@slimesunday

INTEGRATION GUIDE WITH REFLECTIONS AND

INQUIRY FOR INTEGRATION PROCESS

By Tricia Eastman + Joseph Barsuglia, PhD.

“The one who is looking for knowledge is like an arrow shot towards the sun. If that arrow ever
touches the sun, it will not come back; but if it touches the sun and comes back to earth, it will no
longer be an arrow.”

- Dogon wisdom

Integration
Integration refers to the process of assimilating the mind, body, and spirit after an
entheogenic experience for the purpose of wellbeing and growth. This process involves
extracting meaning from your experience, and applying any downloads or insights you
receive into your life.

Dedicating Time to Yourself

First and foremost, allow yourself the time and space for integration. It is easy to get
swept into the busyness of our daily routines and not give ourselves time to rest, reflect,
and engage in new practices. Those with fast paced lifestyle will find it most helpful to
intentionally dedicate time in their schedule for integration and relaxation in the days
and weeks after this experience. We’ve found the following practices helpful, but
remember to trust your intuition during this process. Try what you feel will serve you
best, and be gentle with yourself throughout the process. Use this time to journal or
engage in some of the practices suggested in this article.

Extracting Meaning from Your Experience

Trust that this experience is not limited to the small amount of time in which you are
under the influence of the medicine; this is a process that naturally unfolds over the
subsequent days and weeks after the ceremony. It is therefore helpful to avoid the
tendency to very quickly over-rationalize and ascribe meaning to the
experience. Expressing yourself nonverbally can be a great way to process the
experience without overly relying on your rational, thinking self. Engaging in art therapy,
dance, and other creative practices that speak to you can be helpful in this regard.

Reflections and Inquiry for Integration Process

Body/Physical:

1. What strong sensations did I feel?

 2. Did anything thaw, awaken, connect in a new way in my body?

3. What bodily sensations do I want to revisit, anchor, nourish from my journey?

4. Where did I notice areas of holding, blockage, or disconnection?

Review or scan where areas of freeze, fight, flight, fright, faint residues may have
been present.

5. What physical practices/rituals or forms of expression will be most essential for

me to utilize, based upon the physical awareness that I gained?

Consider areas of my body that may need attention, healing, therapy, rest, or
strengthening.

Emotion/Feeling:

1. What emotional experience wanted to have airtime, be felt, or given a voice in my

journey?

2. What emotional experiences emerged that were outside of my usual day-to-day

range of experience?

3. What were the peak emotional states that I experienced which will empower me
moving forward?

Connect any language, image, sensation or anchor to this, and revisit this/ bring
in meditation.

4. What emotional challenges was I presented with? How can I continue to revisit,
explore or work through these areas or themes?
 5. What are some ways that I can continue to allow space and provide expression
or voice for the emotions that emerged in my journey?

Relational/Interpersonal:

1. What individuals showed up in my journey? Who appeared or came to mind?

2. Was there any unfinished business, resolution, healing, expressions of gratitude,

or insight that emerged in my journey connected to who appeared?

Consider waiting on any interpersonal action for several weeks or months, until
fully digested or have a sense of clarity, balance, and appropriate time/context.
However, helpful to reflect upon what may want to be shared.

3. If any individuals showed up, consider relationships in terms of conscious level of

engagement. Who do I consciously want more of in my life, who do I need to let
go of, or release? What relationships do I need to nourish, or have more distance
from?

4. Were there any threads connected to my lineage, ancestors, deceased relatives

that emerged?

Consider any patterns, resources, strengths, wisdom, trauma, and support

5. Consider any links to parents, caregivers and siblings that emerged. What did
you receive in relationship to your family? Are there any truths to anchor,
resolutions to make, experiences to accept, or shifts to make in my relationship
with my family?

6. What awareness did I receive about love, sex, or partnership

(past/present/future)?

Timeline/Timeless Dimension:
 1. Were there any waves of experience that felt connected to my past? Any levels
of experience from my past self that emerged that may want to be reclaimed?

2. What experiences emerged that felt connected to this year or my present

situation?

3. Were there threads of experience that felt connected to my future? Was there
any awareness or insight pulling me towards a future timeline, or a more
expansive iteration of my current way of being?

