How Community Amplifies Psychedelic Healing

Key Takeaways

• Community as Crucial Support: Being part of a community can significantly enhance psychedelic healing by providing validation, reducing feelings of isolation, and supporting personal growth and accountability in one’s healing journey.
• Balancing Solo and Group Experiences: While solo psychedelic experiences allow for deep personal reflection, community integration offers the benefits of shared insights and diverse support, creating a balanced and comprehensive healing process.
• Importance of Safe and Authentic Communities: Finding a community with shared values, clear boundaries, and regular opportunities to connect is essential. It’s crucial to feel comfortable and authentic within the community, ensuring it supports rather than controls one’s healing journey.
• Psychedelic Passage: Your Psychedelic Concierge — The easy, legal way to find trustworthy psilocybin guides, facilitators and psychedelic-assisted therapy near you in the United States.

“This week’s encouragement is that even when the world feels heavy and chaotic, remember to find small pockets of peace just for yourself, whether it’s a quiet cup of coffee or tea, a deep breath, or a moment of stillness. These little breaks can help you stay grounded and keep overwhelm at bay. One step, one moment at a time.” — Taylor Puch, Operations Manager

The Differences in Modern and Indigenous Communities

In a world where digital communities are at a tap of our fingers, why is it that feelings of isolation and loneliness are so prevalent? 

We know the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted everything we knew about community, but one Google search will show pages and pages on the “epidemic of loneliness” in America.

On the outside, social media seems like it could be a cure-all for those suffering from social anxiety and loneliness, but a deeper look reveals it doesn’t quench the thirst for social interaction. Instead, it might actually create a bigger barrier between the individual and community.

“The layers of separation between all of us are actually much thinner than we think, there’s probably more commonality around us than we are led to believe in media and in modern society nowadays and many folks will take that a step further to say actually separation is an illusion. 

That may be separation from others, that may be separation from some higher power that you feel within yourself, that may be separation from nature, for example, separation from the world around you, maybe separation from a higher being or a higher source of power, if that’s something that you are tuned into in your life.

 And so oftentimes this leads us to feeling like nobody’s gonna understand what I’m going through. Nobody’s gonna get it, why bother? And I think that once we start to acknowledge that this separateness can actually detriment and inhibit our healing process, then it can help us to go and build those bonds with others.”

It turns out that if someone is already suffering from social anxiety or loneliness, social media use can accentuate these feelings and even lead to rumination or further isolation (O’Day & Heimberg, 2021).

Social media directly feeds into what society tells us is okay and not okay to feel, do, or say. It’s not just about finding community, it’s also about exploring the effect community (social, cultural and environmental factors) has on us as individuals. 

As an American society, we’re for sure freeing ourselves from the outdated societal constraints of the 20th century. You know, the ones where kids were meant to be seen not heard, where men couldn’t cry, and where women were labeled as “hysterical” for showing any emotion.

As we move through the 21st century we are seeing a complete turn around, as a society we are beginning to be able to open up about our emotions and have the support to feel good about embarking on our own personal healing journeys. 

We still have a ways to go though, in particular it seems people in caretaker positions still have trouble asking for help themselves, but the important part is that, as a society, we are moving towards getting in touch with the universal desire within us all to feel welcomed and accepted. 

In stark contrast, indigenous cultures have been in touch with their spiritual connection and psychedelic healing for generations. Typically, there are elders acting as a medicine keeper and a space holder, and they pass down their knowledge through the years. 

Instead of the reverence and sacredness of psychedelic substances that indigenous cultures hold, our modern American society still suffers from the backlash of the war on drugs, prohibition, and illegality of these powerful substances. 

This led any psychedelic work to be pushed underground, pushing the exploration of our consciousness to secrecy. Meaning, the most important and life-changing experience of their life is shunned from the collective support of community as it’s meant to be.

A lack of community is detrimental to the healing process when recovering from trauma. So the question then becomes, how can we learn from the structure of indigenous communities and create a society as supportive and well balanced (Shultz et al., 2016). 

Community Support Versus One-to-One Experiences

While it adds to the healing journey to have community support, there’s nuanced differences in when and where different forms of support are most helpful.

For example, having a psychedelic experience in a group setting may be overwhelming and hard to navigate as there are so many life stories and varied content.

Solo or one-to-one experiences are much more conducive to the individual, where they could then take their experience to group integration circles for more comprehensive community support.

Recommended Reading: 5 Reasons to Choose Supported vs. Solo Psychedelic Trips

Support From a Loved One 

At first glance, it might sound like the best trip sitter is someone that knows you well, and certainly that can be really powerful if they are able to put down their beliefs about who you are and know their role in supporting you.

