“Much of what we call personality is not a fixed set of traits, only coping mechanisms a person acquired in childhood.” - Gabor Maté
What does a PSI session look like?
01. Body Scan and Emotional Exploration
The client puts on an eye-bag to help contain their experience inward. We begin with a “body scan,” where the client looks for any places of tightness, pain, or marked sensation in the body. We focus on these spots and turn to the emotional body, asking what’s stored there. The therapist supports the client in noticing and allowing these sensations and on keeping their focus on the body. We side-step stories and explanations from the ego, and we inhibit the coping mechanisms—such as deep breaths, foot tapping, or other physical tics—that we often use to distract ourselves when we face something hard or overwhelming.
02. Physically Releasing What No Longer Serves Us
As we gain consciousness of what’s stored in the tissues of the body, we can begin the process of physically releasing what no longer serves us. This release happens at a very tangible, physical level. The autonomic nervous system knows what to do when shown this biological healing process, which is one we share with all mammals. The unconscious mind, brought to the forefront by the medicine, bears witness to and participates in this release.
03. Rewriting Core Beliefs
We also gain consciousness of our core beliefs, the habitual stories running through our minds on unconscious repeat that shape our experience of the world. PSI gives us the opportunity to rewrite these stories in our minds and in our bodies. This lets us become less reactive and more responsive to events in our lives.
This somatic technique can also be done “unamplified,” or without any medicine in your system. While it’s not as much of a deep dive, such work still allows you to go below the waterline of your consciousness and can be very beneficial.
04. Optional Cranial Sacral Therapy
When appropriate, I bring the gentle, hands-on technique of cranial sacral therapy into the session as well, a unique approach that allows my clients to anchor even more profoundly into the physical capacity for well-being awakened by PSI work.
Benefits & Results
After doing this work, clients say they feel lighter and more present. They’re no longer dealing with persistent feelings of separation, loneliness, resentment, isolation, and depression. Many clients also report relief from chronic physical pain.
“I’ve been let out of prison,” is something I’ve heard from many of my clients.
This has been my own experience. I’ve done this work for the last ten years, first as a client and then through my training with the Psychedelic Somatic Institute. I’m now free from the intractable, unremitting, and seemingly untreatable chronic pain as well as the feelings of heartbreak with which I have lived for most of my life. Instead, I feel less afraid, and more hopeful. I’ve found equanimity and a profound sense of well-being, and I’ve been able to deepen my relationships and my connection to the world.
I’d like to invite you to learn more about this exciting therapeutic breakthrough, join the growing number of people finding healing and community around this work, and begin your own inward journey.
Curious to explore the theory and research behind this practice? Click here for a selected list of resources.