4. Were there any themes around my birth or death that emerged? How can this
inform my present or day-to-day awareness?

5. Were there elements of timelessness or awareness regarding time that I

experienced that could be important to my waking consciousness or daily
relationship to time and the present moment?

6. Did anything arise that felt connected to prior to birth or past lives?

Symbolic Realm:

1. What images, imagery, colors, or visions was I presented with?

2. Which visions or imagery felt most significant?

3. Was there any imagery that was disturbing, difficult or challenging? How can I
contextualize, integrate these?
 4. Was anything that emerged in my journey connected with my dream life?

5. Are there any images or visions that would feel meaningful for me to express in
visual form? (E.g., drawing, art, painting, film or other media?)

6. How did the images that emerge connect to my intentions?

Review intentions and meditate on any visual experience that can through, and
reflect on how these may be symbolically connected to inform your intentions or
questions for this journey.

Personal or Self Dimension:

1. How did I experience or see myself? Was there any new awareness or insight
about my identity, who I am, or how I see myself?

2. Were there any surprises about myself and how I expressed myself in this
healing or connected state?

3. Were there dormant, forgotten, or disowned parts of myself that emerged or

came to life?

4. In light of my journey, is there anything I need to let go of? Anything I need to

forgive myself for? Any areas I need to give myself a break?

5. Were there any aspects of myself that want to be witnessed, validated,

celebrated, nourished, nurtured, or congratulated?
 6. Were there any aspects or awareness of myself that came through that felt like a
higher-self, divine self, or fully liberated self? How can I embody these more or
give them expression?

Transpersonal/ Spiritual Level:

1. Did any themes arise that felt connected to the spiritual realm, higher
dimensions, or other planes of existence?

2. Did I receive any universal or transcendent messages, energies, information or

awareness?

3. Was there any content pertaining to humanity, the earth, the planet, or the
broader human collective?

4. What did I experience that felt familiar to my prior spiritual understanding, beliefs,
or experiences? What did I experience that felt foreign or novel to my spiritual
understanding? Anything that challenged my spiritual preconceptions?

5. Was there any experience of self as connected to a broader collective, unitive

consciousness, source or greater intelligence? How might this inform my daily
awareness?

6. Did I receive any awareness about my spiritual dharma, mission, purpose or

reason for being?

Reconnecting with the Medicine

This experience oftentimes is a beautiful reminder of our inextricable connection to
spirit. Incorporating this realization back into day-to-day life is the real meat of the
process; the “ceremony between ceremonies.” The good news is that in the days and
weeks after this experience, it is generally easier to foster a stronger connection with
source and your true nature. As part of your integration, aim to develop and maintain a
daily self-care practice, if you don’t have one already. A self-care practice provides a
strong foundation for your integration work. The practices outlined below can be helpful
in reconnecting with the essence of the medicine experience. Please note that this is
not an exhaustive list, so follow your heart and choice a practice that suits you.

Meditation

• There are numerous forms of meditation, from Vipassana to loving-kindness, so

choose a practice that resonates with you. Below are some helpful tips.
• Working with this medicine may uncover or dislodge repressed emotions, so pay
attention to any emotions that arise. If uncomfortable emotions or memories rise
to the surface, compassionately allow them to be, and avoid resisting them.
Remember that “what resists persists.” Over time, the natural intelligence of your
body will clear out toxic emotional energy and trauma, if you hold a
compassionate space and allow whatever comes up.
• Some people may experience “re-activation” back into the medicine state during
meditation or during other times in which their mind and body is deeply relaxed,
such as before falling asleep. This can be a very beautiful and helpful experience
to further your processing and integration. The most important point is to allow
whatever comes up to simply exist, exactly as it presents itself. Drop into a space
where you can compassionately accept whatever presents itself in the
moment. See the section further below titled “Re-Activation” for more information.

