WHY IS PSYCHEDELIC INTEGRATION SO IMPORTANT?
You might have heard of the saying that the actual work starts after ceremony. The healing experience doesn’t finish with the ceremony.
In fact: how we integrate the insights from what we learned in the plant medicine journey will essentially determine how profound the healing will be. The insights, learnings and lessons need to be grounded in the nervous system, in the body. This will allow us to respond differently to certain situations and circumstances and to create sustainable shifts in life.
Integration is a process, a continuous unfolding of embodying the insights that have been received through the sacred medicine. An unfolding that is necessary to help you get the most out of your medicine journey and to help you understand and process what you have experienced.
“The deep psychological and spiritual dynamics potentially brought to our awareness during ceremony require guidance, both before and after, for their full integration. Even participants who have lovely experiences may not derive the complete benefit without some guidance and help with interpretation.”
Dr. Gabor Maté
1:1 Psychedelic
Trauma-Informed
Integration Session
In this 60min. session I help you understand, process, integrate and embody the insights that have been received through the sacred medicine.
Plant medicine experiences can often bring up painful memories from the past or traumatic imprints. Without the right support in place this can actually lead to retraumatisation.
With my background in somatic trauma work, I use a somatic approach to help you fully process and understand what you have experienced. You can’t intellectualize integration. The insights and lessons have to be integrated and grounded into the subconscious, into the body, to build a new somatic foundation of safety and connectedness within.
TESTIMONIAL
(1:1 Psychedelic Preparation Session)
“I had a session with Katja to prepare for an upcoming plant medicine retreat. From the very first moment of being in her presence, I felt so safely held in her beautiful, loving, calm and grounded energy. Katja used somatic tools to help me ground and connect within so that i could feel into my intention. This instantly helped me connect to the emotion under my intention and helped ground it into my body. She was also such a deep and intuitive listener and helped me work through my fears. I left the session feeling so much more connected to myself and to my intention and ready to enter the retreat with trust and presence. ”
TESTIMONIAL
(1:1 Psychedelic Integration Session)
"I had an integration session with Katja after attending a week-long plant medicine and meditation retreat where a lot of deep, old wounds came to the surface. Katja helped me reconnect to my intention, and by sharing about my experience she helped me understand that the medicine brought the wounds to the surface so that they could be seen and felt deeply in a supportive environment where they could be met with love, which is how the healing process can begin. She also provided valuable suggestions and helped me formulate strategies for how to sit with the pain when it resurfaces. Thank you so much Katja, for your deep listening, kindness and compassion! After such a vulnerable experience, I feel lighter and so clear about my next steps for deepening my awareness and self-compassion.”
Practices to support integration
Connect with your body: check in with yourself on a daily basis: how am I feeling today? What is the most loving thing I can do for myself today?
Spend time in nature: intentionally connect with the elements and reflect on your experiences and feelings. Place your hands on the earth to ground yourself.
Take time for yourself: take some time off after your ceremony and don’t go back into your usual day to day life right away. Give yourself time and space to process your experience.
Daily Practices: stick with a daily practice to help you anchor yourself, connect with yourself and to ground you. This could be embodiment practices, journaling, breathwork, meditating, etc.
Be in a calm, nurturing environment: stay away from loud noises, crowds, overstimulation by social media, spend time with people that are supporting, spend enough time in your own energy.
Soothing practices: such as taking a bath/ a dip in the ocean, massages, listening to soothing music…
Clean up your life: this is a good time to clean up every area of your life. Material possessions, but also relationships. What and who is no longer serving you?
Recall positive ceremony memories: invite these experiences into your body and feel them again. Connect with the spirit of the plant and remember the moments that were especially beautiful and filled with love.
Listen to your intuition: step away from people/ situations that don’t feel right. Engage in things that bring you further into alignment and connect to your purpose. Trust your intuition and follow it.
Practice gratitude: connect back to your intention and be grateful for the work you have done and for everything the medicine has shown you. Be grateful for life.
Why do I offer psychedelic integration sessions?
Working with psychedelics has been and still is a big part of my path. Yet, I did experience a lack of safety and support in medicine spaces and it really threw me off for some time. It took me quite a while to process, integrate and to heal from the retraumatisation that happened through that.
I have the utmost respect for plant medicines, their sacredness and their healing power and absolutely support working with them (if it feels right for you). Yet, there needs to be more education when it comes to trauma-informed facilitation, as well as trauma-informed integration, to make these spaces as safe as possible. The potential for healing is amplified with plant medicines, BUT also is the potential for harm and there needs to be more awareness around that.