It actually turns out to be more conducive to have someone facilitate your experience that doesn’t have a dual relationship with you, meaning they don’t know you personally. 

Their lack of influence in your life and lack of bias, along with your own lack of emotional ties to them, can gear your experience towards yourself instead of risking the experience being about your relationship with the loved one who sits for you. 

It all really depends on your intentions, goals, and how your relationship with your loved one ties into them. 

Recommended Reading: How to Support a Loved One Through a Psychedelic Experience

The Layers of “Community”

Community can have a lot of varied definitions depending on who you talk to, so let’s break it down. 

There’s your intimate family, friends and family who offer a special kind of support to you while moving through your healing journey. 

Then there’s the community that you build up around you, usually made up of professionals or other’s going through a similar journey. This form of community compliments the benefits of an intimate community extremely well. 

Having a robust community supporting them from multiple angles is the best of both worlds and can be extremely conducive to your healing journey. 

The Power of Being Witnessed

Being witnessed and seen in your process; preparation, ceremony day, integration and the whole lot, might be more meaningful than you think.

First, it gets you out of the echo chamber that being alone with your own psyche can cause, helping you to validate your experience. 

After a while, you might doubt elements of your psychedelic experience, asking yourself, “Did that really happen? Maybe it was just a figment of my imagination.”

Having another witness to your experience can help ground it in reality by being able to ask these questions to someone else instead of just yourself.

It also can help hold you accountable to your goals and intentions. It’s not exactly necessary for someone to physically witness you have your psychedelic experience, something as simple as sharing your story is enough to feel witnessed and heard.

Finding Community In Your Healing Process

Isolation is often what drives people to find community in the first place, so while it can cause so much suffering and limitation to our healing process, it oftentimes becomes the catalyst to the most powerful healing as well.

Through community we feel the oneness that flows through all of us, but by no means is your community expected to have the same worldviews, or the same life experiences as you.

It’s important to make the distinction between feeling connected through universal elements of the human experience, and needing to share the same values and beliefs. 

The communities you seek along your healing journey may or may not be related to psychedelics. You might find having one intimate community is better suited to your needs than a robust group of many communities, that depends solely on you and your needs.

Communities With Good Elements For Intentional Psychedelic Work

“The key element of a good community is that you feel like you can show up as your authentic self and you have permission to temporarily put down the roles and masks and responsibilities that you find yourself in day to day.”

From book clubs, to sports teams, any group of people that you feel comfortable with and welcomed in is a viable option for extra support in your healing journey. 

Yes, there are plenty of psychedelic support groups out there, geared specifically towards intentional psychedelic use, and these can be great ways to keep yourself accountable and on track. 

For example, we just started the Microdose Club, a place where people meet online weekly to share, learn, and support each other in microdosing.

A sense of community can come from so many places, you just have to find the ones that are right for you, and it’s okay to leave if you realize it’s not what you need. 

There’s a few universal elements of a beneficial and safe community that we have laid out to make you more confident as you seek them out. 

• Some common or shared values: find out what they care about and how they conduct themselves to help you align yourself with a community that’s right for you.
• Clear boundaries: have a clear idea of how to engage with others within the community and how you are expected to show up.
• Regular opportunities to connect: whether in person, online, in a group or individually.

It’s in these communities where we find that feeling of isolation melting away and we gain a connection to a collective and in turn, a deeper connection to ourselves. 

“Admit it, you aren’t like them. You’re not even close. You may occasionally dress yourself up as one of them, watch the same mindless television shows as they do, maybe even eat the same fast food sometimes. But it seems that the more you try to fit in, the more you feel like an outsider, watching the normal people as they go about their automatic existences. For every time you say club passwords like, ‘have a nice day,’ and ‘weather’s awful today,’ You yearn inside to say forbidden things like, ‘Tell me something that makes you cry.’ Or ‘what do you think deja vu is for?’ 

Face it, you even want to talk to that girl in the elevator. But what if that girl in the elevator and the balding man who walks past your cubicle at work are thinking the same thing? Who knows what you might learn from taking a chance on conversation with a stranger. Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle. Nobody comes into your life by mere coincidence. Trust your instincts, do the unexpected, and find the others.” — Timothy Leary

Powers Dynamic: A Word of Warning

Sometimes institutions can prey upon those seeking healing and community, so you have to be wary when seeking out new connections. 

We would stay away from people or companies trumping a “proprietary blend” or those asking you to give up your own personal healing power in any way.

