Also referred to as “Spirit Plant Medicine,” healing with plant spirits is the process of developing a relationship with plant medicines in a way that helps you recover from trauma or nurture a healthier way of being.

Traditionally, this process is guided or overseen by a shaman, who has spent years learning everything there is to know about one or more plant medicines and understands how to travel into the unseen spirit world and return with insights and knowledge.

Psychedelic therapy usually means using psychedelic substances in a Western therapeutic style, to help address mental health issues. Mostly, the psychedelic will be in the hands of a trained clinical therapist, who will gently guide a participant through a psychedelic experience, as well as before and after the trip, to help them address a specific mental health issue.

Although we are still in the early stages of developing a model for this kind of psychedelic therapy, researchers seem to agree that the most positive outcomes happen when people are given lots of supportive and focused therapy for several weeks before and after the psychedelic session. The psychedelic experience itself is mostly led by the patient, with minimal interference from the therapists.

Psychedelic integration is a new and growing field that refers to the process of integrating insights, realizations, and emotions that arise from a psychedelic experience to support desired outcomes in life. Any kind of psychedelic experience, no matter how challenging or traumatic at the time, can be reflected upon and integrated in such a way that ultimately supports the individual’s goals, desired outcomes, or stated intentions for the session or ceremony.

While many people embark upon their own self-directed psychedelic integration process, a growing cadre of professionals now offer integration support as a service. In general, there are two types of integration providers – therapists and coaches.

For the longest time, anyone working with psychedelics as a therapeutic practice did so on the down-low. Underground psychotherapists and guides offered psychedelic sessions entirely through trusted networks and word-of-mouth referrals. Plant medicine ceremony participants were asked to honor utmost secrecy, communicate with code words, and refrain from being too public about their entheogenic practice.

As decriminalization and legalization expand, the psychedelic sector is becoming more and more like an "industry", giving rise to a new "professional sector", where qualified, experienced specialists are in increasingly high demand.  Now, much of this clandestine entheogenic healing work is evolving into a legitimate career in the legal psychedelic sector… with a LinkedIn profile, business cards, and all.

Microdosing is a relatively new phenomenon that involves taking very small doses of a psychoactive substance, specifically 1-10% of an active dose, so as to create a barely perceptible yet potently liberating “sub-threshold” effect. 

The practice of microdosing psychedelics has surged in popularity in recent years due to numerous entrepreneurs, athletes, artists, entertainers, and other high-performing “biohackers” reporting substantial benefits from this practice. Increasingly, the practice of microdosing to heal a range of conditions, from trauma, anxiety, and chronic pain, or simply as a wellness practice is increasing. 

As the psychedelic sector transforms into a new, burgeoning capital market, flush with venture funding and cannabis cash, community leaders, activists, and policy advocates are mobilizing to ensure equitable access to psychedelic medicine and services.

The decriminalization movement is gaining steam, entheogenic churches are organizing for religious protection, and community activists are rallying against psychiatric industry gatekeeping and big pharma patent wars.