Integration is a practice. –Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris

Why are we always in such a rush, even when it comes to personal development, inner work and healing? And why do we require it to look a certain way or have a specific outcome? Fast and certain invite unrealistic expectations and disappointment and leave no room for new possibilities. 

As psychedelics become the latest trend, there’s a growing perception out there, especially for those new to inner work, that a session with plant medicine is a “one and done” kind of experience. All issues and triggers will magically disappear after one session. And this from people who are usually skeptical of magic!

Yet another instance of our insatiable desire for quick fixes or “hacks” and consumerism mentality. Forcing and chasing and hacking are counter to the conscious practices and awareness that support us to live into and sustain the change we want.

Without practices focused on reflecting on the insights received, conscious awareness of what is now showing up (or not) in life; inhabiting and expanding the space within (see my previous blog post); and being more aware of triggers and having more “space” to choose to respond differently, all of which support sustaining the change; nothing sticks, not even a hack. 

This statement by Dr. Rosalind Watts, Clinical Lead for Imperial College London’s psilocybin trial at a TedX symposium, that “one, six hour session with psilocybin is equal to six YEARS of psychotherapy” is compelling, true (for some) and can be misleading if taken out of context. Integration practices post session are critical to sustaining the therapeutic healing outcomes from the session. 

Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, Head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research, Division of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, shared in a recent Huberman Lab podcast that to maximize neuroplasticity (rewiring the brain) requires “re-integration,” practices such as journaling, focusing on insights and working with a therapist and/or integration coach. This re-integration is what we in the spiritual world call doing “the work.” There’s just no getting around it to deepen and sustain outcomes.

In addition to integration practices, Dr. Carhart-Harris shares that clinical research has found that two or three repeated sessions within a certain proximity (a few weeks in clinical studies and/or in my experience, even a few months of each other) are “compelling” in achieving the most positive therapeutic outcomes. I have witnessed these repeated sessions as smoothing the ruts of old neural pathways, so new ones can be created.

I love Michael Pollan. He introduced his readers to this possibility and almost singlehandedly took psychedelics mainstream with his book, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us about Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression and Transcendence and his Netflix Series of the same name. With that came the people who want to change their minds, behaviors and lives with plant medicines and those who just want to have (“consume”) the experience. 

Even the consumers of experiences can come with a healing intention, but when it’s not magically met in one session, their disappointment is hard to bear witness to. They come face to face with their need to be in control. Wise and sneaky medicine!

In the plant medicine world, the spirit of the plant or earth medicine decides what “medicine” to bring. To fully receive the medicine and healing requires letting go, including how the message shows up and the outcome, and allowing it to do its work. Holding on to what the experience needs to look or feel like is a form of control. I invite you to sit with that for a long, perhaps uncomfortable, moment. 

That is the lesson, the message and the medicine. It may well take a few sessions along with integration practices and inner work to achieve the desired healing outcome, especially if control and resistance are in the way. 

The client looking for a quick fix, of course, rarely can receive that message because they’re focused on what they did not receive. It’s a hard but invaluable lesson to learn and life changing when realized and accepted. 

The ones, who are looking for the quick fix or hack, when faced with their expectation not being met, may blame self, setting, the medicine and/or the guide: 1) self (why didn’t I get what I wanted? there must be something wrong with me); 2) the medicine (there must have been something wrong with it, even though every one else had a profound healing experience); 3) the setting (the music was unsettling or distracting even though it was designed with purpose and intention); 4) or the guide (he/she is ultimately responsible for everything not working the way I wanted!). 

We are so good (masterful even) at not letting go of control, allowing and trusting. That way has been modeled for and taught to us. We then learned to use it to protect ourselves from being hurt or disappointed. And it is precisely what is in our way, blocking us from what we truly want from experiences and in life itself. 

“Let go and let god” is not how most of us live. When we do get there after surrendering (the “scary” word for letting go), we come to the profound and liberating realization that life doesn’t have to be so hard and exhausting and full of anxiety-producing moments. Our need for control comes from not being open to the unknown, unfamiliar and uncertain; and trusting ourselves to respond in the moment.

When we’re not forcing life experiences to be what we think they should be, we actually open to new possibilities, deeper healing and the ease of grace. And you can’t force or rush or hack that.