The headphones/eye-mask direct-your-attention–inwards whilst–listening–to–a–playlist–of–music method for psilocybin sessions is the standard in psychedelic research but becoming increasingly popular outside of clinical studies too.
Two key pieces of equipment for a standard therapeutic journey
Whilst this is certainly not the only way of having a fruitful psychedelic session, it is an excellent one and one that I myself use regularly. It is also the basis for how we conduct our psilocybin truffle ceremonies with New Moon Psychedelic Retreats in the Netherlands.
However, with COVID-19 bringing our retreats to a screeching halt, I’ve realised that if I’m to continue my mission of increasing access to psychedelic experiences, I need to get back to handing over the tools and techniques needed for them out to the world through that incredible medium whose potentialities and capabilities are now being rediscovered and ever expanded; the internet. So, expect a rekindling of this site and a growing database of resources coming your way whilst retreat work takes a back seat.
Today, I’ll share a simple checklist for things you’ll need to have ready for a psychedelic therapy session at home. I use this list myself every time I do a session, so you know it’s good to go 😉
If you’re new to psychedelics, Tripsafe’s How To Take Shrooms is worth your attention.
Use wisely, be safe, don’t break the law, and all the other usual disclaimers and warnings.
I wish you the best on your journey.
Simple Home Session Checklist
☐ The material
☐ Water (2x bottles)
☐ Snacks (Fruits, nuts, chocolate)
☐ Notepad & pen
☐ Tissues / handkerchief
☐ Headphones (charged if wireless and/or noise cancelling)
☐ Charged music player with music/playlists downloaded offline and ready
☐ Eye mask
☐ Extra blankets/sleeping bag ready
☐ Vomit bucket
☐ Food/meal for afterwards
Printable PDF version available for download here (Follow link then click download button towards the top right)
https://mapsofthemind.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG_9853.jpg13332000John Robertsonhttp://mapsofthemind.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/MAPS-MIND-LOGO-29.pngJohn Robertson2020-05-21 14:19:282022-07-22 14:47:15A Simple Checklist For Psychedelic Therapy Sessions At Home
If you are a psychedelic integration coach, provider or just interested in becoming one, this piece shares five best practices when providing services and helping others with their integration process.
Here are the contents, I’ll expand on each point below.
Understand What You Are Practicing
Manage Expectations
Don’t Be The Arbiter Of Truth
Don’t Assume (You’ve Had The Same Experience)
Seek Continued Development
Credits
Before beginning, I’d like to acknowledge that this piece is pulled from my notes from workshops, webinars and presentations on the topic. Primarily, from an excellent webinar on integration hosted by MAPS last summer which featured two people I consider leaders in the field: Marc Aixalà, and Ingmar Gorman. Some is also taken from a workshop with Ingmar at Insight Conference in Berlin last year. You can find out more about them at the bottom of this post.
Alright, let’s get into it!
1. Understand What You Are Practicing
Integration is a broad term and will look very different depending on a person’s needs. One factor in determining a person’s needs is when you see them in relation to their psychedelic experience.
In this scale from Ingmar, we see that there is the post acute psychedelic effect on the left end, and long term psychotherapy on the right.
The post acute psychedelic effect on the far left would be the hours and days directly following an experience, sometimes known as the ‘afterglow’ period, where as on the far right it would be a long term and ongoing therapeutic relationship.
Working on a psychedelic retreat where you are with people directly after their experience, for example, will be on the far left of the scale. If you are conducting a follow up call two weeks later, you will be closer to the middle. If you are working with someone in an ongoing process over many months and years, you will be on the right side.
Another factor to consider is how a person is doing following the experience: did it bring difficulties or benefits?
On this scale from Marc, we see the different ideas of what could constitute integration, from dealing with undesired effects (e.g. emergence of repressed traumatic memories) to maximising benefits (e.g. greater sense of peace, connectedness, more mental clarity).
Working on the left end of the scale requires more specialisation and looks more like a clinical practice, whereas further to the right could look more like coaching.
Knowing where you are practicing on these scales should inform your approach and help you to know what you are capable of doing. For example, for a therapist, empathy alone is not sufficient; a capacity to recognise what is happening with transference and countertransference and how to respond to that, is also necessary.
