Psychedelics free our minds to roam. Powerful emotions—regardless of the initial impression of positive or negative—are welcome friends on a psychedelic journey. Some emotions and experiences are euphoric and fun. On the other hand, some emotions and experiences during a psychedelic journey are frightening and sad and, candidly, awful. But, all emotions and experiences can be beneficial, if—if, if, if—you are properly held both during the journey and after the journey. This article talks about being held after the journey, as you work to integrate insights into your life.

Psychedelic integration is the process—the work—of beneficially incorporating extraordinary mystical experiences into our ordinary, everyday lives. A primary reason to dive into the mystic is to tap into strong, non-ordinary emotions and experiences, so that we can examine them, understand them, and resolve them. This type of integration work leads to peace, happiness, and healing.

Emotions and experiences during a journey can be important expressions of things going on in the subconscious. On a conscious level, we often block out hard things, to get through life. That doesn’t mean, however, that our brains have forgotten about those hard things. Many bad and negative experiences live in our brains. Psychedelics allow those wounded, traumatized parts of the brain to step forward and say, “Hey, we need to do some clean up.”

Psychedelics allow the subconscious brain to identify issues, by painting vivid, metaphorical stories. These stories can help the conscious brain understand the real situation, rather than some fiction we have created. If, however, we don’t integrate these mystical experiences—if we are just taking drugs, and not really doing the work—it can just freak us out to see scary and sad scenes. We worked hard to cram down those experiences. Of course, we’ll feel anxiety, panic, and depression, to see and relive those hard things. To end the journey there would be a waste, maybe even a big step backward. Integration allows us to use those emotions and experiences to identify the cracks and scars that need to be healed.

The reason, again, that we see difficult things in the mystic (and also magnificent things) is so we can benefit from them. The benefits mostly are gained after the movie ends, through the work of integration.

If you see yourself as magnificent on your journey, integration might largely be the process of convincing your conscious brain to shed distorted and limiting views of yourself and, instead, routinely see the beauty that you saw in the mystic. Or, if you see yourself in the mystic as worthless or bad, integration might be the process of clearly understanding the limiting views you have, allowing you to address them and correct them.

Integration is not a one-size-fits-all process. Often, integration involves professionals, guides, family, friends, journaling and, maybe, podcasts, books, surprise conversations with random people at festivals, etc. Several different people might be carrying the medicine of insight, love, and understanding that you need.

Professionals—such as licensed clinical social workers and other licensed therapists—have advanced training that often is helpful in pulling out lessons from psychedelic trips. Increasingly, many licensed professionals are willing to work with clients, to help them prepare for and integrate psychedelic journeys. If yours isn’t, feel free to find a therapist who is willing to help you on your healing journey with these powerful medicines. Because of licensure concerns, most licensed professionals will not administer the medicines at this point. Rather, they will provide harm reduction services before and after your journeys. One notable exception to this is ketamine, a dissociative, which can be legally prescribed and increasingly is the starting point for many people’s healing journey.

Many experienced, but unlicensed, guides can be every bit as good as the best licensed professionals and better than many licensed professional who know little about psychedelics. To be sure, with unlicensed guides, services can be a mixed bag, ranging from amazing to amazingly bad. As in all things important, do your due diligence. Many unlicensed guides have completed advanced programs and trainings from reputable providers. Others have put in their 10,000 hours to hone their skills. And some are simply dangerous. Ask for references. Do your homework.

And don’t forget about family and friends. My favorite person to integrate with is my wife. She has no formal psychedelic training. But, she knows enough about me and my life and my previous psychedelic journeys, to allow her to point out some of the landmarks and mile-markers that help me better understand what my mind has served up. She loves me, holds me, and is deeply concerned about my wellbeing. My conversations with her are deeper and more nuanced than with any other human. No amount of training or experience could ever match that particular element of the integration process.

And, I need to mention how helpful the words and insights of regular people can be. Several times—when I thought I was just telling a funny or strange trip story—someone has blown my mind with a responsive observation or thought. This always reminds me that we all carry medicine, and we don’t know who is carrying the medicine we need.

To say it again: if we aren’t integrating our journeys, we are just doing drugs. Maybe there are times for that. If so, godspeed. If, however, we want psychedelics to help us heal and help us find peace and happiness, we have to do the work of integration.

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