Information and FAQs
Why use psychedelics for therapy?
Psychedelics allow you to access your unconscious mind, enabling healing and transformation on a deeper level. These therapeutic experiences give you greater awareness of mental models, patterns of behavior, and limiting beliefs that you hold, so you have an opportunity to address the traumas you’ve experienced in the past and the coping patterns you’ve developed to survive. They have the potential to open up very dramatic or significant ways of being, ways of viewing others, and how you view yourself. Studies have shown that psychedelics can help to relieve symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. For example, psilocybin has been shown to help people with depression and anxiety, and MDMA has been shown to help people with PTSD. These drugs work by altering the brain’s neural connections and allowing the patient to experience new perspectives and ways of thinking.
Psychedelics have also been shown to have a positive impact on neuroplasticity---the brain’s ability to reorganize and form new connections. This can lead to long-term changes in the way the brain processes information and emotions, resulting in improvements in mental health and well-being.
What is integration?
Integration is the synthesis of the mind and body following the experience of a non-ordinary state of consciousness prompted by the ingestion of psychedelics. It is the process of exploring and sharing challenges and insights that arise during psychedelic experiences so that you may begin to take practical steps to implement those insights as positive changes. Examples of intentions may involve taking ownership of mistakes, speaking your truth, or reconnecting with the parts of yourself that you may have turned away from in the past.
What is "Shadow Work"?
Our "shadows" are parts of ourselves that we repress, reject, and hide deep within our unconscious minds. This could include aspects of ourselves we unconsciously consider undesirable or separate from. The brain will sometimes suppress or hide particularly stressful or traumatic memories. This can be protective in the short term when the emotional pain of recalling the event is still profound. However, suppressed memories can create serious emotional health concerns such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and dissociative disorders. The "work" is the process of bringing those things to our conscious awareness so that we may begin to start the process of healing ourselves.
Shadow work involves becoming aware of and embracing these unconscious aspects, with the goal of integrating them into one’s conscious self. This process can be challenging and requires a willingness to confront and face difficult emotions, beliefs, and behaviors.
Shadow work often involves introspection, journaling, therapy, and other forms of self-reflection. It can also involve exploring one’s unconscious through dream work, visualization, or other spiritual practices. The aim of shadow work is to bring greater self-awareness, integration, and healing, leading to a more fulfilling and authentic life.
It is important to note that shadow work should not be confused with repression or denial. The goal is not to suppress or hide one’s shadow, but rather to acknowledge it, understand it, and integrate it into one’s consciousness. Shadow work can be a lifelong process, and it is important to approach it with compassion, patience, and self-awareness.
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