The psychedelic experience is one of the most powerful Embodied Pathways. Psychedelics have always been an important part of spiritual practice. Many Indigenous peoples have centuries of experience with psychedelic sacraments, and it’s almost certain that they were fundamental to the Eleusinian Mysteries of the Ancient Greeks. When psychedelics first arrived in modern Western culture in the 1950s, people like Aldous Huxley and Alan Watts claimed that they can get us to the same states of consciousness as decades of meditation practice. Soon after, Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (later known as Ram Dass) promoted the use of LSD as a spiritual sacrament.
“[A person] is as much the Universe outside the skin as the system of organs within it.”
Alan Watts, 1963
A psychedelic experience can be a powerful way to deepen our sense of connectedness – to ourselves and to others. Albert Hofmann, who discovered LSD, wrote that his experiences revealed “a new picture of reality,” and he “became aware of the wonder of creation, the magnificence of nature and of the animal and plant kingdom”. Robin Carhart-Harris, who is one of the leading psychedelic researchers, concluded that “connectedness is the key” to mental wellbeing and thinks that it may explain why psychedelic psychotherapy is so effective. Not everyone who uses psychedelics will access that deep connection, but there are ways to make it more likely: Proper preparation before the trip and integration afterwards are vital. If this is done right, a psychedelic experience can be life-changing.
My Psychedelic Integration coaching is grounded in the principles of the embodied pathways of connection.