pleasure to meet you, noble one
I’m Matthew E. Johnson - a writer, builder, father, and extreme outdoor athlete based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. For more than five decades I’ve lived like a kind of rainbow bridge - one foot in the practical, three-dimensional world and one in the awakening heart. I’ve run bike shops, built houses, led robust adventures in the outdoors, been a sustainability professional, and drummed all night at the edge of existence. I’m at home at workbenches, board tables, campfires, and ceremonial altars, which means I’m used to seeing the same situation from many angles - and many situations from the same clear angle. The companies I’ve started and the spiritual work I do now are both disruptive technologies in their own way, trickster-and-shapeshifter tools that unsettle old patterns so something more honest can emerge. I’ve taken the hard road more than once, so maybe you don’t have to learn everything the way I did.
These days I share simple, practical teachings on awareness and offer one-on-one support for people navigating real-life thresholds - in relationships, business, family, health, and deep spiritual or medicine work. I’ve walked through and witnessed tremendous healing - in my own life and in the lives of those I sit with - so I trust the possibility of real change. My gift is helping you find the clear line through the tangle.
If you feel a resonance, we’ll start where you are, move at a sane pace, and keep everything rooted in what’s actually true for you. I publish most of my writing on Substack. You can read online or subscribe by email if you want these letters to come straight to you.
Blue Sky Letters – my Substack newsletter
Ongoing stories and reflections from Blue Sky Mind: love, loss, plant medicine, and walking between worlds.
→ Read Blue Sky Letters on Substack
Blue Sky Mind - A Beginner’s Guide to Heart Awakening
Coming February 2026, Blue Sky Mind is Matthew E. Johnson’s first full-length book. It sits at the intersection of memoir, dharma, and plant medicine integration. Unlike many spiritual books written from a teacher’s seat, this one comes from a working builder, father, and athlete who learned awareness the slow, hard way. It is rooted in blue-collar reality - job sites, long trails, conscious parenting, and money stress - rather than retreat centers or monasteries.
Plant medicines appear in the story, but this is not a guide to taking psychedelics. It is a book about what comes after the big experiences: integration, habit change, and learning to relate to thoughts and emotions with steadiness and humor. The language is simple and conversational, without jargon or guru tone.
At its core, Blue Sky Mind is a true story about what happens when life breaks you open and awareness becomes the only thing you can trust.
In this hybrid memoir and teaching, Johnson braids together childhood stories, near-death experiences, plant medicine ceremonies, and years of contemplative practice into something simple and usable: a way to relate to your own mind with honesty and ease. From the “blue sky” of awareness to the “rainstorms” of fear, anger, and grief, he shows how even the hardest moments can become raw material for freedom.
Blue Sky Mind does not offer quick fixes or spiritual shortcuts. It offers clear stories, straight talk, and practical tools for anyone who senses there must be a calmer, truer way to live inside their own head.
Early Reviews for Blue Sky Mind
“Matthew Johnson’s book is full of wit, wisdom, and disarming transparency. He shares his experiences, observations, and learnings without any expectation that you follow the same path or reach the same conclusions. The stories and teachings are generous, grounded in lived experience, and offered in the voice of a fellow traveler.
Matthew’s story reflects the risks and adventures of an intrepid soul, seeking and finding his way in a culture that has largely failed to provide resonant spiritual and shamanic truths.”
- Peter Shea is a Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine and has been a Licensed Acupuncturist for over 20 years. He has been teaching Chinese medicine for the last 15 years and offers ceu classes through www.soulpivot.com. He is the author of "Alchemy of the Extraordinary: A Journey into the Heart of the Meridian Matrix," published in 2015. He has been practicing Taijiquan and Qigong for the last 25 years.
“Blue Sky Mind blew my mind. It triggered memories, some long suppressed, and helped me heal by processing similar traumatic and hurtful experiences. Through the personal stories and plant medicine journeys, I felt deeply present in the clarity and respect for the medicine, and I found myself looking inside myself, fearlessly.