It’s important to remember that you are your own most powerful healer, and good communities will amplify your own healing power through supporting you in your own journey.

Question From The Community

“Can You Define a Macrodose?”

A “macrodose” is the amount of psilocybin mushrooms that initiate an altered state of consciousness that will shape your reality and environment around you, usually having a hallucinogenic component. 

It typically begins around 1.5g+, but it can vary depending on the person. In our experience, the line between microdose and macrodose can become blurred for some people. We have seen what originally constituted a microdose for some people, actually giving them a more hallucinogenic experience than originally thought. 

We’ve seen people have just as impactful experiences taking 2 grams as others have taking 5, 6 or 7+ grams. 

This is where finding your own threshold comes in. Then you can define for yourself: what is the minimum effective dosage for a macrodose, where is your sweet spot, and where is your upper limit where it becomes ineffective to your process.

In American culture you may be drawn into believing that “bigger is better”, but that couldn’t be further from the truth when talking about psychedelic healing. 

Psychedelic healing is more about finding your sweet spot based on your intentions and the level of care or support that you’re receiving. 

We All Need Somebody To Lean On

Honestly, life can be a lot of work and there’s no reason you should have to face it alone, aren’t two brains usually better than one? 

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• Nothing Can Replace Self-Love: Self-love isn’t just about positive thinking, your physical health is imperative to loving yourself. 
• Dude, Where’s My Freedom?: Psychedelics can be used in many contexts, but using them to get “unstuck” is more popular than you may think.
• Being In Tune With Your Own Needs: The relationship to psychedelic medicine is much different than popping a pill, review why psychedelics are different from daily medication.
• Find The Value in Anecdotes: Still not sure what you’re getting yourself into? Check out other’s stories to get a better idea on how magic mushrooms make you feel.

Client Testimonials:

“The facilitator showed up and was genuinely accepting of me where I was and listened to my lived experience with kindness and curiosity. Before the ceremony, they set clear boundaries around what was and was not okay during the journey and set clear expectations around their own behavior upfront as well. It was clear that this was something that they had done many times and had significant experience with.” — Psychedelic Passage Client

Connect With a Psychedelic Coach You Can Actually Trust

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. How does community support enhance psychedelic healing?

Community support plays a crucial role in amplifying psychedelic healing by providing validation and helping individuals process their experiences. 

Being part of a community helps individuals feel seen and heard, which can ground their psychedelic experiences in reality. Community interactions can also offer diverse perspectives and support, holding individuals accountable to their goals and intentions.

2. What are the differences between modern and indigenous approaches to psychedelic healing communities?

Indigenous cultures often view psychedelic rituals as sacred and communal, with knowledge and practices passed down through generations, fostering a deep spiritual connection. 

In contrast, modern American society faces the challenges of stigma and isolation due to historical drug policies and lack of public support, often driving psychedelic experiences underground and away from communal support.

3. Why might solo psychedelic experiences be beneficial before seeking community integration?

Solo or one-to-one experiences allow individuals to explore their personal insights without external distractions. 

Following a solo session, individuals can engage in community integration circles to enrich their understanding and receive broader support, combining the introspection of solo experiences with the benefits of community insight and accountability.

4. How can someone choose the right community for their psychedelic journey?

The right community should allow individuals to show up as their authentic selves, with values that align with their own. Key elements include clear boundaries, shared values, and regular opportunities to connect. 

It’s important to feel comfortable and welcomed and to understand that it’s okay to move on if the community no longer meets one’s needs.

5. What caution should one take when joining a healing community?

Exercising caution is vital, as some institutions may exploit individuals seeking healing. Avoid communities that demand you relinquish control over your healing process or claim proprietary techniques that undermine your autonomy. 

Trust communities that empower you as your primary healer and aim to amplify your journey rather than control it.

6. What constitutes a macrodose, and how can one determine their personal dosage?

A macrodose of psilocybin typically begins around 1.5 grams but varies by individual. It induces an altered state of consciousness with hallucinogenic effects. 

Finding one’s personal dosage involves experimentation to identify the minimum effective dose (sweet spot) and upper limits for therapeutic benefits. It’s less about the quantity and more about what fosters healing in alignment with personal intentions.

References

O’Day, E. B., & Heimberg, R. G. (2021). Social media use, social anxiety, and loneliness: A systematic review. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 3(100070). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2021.100070

Schultz, K., Cattaneo, L. B., Sabina, C., Brunner, L., Jackson, S., & Serrata, J. V. (2016). Key roles of community connectedness in healing from trauma. Psychology of Violence, 6(1) 42–48. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000025