Integration is essential to any deep spiritual encounter.
Whether it’s returning from a ten day silent meditation retreat. A wilderness excursion that cracked you open to something deeper. A big dream that serves as a portal to your Soul. Or a psychedelic/sacred medicine ceremony. Integration is where the rubber hits the road. And where we bring the gifts of a sacred experience back into our everyday lives.
What is integration?
I always love to look at the etymology of words to unpack their intention. When we look at the word integrate we discover it’s roots connect to:
"to render (something) whole, bring together the parts of,"
"make whole," and to
"put together parts or elements and combine them into a whole"
In other words, wholeness is the essence of integration.
The time immediately following a sacred medicine journey or spiritual encounter is an important window of opportunity. A chance to unpack the experience, deepen insights, make meaning, and explore inspired action to embody your transformation. And that process is often best supported by a guide. I know my spiritual encounters have benefited from 1:1 guiding support each time.
If you’re new to psychedelic or spiritual integration, support with a guide can help you to:
Consciously work with important images and messages received in your ceremony/experience to deepen their healing.
Cultivate a mindset to continue listening to the medicine. Whether it’s a sacred plant medicine or the gifts of an experience. Medicine work does not just end with the ceremony/encounter. It continues to teach us in your life beyond the spiritual encounter if we allow it.
Incorporate intentional dreamwork to continue connecting dots and recognize new messages.
Design self-led ceremonies and rituals to deepen exploration and integrated embodiment.
Create daily practices to connect you to the wisdom the medicine shared.
Practice meditation techniques to strengthen your connection to important healing moments from your journey.
Skillfully work with psychological and emotional material that surface post ceremony/encounter.
Allow the emergence of further insight and listen for inspired action.
When you take time to integrate a spiritual experience, this can empower you to:
Take inspired action at a balanced pace to honor your emerging truth.
Self-resource connection from your wiser self.
Weave your wisdom into your everyday life.
Infuse the insight shared from the sacred medicine/encounter into your daily decisions.
Realign aspects of your life with new or reordered values.
Deepen your self-awareness and reflection.
Continue your deep healing and spiritual growth journey beyond the ceremony/encounter.
As I was coming down from my first sacred medicine journey (you can hear about my experience in THIS podcast episode) I remember saying over and over again to my guide “integration is everything.” Prior to my work with sacred plant medicine I had a lot of years of spiritual retreats, intensives, and practices under my belt. I knew that insights were only as good as they were rooting themselves into our every day. Not a momentary escape from the everyday. And I knew the disappointment that can come after returning from a spiritual high when you hit the more mundane of everyday life. Integration is indeed everything.
Spending time on integration and later implementation deepens our insights. Works with the receptivity and plasticity of our mind to shift thinking patterns and habits. And is a part of the reciprocity of sacred medicine/spiritual encounters that generously guides, heals, and inspires us. Our work when we return from the ceremony or an encounter is to ask ourselves how these gifts can not only benefit us, but our community. How can we be a better partner, friend, and loved one? How can we be a part of creating a more just collective? How can it contribute to protection and restoration of the ecosystem? In other words, how can we move from just “me” to also include “we.”
In my latest podcast episode on Tune In with Marci, I explore the importance of integration in psychedelic and spiritual experiences.
Continue exploring by clicking the play button to listen to the episode below.
Much love,
Marci
PS. Want support integrating a psychedelic or big spiritual encounter? I have a few spots open for new 1:1 integration clients. You can learn more and book a complimentary consultation with me HERE.
PSS. Never miss an episode of Tune In with Marci. Subscribe to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.