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Integration…it's a word that is thrown around a lot within the holotropic and psychedelic communities. But what does it mean? What does it look and feel like to do integration work? Where do you even start?
The etymology of integration originated in the 1610s and means the "act of bringing together the parts of a whole," from French intégration and directly from Late Latin integration (nominative integratio) "renewal, restoration," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin integrare "make whole," also "renew, begin again"
Integration is the process of picking up the often scattered and fragmented pieces of a holotropic journey or psychedelic experience and making sense of it so that you can feel more authentic, more free, more clear and experience deeper growth and purpose from your experience.
Ooofta…..that sounds like a lot of work. Yes and no.
Why do integration work? Why not just do your journey and move on? Let the medicine do the work? Why not just dabble in psychedelic spaces for fun and get up and go to work the next day? Do the breathwork and go back home?
I feel like NOT doing the integration work takes more effort. Living a life out of alignment, a life that is anything less than the full authentic expression of who you are takes so much more life force energy that doing a bit of integration work.
And what if you don't participate in psychedelics? How does integration apply to your life?
I believe that any major event in your life is an initiation, an invitation for invitation.
When you travel....you come back changed, right? A new perspective on life, what's important, how you want to live. There is an opportunity for integration.
Major illness....an initiation to sit with discomfort and let it calibrate you. An opportunity to integrate lessons and insights.
Parenting? Holy moly.....SO much to integrate here. Birth being the biggest and most obvious experience to integrate. Even day to day parenting gives us so much to integrate to become a more present and calm leader in our children's lives.
Job change? Move? Marriage? Divorce? Every major life event is asking us to integrate it into the bigger picture of our lives.
When we don't integrate, whether it be a psychedelic experience or life event, we have the potential to walk through life fragmented. This fragmentation can leave you feeling disconnected, not present, tired, frustrated, angry.
When you can find support to help you integrate these experiences, or find the time, space and energy to integrate these experiences yourself life gets rich, peaceful. It has a feeling of connection, focus and direction. There is an ease that comes with integrating your life experiences.
Integration isn't complicated but it does take effort. Looking for how to start or what to do? Schedule your integration session and come back into alignment with yourself today.
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