Psychedelic Integration Journaling Prompts
Psychedelic Integration and Integration Practices
After a psychedelic journey, you might experience some profound shifts in your life. These changes might include boosts in mood, decreased levels of stress, and emotional relief from depression and anxiety.
It’s common for people going through these transformations to ask:
How can I make these changes last?
This is where integration comes into the picture.
Psychedelic integration is the process of reflection and mindfulness after a journey, so that you can embody the changes you seek and set yourself up for healing far beyond a medicine ceremony.
There are several ways to practice psychedelic integration, and one of the most common integration methods is to write out or journal about one’s experience.
The Role of Journaling and Its Benefits
Journaling is the act of writing to describe one’s experience, thoughts, or feelings. You’ve likely practiced journaling at one point or another in life. Remember being in school and being tasked to write about your thoughts on a topic? That was journaling.
There is no right or wrong way to journal.
A simple note such as “I felt inspired today by something I heard on a podcast” is a completely valid and complete journal entry.
If you can write something important to you, then you can journal.
Journaling before and after a psychedelic journey provides an optimal time for one to reflect and express their internal selves. If you want to harness the power of psychedelic insights and emotional shifts, you might consider journaling.
Journaling in Psychedelic Preparation, Ceremony, and Integration
Ideally, your journaling practice begins ahead of a journey. Sifting through your psychological, physical, and spiritual self via writing can be an incredibly effective way to prepare.
While you might not feel immediately ready to start writing after a psychedelic journey, jotting down some brief thoughts and feelings after the medicine effects have worn off can assist you in remembering the most prominent insights.
Once you feel safe and the activity of writing appeals to you, consider breaking out the pen and paper. Remember, there’s no right or wrong way to journal so jot down whatever feels right - words, phrases, sentences, drawings, symbols, etc.
Top Psychedelic Integration Journaling Prompts
At Pivot Psychedelics, we work with clients regularly to assist them in integration practices like journaling. Here are some of our clients’ favorite integration journaling prompts:
Post Ceremony Journaling Prompts
Explore these questions anywhere from 6 hours to one week after your ceremony:
What were the major learnings from the ceremony?
What key ideas, feelings, or energies stand out to you?
Imagine you can talk to the medicine or the psychedelic experience directly. What does this conversation look like? Are there any profound questions you ask or are asked? What are the answers, suggestions, or insights?
How does your experience relate to your original intentions?
How else would you express the experience?
Aftercare Journaling Prompts
Explore these questions between three days to three weeks after your ceremony:
What do you feel you need most in your life?
To what areas of life do you feel called to address?
How can you integrate your ceremony learnings into daily life?
What might seem difficult, yet important to do?
What are three action steps you would like to take?
Simple Journaling Ideas for Therapeutic Integration
If journaling prompts seem too rigid or distracting, just write out whatever is on your mind.
Consider the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that moved through you. What do these things suggest to you now?
Next, you might write about some specific symbols, visions, or moments that presented themselves.
What did it look, sound, taste, or smell like? How did it impact your experience?
Here is another useful prompt:
“I feel that ____________ is most important to me at this time.”
Journeyers might emerge from a psychedelic experience feeling a profound sense of gratitude for something meaningful in their lives. Simply reflecting upon what that thing, feeling, or experience is can do wonders in one’s integration journey.
How To Build A Consistent Journaling Practice
Like most things in life, repetition is key to cultivating a practice. The more you write, the more benefits you see.
We recommend you begin by selecting a time of day that is convenient for you to journal. For most people, this means journaling in the morning.
One advantage of writing in the morning is that it can help you center yourself before starting the day. Imagine waking up knowing you have a busy day ahead and taking 10 minutes before it all starts to realign with your life intentions and ask how you can move towards healing.
The flip side of journaling in the morning is to do it at night. In the scenario outlined above, it might be difficult to journal after a stressful day. Alternatively, you might find writing helps you decompress and reflect upon the day in a way that is therapeutic.
Once you discover what works best for you, create a schedule and stick to it. Eventually, the repeated action will become a habit that you crave, and you’ll work around the occasional schedule disruption to make it happen.
Psychedelic Journaling Sharing Tips
How, where, when, and what you integrate will look different for everyone and so too will the content you share with others. While we believe social connection is an important component of psychedelic aftercare, we advise clients stay mindful when sharing about their experience.
As you re-enter “normal” life after a psychedelic journey, you might feel called to tell others about it. One should remember that each person has their own perception, attitudes, and beliefs around psychedelics, and these may not always be supportive.
You might share personal insights selectively to protect yourself emotionally. It’s 100% okay to refrain from sharing about your experience if you don’t feel comfortable doing so.
Alternative Integration Practices
At its core, journaling is an effective psychedelic integration practice because it gives one space to connect to the energy of the medicine journey.
Active reflection promotes access to the key learnings, insights, and teachings from a journey. This need not be limited to writing.
At Pivot Psychedelics, we help clients explore a range of aftercare practices that they find the most life-giving. Here are some of common ones:
Music (playing, listening, writing)
Dance / Movement
Exercise and Yoga
Visual Artis (painting, drawing, collage)
Cooking / Baking
Nature (walking, hiking, picnicking)
Psychedelic Integration Guidance Through Pivot Psychedelics
If you found this article helpful and you’d like to learn more about integration processes, connect with us at Pivot Psychedelics. We are a harm-reduction, education, and facilitation support service that helps people explore their options for psychedelic therapy.
Our facilitators have supported hundreds of clients on their discernment journeys for psychedelic experiences. They also wrote the entirety of this article (including this sentence!) and draw upon their lived experience of psychedelic integration and supporting others in journaling.
You can learn more about the guidance that we offer for psychedelic ceremonies, preparation, and integration, by making contact with us for a complimentary discovery call.
Let us know what questions you have, and we’ll be happy to lend ourselves as a resource.