How to Start a New Meditation Practice

• If you're starting a new practice, consider taking baby steps. Research led by
Stanford behavioral scientist BJ Fogg demonstrates that starting with small
behavioral changes and then gradually scaling up is a much more sustainable
method compared to forcing major behavioral changes that require significant,
ongoing willpower to maintain.
• On this note, if you're brand new to meditation, consider starting with 3 minutes
per day and maintaining that for 2 weeks. After that, increase to 5 minutes a day
for another week or two. Aim for what feels like an easily achievable amount of
meditation that you are 100% sure you can maintain for a few weeks. After you
get past the initial 30- to 60-day hump of resistance, it'll be much easier to stick
with 10-20+ minutes per day.
• If you find that meditating by yourself is a difficult habit to start, try joining a local
meditation group a few days a week. Social support can help you stick to this
new practice.
• Flotation Therapy (aka Floating) is another helpful method to get in the habit of
meditation, and floating has unique benefits in addition to the already significant
 benefits of regular meditation. There is also something to be said about the fact
that you must pay for the float sessions and schedule them in advance – this
may provide the extra motivation needed to jumpstart your practice.
• With floating, the research points to significant reductions in anxiety and
depression from a series of regular float sessions completed within close
succession (ie. 2-3 floats a week for a period of 6-8 weeks). Consider doing
several float sessions within 2 months and then scaling back or stopping the
floating after that period of time. After the first 1.5 - 2 months of regular floating,
most people can scale back the number of floats they do and still maintain those
benefits. This video explains the current state of research on flotation therapy.
• There are many meditation centers that offer free or donation-based meditation.
You may visit meetup.com or search for meditation in your area.

Sound Healing, Shamanic Drumming, Sweatlodge, Reiki, Breathwork, Qi Gong

• All of these healing practices can help open up the space to reconnect with the
spirit world, and the energy of the medicine. Set an intention to reconnect with
the medicine before starting these practices, and practice maintaining a state of
open, compassionate awareness with whatever arises.
• Be aware that any type of healing modality that creates an altered state of
consciousness can potentially create a “reactivation” where you may experience
a more subtle but similar feeling to the medicine that you worked with prior or it
could open up some additional energetic “purging” where the body releases
trauma stored in the body.

Social Connection and Professional Guidance

• It is helpful to have someone in your life with whom you can openly share
what you experienced, and what you're currently going through. We are social
beings, and having the space to let ourselves be seen and heard is very
therapeutic. Consider asking a close friend to listen to you deeply, with
compassion. Simply being able to express yourself openly and authentically can
help with emotional processing.
• If you do not have such a person in your life, consider working with a coach or
therapist with psychedelic integration experience.
• There are many groups that have regular talks, events, and meetings around
psychedelic use. You can check Meetup.com for local groups in your area.
• Here are two resources for professional integration:
• Shamanic Integration Program: https://www.psychedelicjourneys.com/integration/
• MAPS Therapist List: http://www.maps.org/resources/psychedelic-integration-list

Helpful Practices for Grounding

Embodiment Practice

• Physical activity can be very helpful in grounding the experience into your body,
especially since exercise can get you into a flow state. If you find yourself in a
high state of activation in the days following the experience, it can be helpful to
try more rigorous forms of exercise to get out of your head and into your body.
The idea is to drop from your mind into your body, so that somatic processing
may occur more rapidly. Many people are capable of being "in their head" during
a walk or light jog, so consider exercises that get you into a deeper state of flow,
such as vinyasa yoga, ecstatic dance, high intensity interval training, surfing, love
making, etc.

Warm Baths, Sauna Use, Cold Showers, and Cryotherapy

• A warm bath is a very approachable way to ground back into your body after this
experience. Adding mineral salts such as Epsom salt can induce extra relaxation.
• Sauna use, cold showers, and cryotherapy are very helpful for rapidly grounding
back into your body, although they are more physically demanding compared to
a warm bath. Use your judgment and research any health contraindications
before attempting the latter three practices.
• Be aware of the bodies’ hydration levels before engaging in any practice with
extreme heat or cold. Some psychedelics can be dehydrating. Rehydrate the
body in advance with fresh coconut water, low-sugar electrolyte enhanced
beverages, spring water and for more extreme cases IV hydrations drips.

Acupuncture

• This medicine opens up your energy channels, and so a lot of energy may be
flowing through your subtle body in the days after the experience. If you find
yourself having trouble sleeping, consider a few sessions of acupuncture, as it
can have a balancing and grounding effect on the body. Let
the acupuncturist know that you are having a lot of energy flowing through you
right now, and that you're looking for assistance with getting back into a healthy
sleep rhythm.

The Power of Touch

• Physical touch is a vitally important perquisite in human development, and it is
something that many of us lack in our day-to-day lives. The feeling of being held
and touched is extremely nurturing and grounding, and so it can be very helpful
after your experience. Even hugs help release Oxytocin, which is If you do not
have a partner to cuddle with, consider booking a massage or a reiki healing
session that incorporates touch.

