Shifting Parts of Self Post Psychedelic Journey

When someone partakes in a psychedelic journey, they are able to observe from the perspective of Higher Self. The Higher self sits on top of the Crown Chakra and is our identity, the bird’s eye view who observes our inner system of parts. We all have personas that make up a system of parts the protects us and gets our needs met, and people often say “a part of me feels…” These parts are all embarking on the psychedelic journey too, and should have some connection and a voice about the process.

The first journey is getting high. The second journey is getting back down to Earth, with the opportunity to consciously reorganize the internal system. Integration is the second journey, where all the parts get to weigh in on what was made conscious. Integrating the new perspectives on the way down, means interfacing with the parts that were most affected during the first journey. They can be loud, so you may have to learn different ways to hold space for them, and they may urge you to make specific changes or actions based on the new knowledge about where you’re headed in life. If you do this, there can be grounding in whole different way, that will permanently remain.

Its often the case that some over functioning parts have not had control during the journey, aka “ego-dissolution.” They will have something to say once out of the altered state and back in ordinary state of consciousness. They need to be listened to or there will remain a lack of co-conciousness between this important part and Higher Self. The goal of therapy and psychedelics is to integrate parts of self so that the one unit is more whole, not keep an internally fractured structure functioning with lack of resources or isolated.

Integration is a time that tired parts of us can move through the unburdening process. All of the parts are gaining consciousness they did not have before, like a small child learning something new, creating new brainpathways and beliefs. Some may be shocked, resistent to change, relieved, or any number of feelings. Move through this period with grace, curiosity, openness and support from psychedelically friendly people.

The integration period is very difficult and takes time and energy. Let creative energy flow; let yourself cry, journal, enjoy doing art, swim, yoga, mountain bike, reorganize closets, create new bank accounts, approach relationships with curiosity, listen to your intuition and find the outlet you need. These practices post psychedelic journey are permanently reorganizing a part of self so that your internal system functions more optimally. Integrate in those few days after, as well as weeks and months.

Kimberly Drew, MA, LPC

What is Integration?

“Integration” is a term that is often used to describe the integration period after a macro psychedelic journey. But this concept absolutely applies to psychotherapy and spiritual practice as well.

Mirror Pond Counseling offers “psychedelic integration” and “psycho-spiritual integration” meaning we are open to weaving insights and resources into therapy that come from your spiritual tradition and/or your psychedelic journeys. Integration is so incredibly important in both of these practices, both spiritual and psychedelic!

It is the real “work,” that makes therapy and journeys change our lives. There should be lifestyle changes, that accompany therapy and journey work, if not, there is a danger of the relationships becoming codependent and another form of the patterns in which we want to transcend.

Integration is a concept in which we weave spiritual truths that our Higher Self becomes aware of, into our concrete life. Non tangible realities are embodied, implemented into our daily habits and manifested in the physical Earth realm. What happens internally? Parts concerned with survival and protection, are finally able to raise their consciousness, digest that higher truth, which could be an orientation to the current time, which allows concrete changes to occur. Like making a new bank account, buying different food, or communicating with different technology.

The style of therapy that Mirror Pond Counseling offers, intentionally and unapologetically opens spiritual spaces for clients to journey, in order to reach deeper healing than the clinical or evidence-based model. It is very important to ground spiritual information, often termed “downloading.” A download when grounded in our lives, becomes permanent! It is inherently a new spiritual creation that is embodied in us, and does not need continuous work to maintain.

Creating or opening up new spiritual space is a bold adventure. A psychedelic journey assists in opening the brain networks, to make it possible to enter into a new spiritual space as a catalyst to start the integration process, which may continue in therapy, especially if there is “looping” or a relentless pattern that is elusive or takes different forms. The healing process should intentionally interrupt it or work with it to creatively continue to transform the energy of it into something else. Its a wild healing journey!

Integration is the difference between psychedelics and therapy working or not working. Everyone wants off the hamster wheel, and that involves integrating these experiences and insights between sessions. Immersing the mind, body and spirit in our daily lives with curiosity.

Integration can be instantaneous, a long multi-stage ego transformation, ongoing karmic evolution, or anything in between :) We are always on a path towards transformation, so it’s important when preparing for counseling or a journey, to celebrate successes when they happen. Always journal the moment that it hits you, and how your life

Kimberly Drew, MA, LPC

Spiritual & Psychedelic Integration in Therapy

Where we shine at Mirror Pond Counseling, is helping our clients to prepare and integrate their psychedelic journey. It is a great idea to have a relationship with a trained psychedelic therapist who can help you integrate wisdom gained from the journey into real life.

