INTEGRATION AND APPRENTICESHIP
Experiences in dreams, meditation, plant medicine ceremonies, and open eyed experience of life can be terrifying, overwhelming, blissful, beautiful, and difficult to understand and process. In such cases it is helpful and often necessary to have a trusted guide who has been through similar experiences and proper training to provide support and guidance. In some circumstances such as acute trauma, addiction or disease etc. it is necessary to seek out a medical doctor, licensed therapist or psychotherapist.
Some of the work taught through the Altered States body of work is shamanism, which is informed by indigenous teachers in the Shipibo tribes of the Amazon, the Native American Lakota tribe, and the Bon shamans of Tibet. Shamanism includes going into altered states of consciousness in order to obtain helpful information for the benefit of oneself or others. It takes place in many forms, some include the use of psychedelics and plant medicines and others do not.
Integration is a critical and often overlooked aspect for those exploring this work nowadays. If you live in the jungle as a full time shaman, or in a cave as a mystic, it may be OK to remain disconnected from the earth and one's body while living in altered states of consciousness most of the time if there is good reason for it, and a support system for food, money, and well being. For most of us, it is essential to learn how to live in both worlds, and to stay grounded in the body here and now while also expanding awareness, perception, and capacity for super conscious awareness in dreams and higher planes of consciousness. Too often, people go to a 10 day long vipassana meditation retreat, or a 14-30 day long isolation diet, or a single transformative out of body experience which blast their previous world view wide open, and then they come back to their home and have a very difficult time reintegrating into their jobs, life, body, and the acceptance of life without the highs. Kundalini can be also disturbed when one is not properly prepared or in balance, the aftereffects of which are powerful and can be very frightening, disorienting, and detrimental.
I was fortunate to work with one primary teacher who introduced me to both Ayahuasca and dreamwork at the same time many years ago. He helped make sure I was mentally and physically prepared before I did any ceremony work, to make sense of what I saw and experienced in my ceremonies and dreams, and to integrate after retreats and dietas. In between the ceremonies, he taught me how to remember my dreams every night and to become lucid in them. Each week when we met online, I shared my dreams so he could see what was going on in my subconscious world and spiritual activity, and provide guidance on how to integrate what was being revealed into my daily life, spiritual practice, and creations. It turns out this is the same methodology indigenous shaman and mystics have practiced for hundreds of years. People who apprentice with me are supported in the same way as described above, and also given an Altered States Self-apprenticeship workbook which includes useful tools and tips for walking the red road, the path of the heart, and some signposts pointing towards the pathless path. This work can be done with or without plant medicine use, and also includes some coaching work, recommended practices, and teaching.
Once the heart and consciousness of the third eye have been opened, it is possible to keep them open and do work on different planes of consciousness without psychedelics, like a free ceremony every night. While work with plant medicines and psychedelics can be helpful, there are many potential dangers and risks to be aware of and consider. Doing psychedelics without significant and well trained support before, during, and after ceremonies is highly discouraged and often unsafe. Determining whether or not to incorporate entheogens into ones healing or spiritual path, which ones, when, and if the shaman and their team of facilitators are properly trained, equipped, experienced, and in integrity is essential, and something that someone with many years of experience may be able to offer helpful guidance with. The Altered States Self-Apprenticeship is a return to Self, self sovereignty, emotional sovereignty, self empowerment, and a way of being which is deeply loving, grateful, magical, and attuned to the will of the Divine.
At some point along the road of spiritual practice, it is useful and complimentary to incorporate the teachings and practices of a tried-and-true lineage such as the yoga's taught in India, Dzogchen, which is an aspect of Tibetan Buddhism from which dream yoga is derived, Zen, Kriya Yoga, Mahayana Buddhism, or other non-dogmatic teachings or teachers. These lineages and others point towards the path of Self-Realization, and following the guidance of one's Soul with devotion instead of the ego or any external teacher. This path is sacred. It invites you to enjoy a profound relationship with the infinite, truth beyond doubt, and true intimacy with everyone and everything.