Ceremony experiences are personal, and it is rare that a book pulls me into that same presence of mind, holding me there without partiality or self judgment. Blue Sky Mind helped me expand beyond personal dogmas, sit with my unhealed places, and feel inspired by the writer’s undying ability to walk between two worlds in balance. Knowing I have choice, and that time is only a reference point in this life and not the final say-so of the journey, are my key takeaways.
I know many clients and friends will appreciate this remarkable life story that teaches by example how to sit where we were once afraid to sit.”
- Al Bailey is an indigenously trained facilitator in self-healing arts, body–breath work, and massage/bodywork. For over thirty-five years he has guided thousands of students, drawing on more than two decades of Bagua circle walking meditation practice and his own Litron Breathing Response Method.
Matthew’s Books for Sale - Coming Soon!
Blue Sky Mind - A Beginners Guide to Heart Awakening, sits at the intersection of memoir, dharma, and plant-medicine integration. Unlike many spiritual books written from a teacher’s seat, this one is told from the perspective of a working builder, father, and athlete who learned awareness the slow, hard way. It’s grounded in blue-collar reality – job sites, endless trails, conscious parenting, and money stress – rather than retreat centers or monasteries. And although plant medicines appear in the story, the book is not a guide to taking psychedelics. It’s a book about what comes after the big experiences: integration, habit-change, and learning to relate to thoughts and emotions with steadiness and humor. The language is simple and conversational, without jargon or guru tone.
Relating from Zero is my forthcoming book on love and partnership, rooted in the same awareness work as Blue Sky Mind. It explores what happens when we stop relating from old stories and defenses, and start meeting each other from the clear ground of presence – in dating, long-term relationship, and everything in between.
Blue Sky Coaching
Integration and Clarity Sessions
I’ve been taken to my knees more times than I can count. Plant medicines, a near-death experience, childhood trauma, extreme sports, emotional and physical abuse, the strain of building businesses and houses, and the messiness of business and personal relationships – all of it has pushed me past the edge of who I thought I was. Because of that, very little surprises me now. Basically, nothing you share will shock me.
I offer grounded support for big transitions, deep medicines, and the slow, real work of coming home to yourself. If you’re considering plant medicines – or you’ve already had a powerful experience that’s still rippling through your life – I can help you make sense of what was shown and how it touches relationship, work, money, family, and health. We look at what’s true right now, what hurts, and what’s ready to grow, then choose practical next steps that support both your nervous system and your real life.
I don’t offer psychedelic medicine, and I don’t give legal or medical advice. What I offer is personal guidance rooted in lived experience, contemplative practice, and a deep respect for your own inner knowing. Session by session, we keep returning to Now - Here - This – the one place real change can actually happen.
If this work speaks to you, you can book a session below.
A brief, focused conversation to name what you’re in the middle of, what you’ve tried, and what you’d like to see shift. We get a feel for each other, see if my Blue Sky Mind approach fits you, and sketch the next honest step on the path.
This is our main working space. We slow things down, look directly at whatever’s knotting you up, and listen for what’s actually true. Together we unpack the stories, steady your nervous system, and lean toward a clearer, kinder way of relating to your own mind and heart.
For those who feel genuinely called, we have more time to sit in ceremony-level attention. We may include traditional hapé in a grounded, respectful way, always in service of presence and integration. This isn’t medical or psychiatric care, but it can be a powerful complement as you bring big experiences all the way home.
Contact ME
If something in this work speaks to you, I would be honored to hear what you are moving through. Use the form below to share a bit about what you are interested in, and I’ll reach back so we can set up a time.
I’m available for Integration & Clarity Sessions by video (WhatsApp, Zoom, or Google Meet). If you’re in or near Asheville, we can meet in a neutral location or my home office by mutual agreement.
Sessions are paid in advance via Venmo or PayPal. If you need to reschedule, your payment simply rolls forward to a new time. No problem.
You do not need the perfect words or a clear plan to reach out. Just start where you are.