Ayahuasca & Alzheimer’s (w/ Elna Baker)

On this episode of Staying Alive, hosts Jon Gabrus and Adam Pally sit down with the excellent Elna Baker (This American Life, The Moth, Pretty Sure I Can Fly) to talk about cults, weight loss, her extensive therapeutic drug use, and, due to a clerical error, Alzheimer’s, despite no one here being an expert in it. Plus, you’ll hear Gabrus’ famous sandwich story, cut from This American Life, and the debut of Jim Jones In The Morning. Follow Elna @elnabaker on InstaElna’s new book Pretty For A Day will be out next year, press release HERE Full video episodes available HERECheck out Staying Alive merch at siriusxmstore.com/stayingalive This episode was recorded March 13, 2025 at SiriusXM studios in New York CitySpecial thanks to Jared O’ConnellStaying Alive is produced by Devon Torrey Bryant and Anne HarrisEngineered and edited by Devon Torrey Bryant, who also wrote the musicAssociate producer and video editor is Maddie McCannExecutive produced by Jon Gabrus, Adam Pally, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Bernie Kaminski, and Rich Korson Keywords for this episode: chicken parm, infrared sauna, Alzheimer’s, psychedelics, Mormonism, Prop 8, Dungeons & Dragons, hot yoga, Bessel van der Kolk, EMDR, Ozempic, scientology, ketamine, frog poison, Rickbit, ayahuasca, Rumspringa, scleroderma, How I Met Your Mother, Westworld, mannequins, Nothing But Trouble, Las Culturistas, David Copperfield, salvia, DMT, Kim Cattrall, MDMA, Cambo, Enzo’s Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.