Especially if new to psychedelics, it is usually a good idea to establish a relationship with a therapist who has training in psychedelic medicine. This way, once the ceremony or administration session ends, your therapist has some history and perspective to help with the integration of the experience on a psychological level. Read blog post: Shifting Parts Post Journey. Most importantly, the ongoing work with your therapist, will help ground the journey and follow through with those important lifestyle changes that will ultimately help holistically mitigate persistent depression, anxiety, and PTSD. The integration work with a therapist will also include the clinical, evidence-based tools that can support relentless parts of self or patterns to find relief faster.

Mirror Pond Counseling is not a prescriber of any medication. We remain within our scope, committed to harm reduction, legal and licensed healing spaces. Although we will not prescribe, we can support you working with a prescriber who holds a schedule 3 license to prescribe Ketamine, or a facilitator who is licensed in the State of Oregon to facilitate psilocybin sessions.

Ketamine is a great example of how multiple journeys can be prescribed and completed, without lasting change in symptoms. This is often because there is a lack of integrating the experience, and often a problem with set and setting support. Our therapists can support the psychedelic traveller in the following ways: assessing ego structure prior to entering into the medicine space (we use the Table Technique), setting a clear as well as flexible intention, initially clearing traumas and connecting parts of self that may otherwise be resistent to the medicine space.

As therapists, we take thorough history, co-create a unique spiritual space, routinely assess activation and resistance within the EMDR structure, among many other things. Many of the tools we use as therapists can easily be used to support the medicine space as well, for harm reduction and also a greater likelihood of results and bang for your buck (journeys are not cheap).

The space to process challenging psychedelic trips has not typically lead to transmuting trauma within the context of a therapeutic relationship. But it is certainly happening now! Therapists are both destigmatizing and committed to reducing harm.

A trained psychedelic therapist is holistic and nuanced. They can support a journeyer in all of these ways, when truly partnering with the medicine (yes, we can do that indirectly without touching the substance). We can support in past awful experiences, beautiful soul-opening experiences, and new journeyers within the legal framework who are curious to learn more. We need therapists who can help heal psychological symptoms that have persisted for years by partnering with the medicine and the community of psychedelic providers.

Mirror Pond Counseling is really excited to do just that!

Kimberly Drew, MA, LPC

Why EMDR Therapy?

Talk therapy is only the beginning of healing. Talk therapy is co-creating a new spiritual container with your therapist, which should be strong energetically, to hold the work you are about to do. The first part of the container involve the phone call and paperwork. Signing the documentation agrees to a specific container the therapist is offering to hold. The next piece is bringing what you want to look at into the container to be acknowledged. Insight and awareness can be gained in these first steps, but there is no reorganization of the way trauma is held in the body.

Sometimes talk therapy can get redundant, and ends up trying to make sense of pain, get rid of a symptom, or fix a situation like a mechanic would use a wrench to tighten a screw. But that is not how transformation happens, which is why the term “alchemizing” is often used. Its taking intense energy that can be channelled more adaptively, so we reorganize the molecular structure, to channel it into a new form of operating.

We offer EMDR therapy to take talk therapy to the next level, and alchemize that intense energy. The movement of bilateral stimulation simulates REM cycle in which brain pathways are formed after an experience. EMDR connects trauma memories to the adaptive part of the brain. EMDR claims to create new physiological brain pathways, so you could say the emotion that triggers, literally has an adaptive place to go, which is into a part of the brain that holds a positive cognition, instead of the cutoff/fractured part of the brain that is holding a negative cognition.

The “trauma sequence” is a brain pathway that has a habit of firing off when any semblance of danger is perceived and the old negative cognition, regarding the self, surfaces. Someone can have a long history of feeling these emotions and beliefs, even when their lives are going wonderfully. They are not able to fully perceive their beautiful life and be grateful for what they have.

EMDR relies on the higher self of the person, who is empowered to float back to the memories that first created the trauma sequence. This allows our clients to confront the source of their fears as an adult, from a perspective that views the self as capable of withstanding that energy and finishing out the healing process. These trauma sequences can also be seen from an ancestral lens, working out karma inherited and held that is older than the physical body. On a spiritual level, this can bring a massive amount of catharsis, realizing that the healing work has not been in vain, and one family member has power, when called, to heal a family line, a collective trauma.

EMDR is a very powerful tool in reorganizing the held energy of trauma into a more adaptive response, which ultimately transforms into a unique spiritual strength.