Psychedelic Integration

Psychedelic integration is the third and final focal stage in the therapeutic use of psychedelics. Although some aspects of psychedelic integration are touched on in the first (preparation) and second (engagement) stages of the psychedelic process, the real work of integration is done in the days, weeks, months, and, yes, even years after the psychedelic experience.

Why is Psychedelic Integration Important?

Psychedelic integration empowers both the new and experienced psychonauts to sustain the learnings from their psychedelic experience beyond their psychedelic experience. Psychedelic integration shifts the intention identified during the preparation stage to an actionable plan that can guide daily life. Psychedelic integration solidifies psychological flexibility around the issues and emotions that arise during the psychedelic experience, so they inform and motivate.

Psychedelic integration is crucial for those exploring altered states of consciousness who want something more than recreation — those who want to grow and evolve.

Twelve Components of Psychedelic Integration:

1. Debriefing your psychedelic experience
2. Examining your intention
3. Checking in around the shifts of your emotional life in the days and weeks following your experience
4. Identifying insights and takeaways from your psychedelic experience
5. Identifying remnants to address in the future
6. Letting go of what you are still holding on to
7. Identifying those aspects of your life you discovered, were affirmed, or need engagement
8. Aligning your life with clearer values
9. Identifying what you need to eliminate and what you are committed to maintain in your life
10. Conversations with key people in your life about your experience, your intention, and the actions you are taking as a result of your experience
11. Shifts you need to make
12. Articulating your vision, plan, and subsequent actions

You will benefit from focusing on these 12 items in the initial months following your psychedelic experience. Devoting time to explore these 12 areas will provide fertile ground for the keystone of psychedelic integration: a long-term plan with clear goals and objectives. A plan that will help you go beyond how you were before your psychedelic experience. A plan of action.

Psychedelic Integration Strategies

You can tackle these components and develop a long-term plan in one of three ways:

1. You can go it on your own, purchase a blank journal or notebook, research essential areas to journal about, write about these areas, and figure out your plan. There are many resources from websites or books containing journal prompts and goal templates. Pros: great for the DIYer. Cons: can be distracting from what should be your key focus — you!
2. You can purchase an integration journal or integration workbook designed around the specific elements. Pros: an expert in the field of psychedelic coaching or counseling will have done all the prep work for you — all you need to do is focus on yourself. Cons: there are many options out there for journals and workbooks — some go deep, some do not — some use the same questions over and over to “create” a journal — some help you craft an integration plan, some do not.
3. Work with a psychedelic therapist, counselor, or coach. Pros: an individual approach just for you, accountability like you wouldn’t believe! Cons: expense.

Whatever you decide as a framework for the integration process of your psychedelic experience, pay attention to deeper meanings, hidden feelings, and messages from your physical sensations, and approach these with strong determination. If you have strong determination, your efforts post-psychedelic experience to process emotions and thoughts, deepen more body-mind connection, and enhance psychological flexibility will be fruitful whether you are a DIYer, purchase a journal/workbook, or work with a coach.

Get the Psychedelic Integration Workbook!

Psychedelic Integration Workbook: Sixty-Day Journal & Transcendence Blueprint