Although they can be combined, integration and psychotherapy could be very different processes, so be clear about which you are doing. Acknowledge your level of expertise and limitations, and be ready to refer when helping someone effectively is outside of your scope.
2. Manage Expectations
Psychedelics are getting hyped. Retreats are the new trend. Trips are the latest ‘cure all’. Stories of seemingly overnight change in the media are backed by incredible results from clinical studies.
A desire for fast change is fed by our cultural leanings to quick fixes and instant gratification and the idea of a ‘magic bullet’ is very appealing and draws many people to psychedelics.
Coming back to reality after a ceremony or retreat, and the realistic pace of change, can bring a surprising realisation that there is continued work to be done.
The non-linear rate of improvement after an experience can fall short of people’s expectations, and this can lead to disappointment and frustration.
Falling back into old ways, as often happens on a path of growth, can also bring a sense of failure.
Handling these challenges can be handled well by managing expectations and bringing them to a realistic level.
Of course, hope is an important factor in the process.
So how does one manage expectations whilst maintaining a sense of hope?
It is very useful to first try to understand, what is their expectation of the outcome?
If expectations are high, then balance bringing them to a more realistic level with keeping a sense of optimism and hope.
10 Years of Therapy Insight
It’s often heard that psychedelic sessions are ‘like 10 years of therapy’ or ’10 years of transformation’. Sat next to me at Ingmar’s workshop in Berlin, Marlene Rupp of the excellent Sapiensoup put it perfectly in more real terms: ’10 years of insight’.
Insight isn’t worth much until it is realised and actualised in the world; when it is integrated. There is a big difference between understanding a profound truth and embodying it. We could all read a quote from a text or book, but getting to the place of living in accordance with that wisdom is something else. This takes time and effort, something useful to recall in managing expectations.
A useful way of putting it that Marc shared is:
“You will have an experience. That experience can be very useful, if you do something with it.”
3. Don’t Be The Arbiter Of Truth
It can be the case that a repressed or traumatic memory is recovered during a psychedelic session. For example, abuse from a family member.
In this scenario, the person who has experienced or re-experienced the memory may ask you if it is true, if it really happened.
Even if they don’t say it in words, they may in one way or another be fishing for a confirmation on the validity of their memory.
When it comes to recovered memories, the advice is simple: if you are in any way asked about their validity, do not confirm one way or the other.
The only correct answer you can give is ‘I don’t know’. A false confirmation one way or the other can have seriously negative consequences.
Worth mentioning here is Elizabeth Loftus and her groundbreaking work on false memories, including recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse – very interesting stuff for those inclined.
In general, be very careful when interpreting others’ experiences. This leads us nicely on to…
4. Don’t Assume (You’ve Had The Same Experience)
Someone comes to you who has recently had deep and powerful mushroom trip. Perfect, you’ve had many deep and powerful mushroom trips so you know exactly what they’re going through.
Not so fast.
Just because you’ve consumed the same substance as someone else, be it ayahuasca, truffles, acid or any other, it doesn’t mean that you’ve had the same experience. It doesn’t mean they were even remotely similar.
No matter how many similarities there may be, you can’t assume you’ve had the same experience. The width and variety of psychedelic (and life) experience should never be underestimated.
That Don Miguel was on to something
Now of course, there can be similarities (and if so, great, because then your experience and learnings will be more easily translated to the other person). But if there are, then try to uncover them with non-directive questioning and patient listening, rather than assuming them from the start and then reaching them skewed by confirmation bias.
When it comes to asking questions, I personally try to take the approach of a non-judgemental exploration characterised by curiosity – seeing the interaction as a means to explore the person’s inner world alongside them. Rather than knowing and leading, trying to go deeper and uncover more.
As an integration coach, it isn’t necessary to share your own personal psychedelic experiences. After all, this isn’t about you. What is more important is that you let them know that you understand the challenges they are facing.
Be A Good Listener
On this point I think it’s useful to emphasize the importance of being a good listener.
“There are three things you can do to help someone. The first is to listen. The second is to listen. The third is to listen some more.”
