Shadow

We’re Not Made to Heal Alone

We humans need other humans—to call us on our stuff, to name our shadow. To see ourselves as we cannot. To initiate us into new paths and practices. And to support us through the rough ride that ayahuasca can bring, the retriggered trauma and angst-y feelings that can arise. Let’s take shadow work first. By…

Family Secrets in Ayahuasca’s Light

Seven days into an ayahuasca retreat in the Peruvian Amazon, I’m not liking—no, let’s tell it straight—hating the guy who sits across from me in the circle. Mike’s smugness, his closedness, his know-it-all vibe are driving me crazy. And I know, reluctantly but well enough, that the qualities I am triggered by are actually inside…

Ayahuasca & Shadow

Integration work means more than joining a sharing circle, starting a meditation practice, and maintaining a clean diet. Most essentially, it signals turning to face the shadow, all the forgotten, repressed, unseen and un-integrated psychic material we’ve left behind in the process of growing up and into the world. Shadow work deliberately evokes that which…