Psychedelic Integration and the Body
By: Dr. Denise Renye
Psychedelic Integration. The phrase is all the buzz these days. But what the heck is it actually?? How do we integrate a psychedelic journey, whether it was 3 days ago, 1 year ago, or 20 years ago? We need tangible and embodied practices to answer this question. Please read on about psychedelic integration and find an invitation to self-identified women at the end.
Being affiliated with the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research (CPTR) at the California Institute for Integral Studies as a mentor and admissions committee member, I’ve done a lot of work in the field of psychedelic science. I support folx as they integrate their psychedelic journeys via therapy, coaching, and teaching. What I’ve found to be key in that process is a multimodal approach of mind, body and spirit.
Psychedelics are not for everyone and are mostly not within the bounds of the law currently at this time. However, the use of psychedelics is currently being actively examined for psychological intervention as well as spiritual expansion. When it is done with intention, the deep work of a psychedelic journey is done via the whole person. The mind and the body work together with the energy of the intention to make way for profound possibilities of accessing one’s own inner healer. That healing can occur on a multitude of levels personally, but also beyond the individual, and offer collective healing potential.
On the personal level, intentionally engaged psychedelic experiences (assisted therapy or skilled/trained shamanic) can pave the way for healing the mind and body (and we know these two are so intertwined it’s hard to even speak of them as separate entities), but also spiritually. Psychedelics have the possibility of a mystical experience or connecting with something greater than the self. However, psychedelics can also potentially heal intergenerational as well as ancestral trauma. As we know through the study of epigenetics, trauma doesn’t only affect the person who experiences it. Trauma has a ripple effect that impacts future generations. For instance, if your grandma had multiple miscarriages, that trauma will also affect you, the grandchild. Trauma lives in the body at a cellular level, as I’ve written about before.
An intentional psychedelic journey can potentially shift and move trauma resulting in not only generally feeling lighter, but also yielding differences in your relationships with others, your relationship with money and financial health as well as your relationship with the Earth. It’s all connected and you might be surprised to hear your own inner healing can also support planet Earth’s healing. To make sense of these shifts and to assimilate the depth of knowledge, psychedelic integration is necessary.
A psychedelic experience can be intense and profound but the real benefits are yielded by doing what is known as the integration work that follows, which is one of my specialties. These experiences can be recreational, therapeutic, shamanic, or even accidental (we really hope this never happens, but it can and does).
It’s imperative that the integration work be multifaceted, that it includes right- and left-brained approaches as well as somatic ones. A well-facilitated integration program is paramount for personal growth and the potential flowering of a person’s consciousness. In the programs I tailor when working with people, I incorporate voicework (singing, chanting), drawing, making music or listening to it, writing, yoga therapy, the labyrinth, energy work such as reiki, spontaneous body movement, and bodywork.
While I am trained in Thai massage, I often refer out to a bodyworker who specializes in psychedelic integration. Incorporating the body as a regular part of your integration is vital, and so is having a tailored approach. What works for one person may not work for you and that’s something to discuss with your psychedelic and integration team prior to your journey.
Why is psychedelic work spoken off in terms of a journey? In part because there’s so much involved in the trajectory of the experience: intention setting, the journey itself, and, of course, integration.
The Psychedelic Trajectory
First off in the psychedelic journey is set and setting. “Set” means mindset. What is your intention? What is your headspace going into the journey? If you feel off, hesitant, or intense, consider rescheduling.
“Setting” means the environment. Set up your space in such a way that is pleasant and conducive to what your intentions are. Intentions are not expectations. They are softer, more open, and allow for whatever will occur to occur. Expectations are preconceived judgments about how something should occur or how you’ll feel during the experience. As is often said in psychedelic communities, you’re given the experience you need, not the one you want!
To go back to the setting, the setting influences your psychedelic journey. Creating a space that’s pleasant and conducive for your journey sets the tone that this experience is special, that you’re entering into a sacred space that outside the norm. One way to generate a sacred space is to create an altar with items that deeply speak to you and your intentions. Perhaps also write your intentions and place them on the altar.
After working with the set and setting is the journey itself. Dosage is key as again, what works for one person may not work for you. One person’s “disco dose” (a dose larger than a micro dose) might just be another's “heroic dose” (a high dose). You can always add more so start low and consider staying low.
And finally, integration is a must so the psychedelic experience doesn’t vanish into the ether like it never happened. The way the psychedelic journey can be valuably used in your life is through integration. The integration process deepens when it is multifaceted and flows best when the whole person is involved, and that means inclusion of the body.
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