When you find yourself talking, WAIT. That is, remember the acronym: W. A. I. T. Why Am I Talking?
From Ingmar’s workshop at Insight Conference 2019
5. Seek Continued Development
Continued and sustained effort is fundamental to becoming great at anything. As Goenka would say; diligence, patience, and persistence.
As I’ve mentioned before, I believe the best way to learn comes from a combination of both study and practice, so read plenty, and seek practice where you can.
However, this final point is a tricky one. As psychedelic integration is a nascent field, there aren’t really any obvious ways to go about further development. By contrast, if you want to become a psychotherapist, for example, there are some pretty clear roadmaps to do so. How to become an integration provider on the other hand, isn’t so clear.
Globally, our only long standing traditions around using psychedelics have survived through indigenous cultures – e.g. Native American Indians, Amazonian tribes – where practice has never been totally discontinued and knowledge around practices has been passed down through ancestral lineage.
Because of the preservation of practices in those cultures, experiences are naturally integrated in to their communities. For this reason, they don’t really have models for integration that are applicable to us in the West. Here, psychedelics have only recently begun to emerge as a tool for awareness, growth and therapeutic application, and as such are not integrated in our society.
Though we currently lack these systems, they are on the way. In the meantime, seek education and practice where you can; go to workshops, start a circle, learn in related areas e.g. breathwork, mindfulness, support group and community building. Marc gave a couple hints: become a good listener, and become a good therapist in whatever school you’re comfortable in.
You can find some useful and related resources in this post:
If you have any further tips, resources, or ideas, feel free to get in contact.
Thanks for reading and have a great day.
.
Resources & Credit:
As promised above, here is more information on Marc and Ingmar. I’ve been lucky enough to attend in person workshops with both, a tripsitting workshop in 2017 by Marc in Copenhagen and an integration one with Ingmar last year in my home city of Berlin. They both have a lot of experience in the field and I’d recommend both as good sources of information.
Marc Aixalà is an engineer, psychologist, psychotherapist and certified Holotropic Breathwork facilitator, specialized in supporting people who face challenging situations after experiencing non-ordinary states of consciousness. He coordinates support and integration services at ICEERS. You can find out more about ICEERS here.
Last year I was lucky enough to meet the legendary Dennis McKenna at the World Ayahuasca Conference. As a huge and long time fan of his, it was truly a great moment in my journey in the psychedelic world.
So, in the presence of one of the most influential figures in the psychedelic world, what question did I ask?
Well, Dennis said it was a good question (yeah!) and didn’t disappoint with his answer.
You can hear my question and Dennis’ answer in the video below.
Video credit: Kate Kifa.
Thanks to ICEERS for organising such a great conference and granting me access to the media room.
P.S.
If you are looking for a great psychedelic book, check out The Brotherhood Of The Screaming Abyss. Absolutely one of my favourite psychedelic books, it is Dennis’ account of an incredible story.
He honestly shares mistakes he’s made on his journey and tells tales with refreshing humour. It includes great chapters on Eliade and Jung, and is notably interesting in its documentation of how the psychedelic movement has developed in the West since the 60s.
Go, read!
https://mapsofthemind.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/mckenna-screenshot.png13402343John Robertsonhttp://mapsofthemind.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/MAPS-MIND-LOGO-29.pngJohn Robertson2020-03-20 17:37:182021-06-04 09:15:16On Developing The Psychedelic Movement – Dennis McKenna
What’s the best way to prepare for a psychedelic experience?
When I ask this question, what I mean is: how can one prepare in a way that will maximise the positive benefits of an inner journey; the insights, increased awareness, a greater sense of connection and wellbeing, and all those other magical things you’ve probably heard that psychedelics can do.
In this post, I will outline some practices and techniques that I believe constitute a preparation that, if undertaken, considerably improves the chances of these benefits.
Prepare well for the journey, there is a long road ahead.
Preparing the ‘Set’
When it comes to shaping a psychedelic experience, there are two key words: set and setting. Set refers to mindset and setting means the environment. This post is not complete in this regard and will focus on the set; the inner state of the individual. It will focus on preparing the mind.
