Cultivate Your Wisdom as an Integration Professional. Join 13k+ subscribers to Red Things on Tuesday. Every week, you'll get a small, curated collection of music, tips, and psychedelic insight on how to move through this ever evolving psychedelic space.
Every Time a Guide Asks For Consent, An Angel Gets Its Wings
Every Time a Guide Asks For Consent, An Angel Gets Its WingsI love a good savasana adjustment as much as anyone. Pull my shoulder blades down, lengthen my neck, maybe swing my legs a bit. It's the best. I got one today. It was awesome. And something that made it so sweet, and maybe a little unexpected, was when the teacher came over, they touched my shoulder gently and said, "May I?" Oh, by all means! We speak a lot about consent in social and relational circles, but it's a fairly new occurrence in the healing arts space. In 2001, in the yoga world, there was no such thing as consent. We were just out there manhandling each other. We took all the workshops we could; the art of the adjustment, Thai massage trainings, shiatsu for self-care, and acupressure. We practiced what we learned on each other and our students as much as we could. Part of the deal was that yoga had this guru thing that overshadowed it. We were taught that the teacher knew best, and if they thought you should be forcibly twisted into a pretzel, well, that's what you needed. There was even a practice called 'Mysore' where that's pretty much all the teacher was there for. The sequence was always the same, so they didn't need to call out poses; they just sat on you while you did them. So we figured that was just the way it was. And it's not cut and dry; sometimes there is room for implied consent amongst people who have been working together for a long time. But I just add this to add nuance. It's complex. It's a different world now. People have gotten hurt because of these attitudes. People have had their trauma reactivated. People have been felt up, while the teacher hides behind plausible deniability. But so much of the complexity can be removed with conversation. Early and often, especially when we're working with folks in altered states, like people doing yoga practice or people doing 'chemical' yoga practice. And it includes, but is not limited to, touch. If we're coaching or guiding people, there's room for consent in just about every intervention. "May I ask you a question?" "Would you be open to trying this practice?" "Do you feel comfortable with me changing the lighting" It's elegant, It's considerate. Sometimes people paint it as awkward, but I think life is just as awkward as we make it. Elegant compassion is not awkward. It's beautiful and transformative, and it's a wonderful thing to strive for in our practice. I hope you're having these conversations with your pals. We talk about is at length in our Coaching Training Program, starting in September. If you're interested in becoming a Psychedelic Integration Coach, you can shoot me an email or come to the training session on April 17th Training Info SessionFriday, April 17th at 3pm Eastern time: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mt-tam-psychedelic-integration-coaching-training-info-call-tickets-1986355021340?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true Recently discoved this author Maria Pinto East Forrest and Ram Dass are always lovely. Two jams that really make it feel like spring is here: The Golden Road - Mentorship, Peer Support, Supervision, and Skill Building for Serious Psychonauts and Healing ProfessionalsThe Golden Road has evolved into a wonderful group of practitioners. We meet every Thursday at noon eastern, and there are monthly masterclasses as well. There is also a large archive (over 200 hours) of psychedelic education and past talks. The wonderful people who show up share not only their journeys, but the journeys of those they steward. It's become a place of learning, support, accountability, and peer review. Folks are learning some things from me, but they are also learning from each other. We all face unique challenges as we work in this space, and it's great to have a place where we can bring them for non-judgmental feedback and reflection. You're invited. Click here to join Golden Road Masterclass - Tuesday, April 28th at 4pm Eastern TimeMeeting the Medicine: Holding Integrity with Psychedelics w/ Jennifer AllenWestern culture’s version of integrity is set, setting and integration. These are a translation of the reverence many indigenous people have held for millennia with plant medicines. In our two-hour class, we will explore the growth spiral relationship between set and integration, how both ask us to create bridge practices to and from non-ordinary states of consciousness and how we can align with the nature of these medicines to reveal truths vs escape them. We will engage energy practices and bridge practices. Please have a few sheets of paper and basic colored art media (ie. pencils or markers). About Jennifer: After a full career as a trauma informed psychotherapist and art therapist, Jennifer shifted to psychedelic integration and ketamine assisted psychotherapy. She found this to be the perfect weaving of her clinical background, creativity and spiritual path as a student of shamanism and earth-based traditions. Register here - free for golden road members, $30 for the general public - forever access to the recording The Tam Integration Coaching Training Program - Fall CohortThis cohort is full, and we're now interviewing for the fall session. If you're interested, fill out this form, and we'll reach out soon: https://forms.gle/oB9Xk6RrkDE6xtsV9 Learn More Here: https://tamintegration.com/psychedelic-coach-training/ Info Session, Friday, April 17th at 3pm Eastern time: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mt-tam-psychedelic-integration-coaching-training-info-call-tickets-1986355021340?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true DisclaimerNothing in this email should be considered medical or legal advice. We're not suggesting that you break any laws or do anything dangerous. This email is offered as education and entertainment in the spirit of harm reduction. Consult medical and legal professionals if you have questions. Sometimes, there are affiliate links in this email. It helps support this project. Thank you! |
Tam Integration
Cultivate Your Wisdom as an Integration Professional. Join 13k+ subscribers to Red Things on Tuesday. Every week, you'll get a small, curated collection of music, tips, and psychedelic insight on how to move through this ever evolving psychedelic space.
Holding the Psychedelic Container I met with our local psychedelic society over the weekend, and we discussed the importance of a good container. We discussed the finer points of what makes a container a container, namely: Intention (Why does this container exist? What are the shared motivations and values of the people in it?) Ethics (What are the agreements and expectations shared by the people in the container) Responsibilities (Who is in charge or what? Who is taking care of whom?)...
You're the common denominator of all your problems One of the most beautiful parts of this work is realizing how our beliefs limit our reality. There are some who love to intone the sacred adage, "your beliefs create your reality," but I think this perhaps misses the mark. It's only half the story. It's more likely that our beliefs limit our reality. This explains why there are scads of new agers staring into mirrors, desperately chanting "I am abundant" while noting changes. Opportunity...
Nibble the Product You may have seen the video of the McDonald's CEO pretending to eat his company's new burger. He appeared stiff, alien, and uncomfortable. I thought it was his first day on the job, maybe his first day on the planet. He referred to it as 'Product' before managing the tiniest nibble, obviously disgusted. A bunch of other burger joints made parodys, showing that they made burgers that could actually be enjoyed. I wanted to make my own, where I gobbled down some mushrooms or...