Integration of the Psychedelic Plant Medicine Experience
We sat by the light of the fire, an arm’s length away from one another. Tears streamed down her face and shudders of emotion came between breaths. Her attention was focused inward.
As she turned to face me, her internal focus shifted outward.
I gently asked, “How are you doing?”
She said, “Good. The ancestors are here and they’ve come with gifts.”
In this heightened state of awareness, the energy around us felt charged with ancient wisdom. It was a moment of profound connection, being held in the embrace of something greater than ourselves.
Her attention shifted again as she returned to the interaction taking place within. I leaned back slightly and remained attentive.
Preparing for the opportunity to integrate the experience, I continued to listen and hold space.
The following day during our integration conversation, we discussed the messages the ancestors had come to share and the meaning she ascribed to them.
The gifts she had spoken of were both personal and universal, full of wisdom and insight. She was profoundly self aware as she clearly related her extraordinary experience.
The time after a ceremonial fire with plant medicine is sacred. We revisit the whole experience and recall what was seen, heard, and felt… we don’t just pack up and go home.
Working with psychedelic fungi, magic mushrooms, in a safe, ceremonial setting with gentle guidance is a life altering experience.
The story of one’s life unfolds rich in emotion and visual imagery. There is often wave after wave of bodily sensation. Deep insights and profound revelations flash into awareness with unexpected clarity. The everyday boundaries of the ego dissolve temporarily allowing a direct, unfiltered experience of reality to emerge.
Connection becomes a keyword. Connection to self, others, and the natural world. A very personal sense of closeness to creation arises—a feeling of oneness or unity.
Feelings that have been pent up, sometimes for years, find release in a flood of emotion, followed by a sense of relief.
Past memories can be seen from a new perspective.
Situations in life that have not been clear come into sharper focus.
What seemed to be a problem can be resolved with a new level of clarity. The foibles of being human readily come to light with humor and laughter.
Those who want a deeper understanding of their life’s work and purpose often discover a “sacred purpose” waiting for their recognition and acceptance.
Aspects of one’s life may come up for examination with detached curiosity, yet what comes alive for anyone is intensely personal.
This segment of time to integrate the psychedelic plant medicine experience is vitally important. It’s an opportunity to unpack the memories in the broad light of day, to assimilate the insights and emotions that came out of the experience.
Integration is crucial to understanding the deeper meaning of the journey. It’s similar to interpreting the symbols of a dream and unraveling the metaphors. Some things are plainly understood while others require a more deliberate excavation.
During private retreats in the mountains of Colorado, I lead participants in a ceremonial way to prepare for their journey with plant medicine. The purpose is to create a sacred container for our work. This is what I learned from the mushrooms themselves, strange as that may sound.
For many people this is a deeply spiritual experience. We are immersed in an altered state, beyond the limitations of ordinary perception. We enter with the utmost reverence and respect.
After a journey, we spend time together processing the experience. Even the most difficult moments are examined with intense interest, in a spirit of inquiry and curiosity.
We sit together over coffee or tea, or go on a walk and talk to review and work through what occurred. We discuss the moments of insight, the challenges, and the emotions that were stirred.
We plumb the depths of the experience for personal meaning and significance, sifting out the central themes. We may find many themes that overlay one another.
Clarifying questions help to tease out the lessons and often reveal profound wisdom. We reframe significant parts of the journey. The result is a new perspective from which to view one’s self and life.
In the process of integration we suspend judgment of the past and anxiety about the future. The intention is to be present in the moment. Together we look and listen with an expanded sense of awareness. There’s no hurry or pressure. We relax into what there is to see. Without strain we allow more subtle impressions to percolate and come to light.
A deeper appreciation of our creative capacity comes into awareness. Healing occurs as we surrender, release resistance, and let go of what no longer serves us. This is an integral part of the journey.
The process of integration anchors the details of the experience while they are still fresh. “Anchoring” refers to the intentional creation of connections and reminders that help us access the insights gained during the psychedelic experience.
The intention of the anchoring process is to embody the lessons, embrace the expanded perspectives, and translate these into everyday life in practical ways.
Examples of integration and anchoring include:
Reflection and Journaling:
Reflect on the insights and emotions experienced during and after the journey. Write down the words and sentence fragments, the poetry and prose that come to mind. Find your own language to communicate what is often difficult to put into words. Express heartfelt gratitude as part of the writing process.
Create Daily Quiet Time:
Carve out time to be alone, as a daily devotion, especially in the morning before the day begins. Deepen and strengthen your connection with Source. Develop the ability to be still, to be quiet, for periods of time. Listen for your inner voice in words, images, feelings, and intuition.
Ritual and Ceremony
Create a ritual. Read inspirational books, keep a journal, offer a prayer in your own words. Make an altar with symbols that have meaning for you. Include things of beauty and of nature such as stones, crystals, feathers, bone, shells, mementoes, heirlooms, flowers, sage, sweetgrass, etc. arranged on a cloth or tapestry.
Connect with Nature
Spend more time alone in nature, on the earth, under the open sky. Breathe fresh air, walk in the woods, sit by a river, listen to the wind and trees. Put your bare feet on the ground. Let the sun shine on your face and into your eyes. Feel and appreciate your connection to the natural world.
Practice Forgiveness
The practice of forgiveness includes self acceptance, releasing judgment, forgiving yourself for what you’ve made up about yourself and others. Forgiveness is a way of seeing, a way of being, a way of moving through the world. Ask yourself what it means to forgive. Begin with yourself.
Share Your Experience:
Stay connected and find opportunities to engage with a circle of friends and confidants to experience the positive effects of psychedelics. Be willing to share your experience and trust yourself to be vulnerable and authentic. Give yourself grace. Trust that you can open your heart even more.
Integration is not a technique or a method–it’s a practical way to ground the psychedelic plant medicine experience into your memory and make it real in daily life.
The willingness to be supported in the ongoing journey of self discovery and spiritual evolution is a courageous endeavor not for the faint of heart, an inner journey without distance. You have the strength and you are not alone.
The intention is to recapture and distill the memory of the journey to create a meaningful interpretation. To look for the connections, find relevance and translate the takeaways into changes in thinking and behavior. The commitment to one’s own transformation calls for humility, discipline, vulnerability, and devotion.