board Members Full list
Dr. Josep María Fàbregas Pedrell Psychiatrist and medical director of Clínicas CITA
Character Analysis by Wilhelm Reich (discusses the schizoid personality type)
Physical Control of the Mind: Toward a Civilized Society by José Manuel Rodríguez Delgado, M.D.
José Manuel Rodríguez Delgado papers Archives at Yale
The Distinguished Citizen Spanish language film, 2016
Scavengers Reign TV Mini Series, 2023
David Nutt, D.M. Edmond J. Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology, Imperial College London
Prisms: Reflections on This Journey We Call Life by James Hollis; Chapter 3: “Who Heals the Healer? The Profile of the Wounded Healer”
My Masterpiece Film by Gastón Duprat (“I am so pessimistic that I am actually optimistic.”)
🎶 “Your Ghost” by Kristin Hersh (Official Video)
Enter the IJPA Community Sign-up on their website
🎶 “Transform” by Fiann Paul and Lynne Piper
IJPA logo: Enso by Ryoryosai Koshuku (Japanese, 1775–1825), Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University
PUBLIC LECTURES
Lectures (only) are open for online participation through the C.G. Jung Institute Zürich. Times listed for Zurich time zone.
Monday, Feb. 9, 2026
Lecture: BDSM Archetypes: Useful Typology, Not Exclusively Sexual | 9:35 AM – 12:50 PM
Seminar: Healing Power of Music, AI Tools for Engaging Music in Therapeutic Process | 2:05 PM – 5:20 PM
Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026
Lecture: Healing Plants and Psychedelics: Categorization, Profiling, Effect, and Therapeutic Potential | 9:35 AM – 12:50 PM
Seminar: Gifts of Wounds and Personality Disorders Traits | 2:05 PM – 7:35 PM
LINKS
Row, Laugh, Explore Fiann’s official website
Fiann Paul Photography Arctic • North • Mystic • Nude & Fitness • Projects • Rowing
No♪es: Retrospective Lyrical Blog Fiann’s music
Ocean Explorer (and Psychoanalyst) Fiann Paul Explains How to Use Frustration as Fuel by Ryan Stuart, Men’s Journal, Feb. 23, 2021
What 200 Hours of Rowing Does to the Human Body Discovery, Jan. 3, 2020
The Impossible Row Discovery Channel
MUSIC
Fiann Paul on Spotify Main Artist • Composer • Lyricist • Producer
Jungian Prayer Fiann Paul and James Hollis
Greenland (second song clip)
Transform with Lynne Piper
VIDEOS
Fiann Paul’s Official YouTube Channel Includes playlists on exploration and ocean rowing, and “Iceland, Greenland and Faroe Islands in Art”
Inside the Game: Guest Fiann Paul, World’s Most Record Breaking Explorer Interview by Sergiusz Ryczel, Polish Television, Oct. 22, 2021
Gifts of Wounds and Personality Disorder Traits TEDxBEND talk by Fiann Paul, Aug. 27, 2019