The practices and techniques covered here are:
Meditation
Journaling
The Photo Trip
Life Timeline
Forming An Intention
Clearing
Meditation
Familiarising yourself with mindfulness techniques and developing a meditation practice is always my number one recommendation for session prep.
The potential benefit of meditation is twofold.
The first is to relieve anxiety and approach the session from a more relaxed place. The second is to practice exploring your thoughts and feelings without avoidance, judgment, or resistance.
In this second way, meditation can get the psychedelic process going before taking any substances; exploring your inner world and cultivating introspective and reflective states. Getting comfortable facing your thoughts and feelings, including uncomfortable ones, will serve you well, and can be thought of as something of a psychedelic warm-up.
With all this in mind, meditation aids one in their ability to follow the ultimate tenet of psychedelic navigation: let go and surrender.
This basic rule of thumb follows the observation that difficulties occur in a session when one resists or fights the effects of the psychedelic. Thoughts like ‘this isn’t what I signed up for’ or ‘this isn’t what was supposed to happen, I don’t like this, get me out’, are more problematic than actually going into what we understand as negative feelings; sadness, grief etc. and prevent us from processing something that might’ve been stuffed down. Meditation gives one practice in being with these feelings, allowing them, and all the while, breathing.
Janis Phelps’ referencing Leary & co in her talk at the Breaking Convention conference
If you are new to meditation, you’ll need some basic instruction and guidance to begin. Try finding a group or class near to where you live as some in person guidance with the support of a group is an excellent way to begin.
If that’s not possible there are many resources available online. The UCLA Mindful Awareness Center is a good place to start. Headspace and Waking Up are apps that both have a free run of short guided sessions and are a great introduction. Insight is another that has many guided meditations.
If you have the time and are serious about learning, a silent course is probably the best way to become well versed with meditation quickly. You can find donation based ones with Vipassana all around the world at dhamma.org
If you’d like to read more about psychedelics and meditation, I have written about how they’ve influenced each other on my personal journey
Journaling
If meditation is difficult for you, try keeping a journal.
Rather than recording what you’ve done each day as one might do in a diary, invite introspection. Focus on your inner world, writing about feelings and thoughts, and include more general reflections and ideas about life. As author and write-letters-to-yourself enthusiast Cal Newport has pointed out, composing thoughts in the structured form demanded by written prose can often help to gain clarity.
Journaling, like meditation, can help to increase awareness of your perceptions. However, it need not be one or the other, and journaling can be an excellent companion to a meditation practice. Though it’s not necessary to write on a regular schedule, some kind of minimum regularity, say once a week, will probably help to begin the practice.
Alternative Option: Audio Journaling You might try audio journaling, opening a voice memo app and speaking your mind, if thats easier for you.
The Picture Trip
The ‘picture trip’ is a technique that was employed by a pioneer of psychedelic therapy, Leo Zeff. This description of the method is adapted from the book about Leo and his methods, The Secret Chief Revealed.
To do this exercise you will need to gather some photos before the trip. These photos will form a history of your life.
Pictures to Gather:
• Yourself, one at age two and one every two years thereafter through adolescence, up to adulthood.
• Two pictures each of your mother, father and any siblings; one when they were young but you can still remember them, and a recent one.
• Pictures of any other family members that are or were significant in your life.
• A picture of your husband/wife, or any woman or man who has had great significance in your life. Lovers, current or past. If you’re married, wedding pictures.
• If you have children, a picture of them when they were about two years old, and a recent one.
• Any other significant pictures. Any pictures with an emotional charge.
As you go through your photos to find these, spend some time looking through your photo collection. Spend a few moments with each photo, looking at it and seeing what you feel with each one. If any memories or feelings come up, sit with them and see where they go. When you come across a picture for the picture trip, put it aside. Try to do this no further away than a week before the trip, as close to the time of the trip as you can.
Leo Zeff was a pioneer in the modern psychedelic therapy movement
As a teaser to convince you of the potential of this method, I’d like to share this quote from Leo found in the book:
‘People will come to me who have already tripped who want to have my particular kind of way of tripping. One of them had tripped at least five hundred times on acid, others who have tripped three, four hundred times, down through the early Sixties, clear up to recent times. You know, plenty of trips their own way […] We talk about it, and [..] so I’d say, “Sure.” They would have their trip on acid. Invariably these people have said, “I’ve never had an acid trip before in my life! This is the first time I’ve ever really had an acid trip.”
