8 meetings - every Tuesday from 2 to 3:30pm
Starting 16th of march
$90 for 4 meetings/ $180 for the whole course
The medicine will only show what is already in you. This means that your capacity to see, connect, clear and heal has always been there. But for many reasons it can feel challenging to do this kind of work on your own. In my own experience, to be witnessed and supported by someone experienced in the integration process is paramount.
We will be working in small groups of people who share and understand your experience with the medicine. We need the support of not just the medicine, but also the practices and the community which help support and deepen this work, to continue to evolve and grow with honesty, joy and wholeness.
Experiences come and go, but a practice is something we can always go back to, something we can develop and cultivate. Through meditation and practices in compassion we will “inquire,” or continue to ask deep questions, about ourselves and our beliefs about the world. When we get skilled at asking the right questions with honesty and kindness, we get to see and become more intimate with our own pain and patterns, and also with our capacity to love and heal. Radical honesty and radical acceptance are our intentions here.
MINDFULNESS & PLANT MEDICINE INTEGRATION
Cultivating an Inner Refuge through Compassion and Self-Inquiry
What do we mean when we talk about “integration,” and why is it important?
In medicine work, as with all deep inner work, we want to be able to bring the lessons and experiences of the ceremony into our day-to-day life. If we don’t consciously do this, the danger is that the experience becomes something like a one-off “holiday” or once-in-a-lifetime “trip,” regardless of whether the ceremony was the most difficult - or magnificent - thing you’ve ever experienced (or a combination of both!).
Without proper integration, the danger can also arise that, because the initial experience was so very meaningful, we want to “chase” or repeat it, by doing ceremonies again and again... more and more. But if we are not seeing real change in our day-to-day life, in long-lasting and meaningful ways, then the true purpose – and potential – of the medicine work can be lost (or at the very least minimized, regardless of how many times we “drink”).
And so this is the true purpose of medicine work: to positively impact our “normal” lives. Which is why we often say that the most meaningful part of a medicine experience begins when you arrive home. And it’s also where the real “work” starts.
In the most practical way, how do we do this integration of the medicine experience with our regular home lives? How do we start this work?
One good way to start is by asking: What was the main theme (or themes) that came up for me during ceremony? For example, was it self-love? Trust? Fear? Forgiveness?
The next step is to ask: What are the practical ways that can I consciously work this theme or these themes into my behaviors and relationships, my work and my “play”?
During a ceremony, the medicine can show you a clear path to follow by bringing insights into current patterns and behaviors that are getting you stuck. It can do this by way of getting you more directly in touch with your traumas and fears, for example. The medicine can also give great insight into the nature of the mind, and how this can be different from a deeper or more “true” reality. All of these things can help give you a sense of your wholeness. And while some of these experiences and impressions can be eye and heart opening, others may leave you feeling unsettled and unsure. Sometimes you might catch yourself wondering if it is normal to have experienced what you experienced, or be feeling the way you feel now. (It is normal!)
Regardless, it is very important to engage actively with these concepts on a daily basis. It is up to you to do the work of consciously making time in your day to put attention towards weaving all of this wisdom and these insights into your lived relationships and daily life in a consistent way.