The journey doesn't end
when the trip is over.
Many are beginning to realise that The Real Ceremony starts when the psychedelic effects wear off.
(If this is you, you're right on track.)
The potential of psychedelics to boost your personal healing and spiritual growth is indeed immense. Yet as life-changing as the insights gained may be, they can also become overwhelming and difficult to process
without the right support.
The courage and effort it takes to voluntarily meet your raw self as deep as needed — to acknowledge your needs and wounds, honor your path so far (all of it) and really grow — should be matched by the support received.
If this is what you're looking for:
Or read on if you'd like to learn about
some potential consequences, symptoms and other challenging realities of plant medicine work I can support you with.
By the way, this is me:
Hi, I'm Bárbara Espina.
I’m a psychologist and plant medicine guide specializing in psychedelic integration, safety and education. Originally from Spain, I’m now based in the Sacred Valley of Peru, one of the global centres of plant medicine practices. As a natural response to the challenging reality of this context, I co-founded and currently direct SERT (Spiritual Emergency Response Team), a specialist community initiative supporting people navigating spiritual and psychedelic-related crises.
My practice integrates two decades of personal experience with psychedelics, formal psychological training, apprenticeship within the Shipibo lineage, and advanced study with internationally respected organizations, such as ICEERS, Shadow Work™ Europe, and other leading experts in human energy systems, complex trauma and somatic plant medicine integration.
Something else about me: I LOVE stories — how they heal us, shape us, and guide us. I consider them curanderas in their own right. With a background in theatre, I hold an MA in Applied Theatre, an artistic methodology focusing on community care and transformation through theatre-making and storytelling. This informs my 1:1 integration practice and lies at the heart of Once Upon A Ceremony, my arts-based project exploring integration, ethics, and safety in plant medicine practices, and which is a guiding light in Wisdom of The Holders plant medicine facilitators retreat.
Or continue educating yourself about
the multiple factors which can impact your experience:
Multiple factors can impact your plant medicine experience
and subsequent integration process,
The psychedelic session itself can:
· reawaken old wounds
- plants will test you, having to face personal challenges you thought you were done with;
· show you traumatic memories you aren't sure about
- aside from the content itself, "what ifs" tend to become a major source of stress and anxiety;
· intensify physical pain or discomfort
- some plants cause certain physical conditions to flare up, inviting you to listen to them anew;
· impact significant relationships
- some of which will inevitably shift;
· question your relationship with reality
- psychedelics indeed offer a veil-dropping experience and integrating certain information can be tricky;
· trigger a spiritual crisis or "spiritual emergency"
- an "awakening" can be an overwhelming process, profoundly disruptive long-term (even years).
and the list goes on.
Aside from this,
human reality surrounding the plant medicine experience
also plays a role in the safety and quality of it all:
Risks and triggers
include other people, environments and circumstances:
· unequipped facilitators and retreat centers
· abusive interactions (emotional, psychological, sexual, financial...)
· pharmacological interactions
· clashing with your regular environment (eg: your home or workplace)
· receiving backlash from loved ones unfamiliar with this work.
As you can see, many things can unfold during and around your experience. It is good practice to question any circumstances, symptoms or interactions which might feel a bit off.
Usually (hopefully) facilitators will be able to support you as you need;
but if they can't, or you don't fully trust them
(they might even be the problem)
you may need to seek external help.
Any of the above (and many others)
can turn the prospect of a deeply healing experience
- in which you have invested your trust, hopes, integrity, time and money -
into a highly unpleasant and even traumatizing event.
Now,
if you find yourself in this kind of trouble,
as the iconic 80's show Ghostbusters would go,
if there's somethin' weird,
and it don't look good,
.
.
.
who ya gon' call?
(Have I lost you here?)
Seriously,
Ghostbusters hit the integration therapy nail in the head:
...if there's somethin' weird...
impressive visions, strong bodily sensations, heavenly and extraterrestrial beings, plant spirits, astral traveling, cosmic messages, deceased loved ones and ancestors, melting into one with all there is, births, deaths, rebirths, past lives, childhood memories, re-experiencing old trauma...
These are all fairly common examples of what you may need to describe to someone in order to help you.
To help you... Or your friends, partner, relatives, neighbors...
...and it don't look good...
Not only the suffering isn't just "passing", but it's getting worse.
If you - or a loved one - are in distress as a result of these non-ordinary kind of experiences, and would like professional help,
who would you actually call?
.
.
.
.
.
🦗🦗🦗
.
.
.
.
.
(This is a great time to save my contact.)
Ceremony and retreat leaders' general "integration tips" can only help you that far.
If you're looking for an actual g̶h̶o̶s̶t̶b̶u̶s̶t̶e̶r̶
psychedelic integration specialist
(even if just to double-check if what you're thinking or feeling is "normal")
you've found her.