Personally, I can also tell you that my first acid trip using this method was the one of the most significant events of my life. So, I can recommend!
Life Timeline
If you aren’t able to collect the photos for the picture trip, you can do the life timeline. The aim is the same; to explore your life story. If you feel up to it, you can do both.
• Begin with a wide piece of paper, approximately 1 metre in width. At least A3. It’s fine for you to stick or tape together smaller pieces if you don’t have one this size.
• Draw a long horizontal line across the length,.
• Mark your birth on one end and your current age on the other.
• Divide the line into segments that mark every five years of your life.
• Fill the timeline with people, happenings, decisions, events and anything which was significant. Use pictures and symbols, and you can write words, quotes or sentences. Anything which helps you to reconnect with these chapters and what you went through during these times of your life.
As you go through your life, spend some time thinking about and exploring feelings around the significant events. When you’ve finished, spend a few moments with each mark on your timeline, seeing what you feel with each one. As memories or feelings come up, sit with them and see where they go. Try to do this no further away than a week or two before, again ideally as close to the time as you can.
Formulate An Intention
Understanding your intention helps to give clarity and direction for a journey, so it’s worthwhile to consider.
Set aside some time to yourself and sit down with a journal or pad. At a park or somewhere in nature might appeal to you but anywhere without potential disturbance or distraction is fine.
Here are some questions to think about and make notes on.
Why are you doing this? What are you seeking?
What would it mean for this psychedelic journey to be ‘successful’?
Where are you now and where do you want to get, related to your motivation
What is working in your life? What isn’t?
What are you curious about? What would you like to learn more about?
As the journey approaches, try to have something of a clear intention for your journey. If it is wide ranging and incorporates many areas, try to sum it up so that it can be stated as one precise sentence by the day of the journey.
Some examples of how this might work:
“I intend to have a healthy life’ could be a sum of ‘I intend to quit smoking, I want improve my relationship with food, and understand how I can get into a good exercise regime”.
“To explore past traumas and to gain insight into my potential’ might be summed up as “To learn about myself”.
“To get outside of my mind, to experience a higher dimension, and to go beyond my normal consciousness” might be put together as ‘to explore spirituality’.
The intention is formulated to plant seeds in your mind and the process of refining it helps to get to the essence of what you are searching for. Though formulating an intention can be powerful, the process of formulating it is as important as the final result.
This is to say that it should not to be held on to too tightly during the session. You should be open and able to go with the experience as it unfolds. It is often said about psychedelic experiences that you don’t get what you want but that you get what you need. Clinging too tightly to a specific intention may mean that you miss something that offers insight in other areas, ones that actually are related to your intention, albeit in less obvious ways.
Having a clear intention can also help in that you have a clear motivation and it gives you an answer and some frame of reference for when you might think ‘Why am I doing this?”. This question can come up in difficult times and it can be very useful to have a clear answer ready, to aid you in letting go of resistance and moving in to the experience. In moments of your journey when you would like some direction, your intention can be called to mind.
Clearing
Clearing can be thought of as making space. Space for insight, space for discovery, space for expansion. If you like Chinese proverbs, another way to put this might be: “Empty Your Cup”.
Firstly the basics; clearing the day, the day after, and ideally day before of any obligations. Book them out so you can be offline and effectively disappear from the world.
Next, try to tidy up loose ends in your life to help clear some space in your mind and heart. Stuff that you might’ve been putting off, like difficult conversations and resolving any current difficulties in your relationships. If this isn’t possible, try journaling about it or writing a letter to the person even if you can’t send it to them.
This clearing process should also include physical and practical things, which can be done a little closer to the journey, like cleaning your room, paying overdue bills, sending certain emails and making phone calls you’ve been putting off. Even taking the trash out (a nice symbolic act).
Keep phone use and digital communication to an absolute minimum during the day of the journey, so take care of potential calls and emails in advance. If you think you might want to speak with someone like a close friend or family member soon after, its a good idea to notify them in advance so they will be available and ready for the conversation.
