Psychedelic integration is propelling the effectiveness of their respective medicines forward rapidly. Some even say, “20% experience, 80% integration” to paint a picture of just how important this part of the process is for lasting change.
From the first wave of psychedelics, where our ancestors used entheogens in ceremonies to connect with spirit and to facilitate community, to the second wave where clinical research was beginning to bud yet safe use was not practiced or condoned, to the current third wave where the first two waves are meeting in the middle with a heavy emphasis on clinical outcomes and integration practices for overall lasing change and deeper connectedness to self and purpose.
Let’s understand the ins and outs of psychedelic integration and why now more than ever this practice is becoming central to overall mental health.
What is Psychedelic Integration?
“[Psychedelic] Integration is a process in which a person revisits and actively engages in making sense of, working through, translating, and processing the content of their psychedelic experience. Through intentional effort and supportive practices, this process allows one to gradually capture and incorporate the emergent lessons and insights into their lives, thus moving toward greater balance and wholeness, both internally (mind, body, and spirit) and externally (lifestyle, social relations, and the natural world)” (Bathje et al., 2021).
Making sense of your experience and applying it to the real world is crucial to lasting change. An experience will merely be an experience if not integrated to make sense in your non-altered states of consciousness that is your daily life.
Many people would describe their experience with psychedelics as profound, meaningful, and oftentimes even ineffable, or unable to be described with words. Before the experience even takes place, it’s worth setting aside time to prepare for it correctly through set and setting. Setting refers to where you’ll be physically during the experience, finding a comfortable place to journey, and set refers to an intention of what you hope to gain from your experience that you’ll take with you long after it’s over. Integration thus can become the final piece of the puzzle to make it all click. Therefore even when things can’t be described or even understood through common words, there can still be takeaways that serve as meaningful guideposts to the life you wish to live.
Setting an intention, embarking on your journey, and integrating your experience for meaningful change is how you can make practicing with psychedelics worth your while, all which requires careful attention and planning.
What does a psychedelic integration practice look like?
Each individual will approach their integration a bit differently, and there’s no wrong way to do so. When starting your integration practice, begin slowly and find what works for you that has the least resistance for you to accomplish
Some people might embark on an interpersonal integration practice to strengthen how they feel about themselves and how they conduct their lives because of it.
Interpersonal integration may look like:
- Waking up and meditating for 15 minutes
- Journaling your thoughts and feelings that are present in the moment
- Taking time to ground into your body through stretching, a morning walk, or simply just being
Relational integration is the process of finding more connection with others and adopting practices that strengthen one’s relationships external to oneself.
Relational integration might look like:
- Reaching out to a friend or loved one
- Participating in community activities
- Asking for and/or offering help
- Writing a letter to someone you want to mend their relationship with (even if you don’t send it).
While there are many additional types of integration practices such as spiritual, somatic, and nature connectedness, most people find hybrids within these themes to execute on.
The purpose of having an integration practice is to find more meaning that aligns with what you’re seeking by actively participating, engaging with, and translating your psychedelic experience to your daily conscious life.
Why Psychedelic Integration is So Important
Without integration, your psychedelic experience is just another experience. For some people, this is satisfactory enough, but for most of us, coming out of this experience is going to change our lives and the way we feel about ourselves in relation to those around and us how we personally feel because of it.
Psychedelic substances, or entheogens, alter our perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior, oftentimes completely dissociating us from what we previously identified with and showing us something greater and less tangible.
This experience can be palpable and inspire awe, especially if we’ve never experienced it before. Returning to “normal” after this might feel difficult and even defeating, depending on the experience you may have had, which is why integration is such an important part of the process.
Without integration, someone may come out of a psychedelic experience lost, confused, and not sure what to do with what they just went through. With an integration plan, however, this then becomes material to work with and make into something more meaningful. Even something as simple as journaling after your experience, talking with someone you trust, or meditating on what thoughts are continuously coming up can massively shift the way you perceive what has happened.
The integration process is often where the wisdom comes in, where you know what you have to do to get to where you want to go just by sitting with yourself and working through what’s coming up.
After a psychedelic experience, there’s about a 45-60-day container period in which insights may continue to come through, the best way to keep this path open is to nourish it through practices that continue to connect you back to you.
Microdosing after your psychedelic experience to extend integration
A great application of microdosing can be in the months immediately following a high-dose psychedelic experience.
Microdosing psychedelics can help close the gap from what was so far out from reality in your experience to your current reality, making it a great pathway to embark on when trying to bridge the two worlds together.
Microdosing can also help you return back to the mental state of the thoughts you might have had during your journey without the hallucinatory effects that come with a high dose of psychedelics. Reawakening the neural pathways is how they become strengthened and primed to fit the change you’re after.
If you do take this route, be sure to work with a microdosing coach to help you make the most of the experience. There is still a heavy amount of work that should be done when doing a microdosing protocol, so working with a trained coach who can help you through the process is pertinent.
Why you should work with a psychedelic integration coach
Integration is not a far-fetched concept, comparing this to traditional therapy or life coaching sessions, this is your action plan to set forth on your journey to changing the way you think, feel, believe, and act in a manner that better fits the ideal you’re seeking.
Psychedelic integration coaches are especially equipped to help you during this time. Their expertise in the field of psychedelics and training can help you alchemize insights into action directly and efficiently.
Consider working with a psychedelic integration coach during the entirety of your psychedelic experience. They will help you prepare for the journey, map out your intention, process your insights and make sense of the experience, and help you come up with a plan to set the insights into motion as well as help you manage anything that might come up that feels difficult to process. The goal of a psychedelic integration coach is to help keep you focused and guided so you can maximize your experience and gain as much as you want from it.
Having a sounding board and someone well-versed in the psychedelic lexicon is more important than you might think. Even just the validation of your experience can be enough to help you take the first step in changing your thoughts and behaviors.
The following weeks after a psychedelic experience is pivotal for change because of the neuroplasticity effect that is taking place in your brain. This means you’ll have a higher likelihood of building new neural pathways and strengthening them to last.
This neuroplasticity effect is why these substances are becoming such a powerful force in the mental health space. With a greater likelihood of building these new neural pathways, you can actually change your mind to support more positive and aligned ways of thinking, being, feeling, and doing. This process requires consistent action through the integration process.
The accountability of a coach is a no-brainer, but also expressing your insights and struggles in a safe space with a safe person is where the healing really takes place. Safety and healing go hand-in-hand in therapeutic and growth-oriented settings, allowing you to be fully seen and heard in order to move forward and create lasting change (Podolan, M., & Gelo, O. C. G., 2023).
The Integration is the Magic
Taking a psychedelic substance won’t necessarily change your life forever and absolve you of your problems, the process requires much more attention and work which comes in the form of integration.
Finding a practice that works with you and/or working with a psychedelic integration coach can uplevel your experience dramatically, bringing bits and pieces of the experience into your life to establish the reality you really want to live.
Overall, consistency and commitment to your growth can provide you with the foundation you need to make the changes you desire. So find what works for you and trust the process. The integration process is where the magic happens, and you are directly in control of your destiny.
