May Reflections
Hi friends!
Last month I went on a different type of trip. No psychedelics on board. An IRL adventure through Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau with my family.
While not psychedelic in nature, this journey was deeply consciousness expanding for me. In the past few weeks upon return, I’ve found myself working through the steps of integration that mirror those I take all my clients through after their medicine journeys.
So, for this month’s case study, you get me :)
You also get a reminder that peak experiences find us in many shapes and forms. Yes, psychedelics are one modality. But often peak experiences present to us in ways we were not expecting. Through the twists and turns of everyday life. What a gift when we can realize these for what they are and catch the reins of all the insight they leave behind.
My husband and I planned this trip as a way to reconnect with the wilder travel of our youth and to help spark this love for adventure within our boys. To work the psychedelic journey analogy, this was our loose intention going into the experience. Also analogous to psychedelic journeys, this intention set only scratched the surface of what emerged.
With my psychedelic journey clients, we anchor our integration loosely to Dr. Rosalind Watts’ ACER model. After first widening the aperture on all that took place, we then begin to narrow in on the 3-5 key “pearls of wisdom” that the journeyer wants to carry forward with them.
As I reflect on what I am carrying with me from my family’s trip to West Africa, I realize that my “pearls of wisdom” from this journey fell into the very categories that so often show up in psychedelic experiences.
Insights about relationships. Peak experiences often deepen our love and gratitude for the people we are closest to in this world. For me, this was a key element of our trip through West Africa. My family is so insanely awesome. It’s truly a gift to spend as much time with them as I possibly can. As with many psychedelic trips, this IRL journey involved some fear and uncertainty that brought this realization even more starkly into focus.
Shifted or deepened worldview. Often through more mystical psychedelic experiences, we gain insight into our own worldview and spiritual orientation. While in West Africa, I had the chance to deepen my own beliefs in animism as I witnessed cultures who have held this at the foundation of their spiritual practices for generations. I also sat with the fundamental truth that there is deep beauty and profound suffering in all human conditions.
Clarity on priorities. Peak experiences can allow us to find the signal amidst the noise. To hone in on what truly matters. Through countless hours of uninterrupted travel with nothing but my thoughts and views of humanity out a dusty van window in West Africa, key decisions about how I want to live - personally and professionally - came sharply into focus.
The essential next step of the ACER model is embodiment: how do we take our pearls of wisdom and translate them into action? This is the phase I am working through now in my own integration process of our recent adventure. As I always share with my clients, the insights are just the beginning. How we translate them into action is everything. It’s also slow, messy and non-linear work. But it’s where the magic happens. I feel so incredibly grateful for my recent journey. It was indeed a peak experience that I will be integrating for weeks and years to come.
Here are a few other articles that I’d like to share with you this month -
More evidence for neuroplasticity
A client shared with me this recent study demonstrating that the window of congnitve flexibilty lasts for up to three weeks after a single high dose psilocybin treatment. This study shines a light on the immense opportunity available during the initial integration period as we are literally laying down new thought patterns and beliefs.
Cautionary Tales
One of the psychedelic movement’s leading voices for caution,
, recently published an OpEd in the New York Times reminding us of the significant risks associated with the love affair between many of Trump’s cronies and psychedelics. It’s a bizarre turn of events that the Right has coopted this movement - one that could have real downsides for safe, mainstream adoption over the longterm.That’s it from me this month! As always, I’m here to support you on your journey. Feel free to reach out for a chat. Please also consider sharing this newsletter with anyone you think might be interested in learning more.
With love and gratitude,
Allison