Prepare Well, and Journey Safely
The preparation one takes will significantly influence how a journey plays out and is the groundwork for a transformative experience. Put simply, the influence of a good preparation should not be underestimated. That said, it should not become a gruelling undertaking or huge burden. It should be done with enthusiasm and should help you, rather than stress you. So go, prepare well, and take care!
I wish you well with your preparations and on your journey.
Did I miss anything? What do you think are the best ways one can prepare for a deep and rewarding journey? Please share in the comments below!
https://mapsofthemind.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/greg-rakozy-0LU4vO5iFpM-unsplash-scaled.jpg13252560John Robertsonhttp://mapsofthemind.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/MAPS-MIND-LOGO-29.pngJohn Robertson2020-02-17 18:04:402023-04-19 12:43:03How To Best Prepare Yourself For A Psychedelic Journey
What makes a good tripsitter? Is it being caring and kind? Or is it more important for a psychedelic guide to be knowledgable and trustworthy? Today I will introduce and look at others’ work on the topic, drawing from 6 resources, and finish with a few thoughts of my own. This will be a broad overview rather than an in depth exploration, and I hope that you’ll be stimulated and inspired to learn more.
Two tripsitters and a journeyer in a research setting at Johns Hopkins.
The resources featured in this post:
1. Six Competencies Of A Psychedelic Therapist – Janis Phelps 2. Suggestions For The Guide – The Guild Of Guides 3. The Psychedelic Experience – Leary, Metzner, Alpert 4. Manual For Psychedelic Guides – Mark Haden 5. LSD Psychotherapy – Stanislav Grof 6. Tripsitting Workshop – Marc Aixala
Use Of Terms | Guide Vs. Facilitator Vs. Therapist
A small clarification before I begin. The title of this post uses the word guide and this term is often used interchangeably with facilitator, space holder, tripsitter and even therapist. With the field of psychedelic therapy growing, the word therapist is being used increasingly and there is dispute about how and when it can or should be used. While the role of a psychedelic facilitator can be very different to that of a clinical therapist, I’m not going to explore that difference today – that’s another post for another day. This piece is to stimulate ideas and develop discussion.
OK so let’s take a look.
Six Competencies Of A Psychedelic Therapist – Janis Phelps
Janis Phelps is a clinical psychologist and the founder and director of the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). In her paper Developing Guidelines and Competencies for the Training of Psychedelic Therapists (Journal Of Humanistic Psychology, 2017), Janis Phelps outlines six competencies:
1: Empathetic Abiding Presence 2: Trust Enhancement 3: Spiritual Intelligence 4: Knowledge of the Physical and Psychological Effects of Psychedelics 5: Therapist Self-Awareness and Ethical Integrity 6: Proficiency in Complementary Techniques
Early on in James Fadiman’s classic book, The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide, there is a section attributed to The Guild Of Guides titled Suggestions For The Guide.
It states the essential prerequisites are:
Compassion
Intuition
Loving kindness
In addition to those qualities, it is valuable to have basic knowledge in:
the range of possible effects
the basic principles of various spiritual traditions
a sense of how and when to share useful ideas and concepts
The importance of remaining centered is also highlighted.
Remaining Centered:
“The more centered you are as a guide, the more effective you will be. The more you know about yourself and whomever you are guiding, the more likely you are to be able to stay centered and tranquil throughout the session. When you yourself are more comfortable, it will be easier for the voyager to transition from one state of awareness to another. After reviewing hundreds of sessions in different settings, Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) concluded, in most situations, that a voyager became distressed when the guide had become unsettled, uncertain or upset.”
The Psychedelic Experience – Leary, Metzner, Alpert
Ability to turn off own ego and social games; particularly to muffle his/her own power needs and fears.
Considerable experience in psychedelic sessions himself and in guiding others.
They even go on to say that it is unethical and dangerous to administer psychedelics without personal experience.
It is also stated that the guide should be;
Relaxed
Solid
Accepting
Secure
“The guide must remain passively sensitive and intuitively relaxed for several hours. maintaining a state of alert quietism in which he is poised with ready flexibility. The guide must never be bored, talkative, intellectualizing. He must remain calm during the long periods of swirling mindlessness.”