Emotional Awareness
In modern culture we rarely take the time to experience our emotions and even slow
down to process the things that happen in life. Death, breakups, and other major shifts
in life end up storing in our bodies. Also some of us were taught at a vey early age that
it was not safe to express emotions like sadness or anger. This backlog of emotions
attached to these events is what comes up in these powerful healing experiences
through various forms of purging such as laughing, crying, shaking, and throwing up.
As we build emotional awareness, this can help us to identify the emotions coming up
and give proper time to process them. Rather, than storing them in the mind, body, and
nervous system. Therapies such as Somatic Experiencing, Hakomi, Organic
Intelligence, and Sensory Motor Therapy can be incorporated into your life to give you
tools for opening up the awareness and releasing the stored energy. Working with a
trained practioner, over time one can develop a deeper awareness and understanding
of their emotions.

Grounding Foods

• Eating comfort foods can be helpful in grounding. Foods that we've seen to be
particularly helpful include: warm soup and stews, bone broth, pasture-raised
bison meat, root vegetables, beets, burdock root, and dandelion root tea.

Supplement Recommendations for Grounding and Sleep

• Some people have trouble sleeping and staying asleep in the nights following the
experience. The following supplements may help with sleep:
o Magnesium
§ Most people are deficient in this essential mineral which helps us to
relax and supports the nervous system. Dosage range is between
100 mg-500 mg. Note: Some people have digestive sensitivity to
large doses
o Magnesium Glycinate
§ Magnesium Glycinate is a bioavailable form of magnesium, and
taking it within 30 minutes of bedtime can aid in sleep onset. The
usual recommendation is 400mg daily.
o Glycine
§ Glycine is an amino acid that can improve sleep quality. Consider
taking between 2000-4000mg of glycine 30 minutes before
bedtime. Glycine is extremely well tolerated and there’s an
argument to be made that most people (and animals) run a chronic
deficit of glycine. Here’s a technical discussion on this topic.
o PharmaGABA
§ PharmaGABA is a more bioavailable form of the calming
neurotransmitter GABA. Consider taking 500-2000mg before bed to
 help with relaxation and sleep onset. This supplement can also be
taken during the day, but be aware that it may cause drowsiness.
Start small and scale up from there, and research any possible
health contraindications before starting.

Warning: Taking Melatonin can reactive the effects of certain tryptamines such a
DMT or 5MEO DMT, which will affect being able to sleep. Forgo taking Melatonin
in the first night or 2 following ceremony.

Things to Consider Avoiding:

Stimulants and Psychoactive Substances

• Alcohol
o Alcohol can shut down the newfound awareness that arises after these
experiences, dulling the positive after-effects and slowing any additional
healing and insights received after the experience.
• Stimulants
o It is wise to avoid stimulants and psychoactive drugs after this experience,
especially in the days immediately after the experience. One of the goals
of integration is to ground into your body. Stimulants such as caffeine,
nicotine, amphetamines, etc. push you out of touch with the natural
rhythms of your body, which can be counterproductive to somatic and
emotional processing.
§ Quick note about tobacco: When used properly, tobacco can be a
helpful ally to assist with grounding. It itself is a master plant and is
regularly used in conjunction with plant medicines. Remember that
you should always use this plant with intention; the unconscious,
casual use of tobacco will not extend the same benefits as the
mindful, intentional use of this sacred plant.
• Cannabis
o In general, cannabis is helpful for some after a psychedelic experience,
but please note that cannabis use can re-activate the experience. It is
therefore best to use cannabis wisely and with intention. If you find that
cannabis numbs or blunts your awareness than try discontinuing use for at
least 30 days. If, on the other hand, you find that it opens you up and
helps you build a stronger connection with source and divinity, then feel
free to continue using it. It's best to start small after the experience, as
cannabis these days can be very potent.
o CBD, the non-THC kind only, generally is calming for the nervous system
and can help the body to ground after a powerful medicine experience.

Further Reading and Resources:

You may find the following resources to be helpful:

Kundalini Awakening book

Earthing Book

The Science of Grounding

Grounding Chi Gong Exercise 1

Grounding Chi Gong Exercise 2

Eight Things To Do After You’ve Taken Psychedelics