10 Principles for Processing a Psychedelic Experience
1. Start Before Your Journey.
Your integration process begins before your psychedelic experience. Set an intention for your journey: Why have you decided to take this journey? Why now? What do you hope to learn? What do you hope to find? Or let go of? Cultivate a calm, equanimous mind in the time leading up to your journey, using whatever practices feel authentic for you. This can include time in nature, meditation, yoga, journaling, making art, dancing, and speaking to people you trust.
2. Take Time.
Take time after your journey to process and explore. Avoid returning to work for at least a couple of days, if possible. The more time, the better.
3. Listen.
A healing process is unfolding within you. What do you need in this moment to support you on your healing journey? Learn to listen to that voice inside of you. Trust it. Let it guide you.
4. Do What Feels Right.
Maybe you need time alone or in community. Maybe you need to draw, dance, journal, meditate, do yoga, or sing. Maybe what feels right is time in nature, on a trail, or in a body of water. Listen to your needs and how they may change from moment to moment.
5. Be Kind to Yourself.
You may be in a highly sensitive, tender state after your journey. Treat yourself with kindness and gentleness. Be thoughtful about what you allow to enter your mind and body. Try to avoid social media, the news, and the like. Eat nutritious, unprocessed foods and drink plenty of water.
6. Be Patient.
Integration happens at its own pace. Healing is seldom linear or predictable. Insights and healing may occur quickly, or they may take years or decades. Be patient with the process. Trust that things will unfold as they are meant to.
7. Reflect on Your Intention
Did your intention manifest during your journey? How? Explore these questions in the days and weeks following your journey in the ways that feel right for you. Sometimes not having the experience you expected to can offer great insights and blessings in disguise.
8. Connect with Your Fellow Journeyers
Consider processing your experience with others who were part of your journey. You may find that these connections help keep the light of your journey alive within you for months or years.
9. Notice Your Habits.
You may feel yourself letting go of old habits and patterns that were not serving you well. You may notice yourself creating newer, healthier habits. This is part of the process.
10. Take Time Before Making Major Life Decisions.
You may have received powerful insights and messages during your journey about major changes you may want to make in your life. This can include changes to your job or your relationships. Consider sitting with these for at least a few days or weeks before acting on them.