A useful analogy is also used, likening the guide to ground control.
“He is the ground control in the airport tower. Always there to receive messages and queries from high-flying aircraft. Always ready to help navigate their course, to help them reach their destination. An airport-tower operator who imposes his own personality, his own games upon the pilot is unheard of. The pilots have their own flight plan, their own goals, and ground control is there, ever waiting to be of service. The pilot is reassured to know that an expert who has guided thousands of flights is down there, available for help. But suppose the flier has reason to suspect that ground control is harboring his own motives and might be manipulating the plane toward selfish goals. The bond of security and confidence would crumble.”
Manual For Psychedelic Guides – Mark Haden
The Manual For Psychedelic Guides is a newer manual and the first draft surfaced online earlier this year. As a newer manual, it’s up to date and looks at important concepts in the field of psychedelic therapy such as inner healing intelligence and the non-directive approach. It references other works that have been mentioned here and is one of the best resources I’ve seen. There is a lot in there so I’ll just include a few things here.
Presence
“Your full presence is instrumental during preparatory meetings, on the day the participant ingests the medicine, during the integration follow-up meeting, and beyond the study sessions.”
Haden emphasizes the importance of being present and describes it as a skill that can be practiced, developed, and further cultivated. The section Skills Of Being A Psychedelic Guide is included to help the reader grow in their ability to be present through the range of experiences that both the guide and participant may encounter.
“When you are fully present, you consciously and compassionately share the present moment with another; and you believe in and affirm this person’s potential for wholeness, wherever they are in those moments.”
Qualities Of Guides
In the section Qualities of Guides, adapted from Karen Coopers’ Guide Manual, many qualities and types of knowledge are listed.
A Knowledgable, Skilled and Wise guide:
Knows when not to intervene, and knows when and how to assist the process.
Has a full appreciation for being alive, lives a meaningful life, understands that we are all “wounded healers”, knows some of the agonies and ecstasies of human existence.
Has an understanding of the pharmacology and expected or possible effects of the medicine.
Trusts both the psychedelic medicine and the participant’s internal healer to find the process of healing for the participant.
Has the ability to stay relaxed and grounded in the presence of intense anxiety and other emotions that may be expressed emotionally or physically.
Experiential Knowledge:
Has appreciation for the mystery of their own being.
Has awareness of content beyond the ego.
Understands awe/respect toward transcendence.
Understands that encounters with transcendence can be meaningful, significant and life-transforming.
Maintains the ability to remain objective; uses discernment rather than judgment.
Is able to avoid using labels such as “psychosis” or “freaking out”, and is able to respond mindfully to observed behaviours and perceptions.
Has an ability to shift between mode of scientist and mode of poet and compassionate presence, drawing on each as appropriate.
Appreciates that sessions are like a piece of art created in collaboration with the participant.
The following are also included and have their own short sections:
Knowledge of the Human Mind When Seen Through the Lens of Psychedelics
Knowledge of the Power and Importance of Human Relationships
Appreciation for Human Suffering
An updated version of the manual will be published soon and I will update this post with a link as soon when it is. Until then you can find the draft online here.
LSD Psychotherapy – Stanislav Grof
Czech psychiatrist Stan Grof is one of the most influential figures in psychedelic therapy. In the chapter Critical Variables in LSD Therapy, Grof includes sections on pharmacological effects, the personality of the subject, and set and setting. There is also a section on the personality of the therapist or guide where he lists important factors in successful LSD therapy.
Important factors of the therapist:
Human and professional interest
Clinical experience and therapeutic skill
Personal security
Freedom from anxiety
Current physical and mental condition
It is also noted that it is absolutely essential, prior to the administration of LSD, that the therapist:
examine his or her own motivation and attitudes toward the subject
try to establish a good working relationship
clarify the transference / counter-transference situation
Transference / Countertransference
Having an awareness of transference and counter-transference and how to respond to that is a key part of a therapist’s job. You can find a useful introduction to these concepts in a post here:
“Probably the single most important element determining the nature of an LSD experience is the feeling of safety and trust on the part of the experient. This is […] critically dependent on the presence or absence of the guide, his or her personal characteristics, and the nature of the relationship between the subject and this person.”
He continues:
“Trust is essential to the participant letting go of their defenses and surrendering to the psychedelic process. The ability to establish trust is naturally an important attribute for a guide.”
Personal experience [with psychedelics] Is Imperative
‘[…] the therapist has to have special training that involves personal experiences with the drug. […] It is impossible for the future LSD therapist to acquire deeper understanding of the process without first hand exposure. Reading about psychedelic experiences, attending seminars and lectures, or even witnessing sessions of other people can only convey a superficial and inadequate knowledge”
Grof explains how personal sessions have another important function:
“… they offer an opportunity to work through one’s own areas of conflict and problems on various levels. Some of the crucial issues that a future LSD therapist has to confront remain essentially untouched in most forms of conventional therapy. Fear of death, total loss of control, and the specter of insanity can be mentioned here as salient examples.”
In 2017, I attended a tripsitting workshop by Marc Aixalà, a health psychologist who coordinates support and integration services at ICEERS and who subsequently went on to provide training to the research team at Imperial College London.
As has been mentioned in many of the other guides, Marc emphasized that one’s approach as a caring and supportive human being is more important to the outcome of the experience than any techniques employed. Effective sitting requires:
Intuition
Compassion
Self-awareness
He is another who has highlighted the importance of presence. Marc also shared desirable attributes for a care giver during a session:
At the workshop, and also echoed in an article on integration on chacruna, Marc underlined the importance of facilitators having worked on their own power, money, and sex issues.
It is my belief that anyone aspiring to become a psychedelic guide should first look deeply at their motivations for wanting to do so. After that, I believe that for anyone wishing to carry out this meaningful work, a certain level of dedication to personal and professional development should be employed. When dealing with people in such sensitive and vulnerable states, I think this is work beyond that of a hobbyist or amateur.
Gaining Experience
I hope this post has been useful and has given some ideas for further reading. In the end, however, knowledge should be coupled with practice and experience. Whilst I do believe that theoretical frameworks and certain specified knowledge provide a good foundation, they should be used as a ground for establishing a practice or course of applied learning. I mention this to say that I don’t believe it is enough to read all the resources here and listen to talks and then believe you can be a psychedelic facilitator. I encourage any hopeful facilitators to seek out development through a personal practice and relevant experience working with others where one can cultivate the qualities and characteristics mentioned in the works here.
Meditation As A Practice
In my personal experience, I have found a meditation practice to have been a huge help in cultivating presence, calmness, patience and acceptance; attributes that seem to come up again and again as beneficial to have as a facilitator. The ability to remain calm yet attentive is something that has been directly applicable and useful in sitting for psychedelic sessions.
To finish, I’d like to share a relevant quote from psychedelic researcher and Buddhist practitioner Rick Strassman from his chapter in the excellent Zig Zag Zen.
“Supervising sessions is called “sitting,” usually believed to come from “baby-sitting” people in a highly dependent and, at times, confused and vulnerable state. But, in our minds, Buddhist practice is as relevant a source for the term. Our research nurse and I did our best to practice meditation while with our volunteers: watching the breath, being alert, eyes open, ready to respond, keeping a bright attitude, and getting out of the way of the volunteer’s experience. This method is very similar to what Freud called “evenly suspended attention,” performed by a trained psychoanalyst who provided support by a mostly silent but present sitting by one’s side. I experienced this type of listening and watching as similar to Zen meditation.” Rick Strassman | Psychedelic Researcher | “DMT Dharma” – Zig Zag Zen.
Share Your Thoughts
What do you think makes a good psychedelic facilitator? What practices and experience do you think can help cultivate the qualities that make a good psychedelic guide? How much personal experience with psychedelics is necessary? Do you know of any other good resources on the topic that I missed? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
https://mapsofthemind.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/buddha-statue-forest.jpg40146032John Robertsonhttp://mapsofthemind.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/MAPS-MIND-LOGO-29.pngJohn Robertson2019-12-24 17:24:302022-05-26 10:50:14What Makes A Good Psychedelic Guide?
