Some past few years, the popularity of psychedelic therapy increased after finding its positive role in mental healing, self-worth, and emotional balance. Psychedelic substances are not new for humans, as it remained a prominent part in rituals to gain shamanic healing. Currently, researchers are navigating the psilocybin, MDMA, and LSD after the world started accepting their therapeutic roles. For instance, gaining spiritual healing and altered states of consciousness from psychedelic retreats was a huge part of Native American shamanic traditions. In this blog we are going to investigate the shamanic healing and psychedelic therapy and what lessons can we learn from these age-old rituals.

The Shamanic Perspective: Modified States and Completeness

Shamanism perspective revolves around the belief that humans are born with the power to experience a special state of consciousness. They can utilise these states to absorb spiritual knowledge, emotional changes, and healing. In shamanic healing practices, shamans work as a facilitators to guide the inner view of one’s psyche. This guidance was carried out with the help ingesting sacred plant extract and with techniques like chanting, fasting, and drumming. The main objective of this ancient healing ritual is to construct the damage innerself of the person and make him strongly connected to god and nature. According to the psychologist, Carl Jung, Consistency in shamanic healing linked with self-regulating mechanisms that always aimed for individuation or completeness.

Taking Part in the Ceremony

Psychedelic ritual use has a long history, dating back thousands of years in many cultures worldwide. Psychedelics integration was probably limited to religious settings in ancient times. These days, skilled shamanic leaders who possess the knowledge of their ancestors frequently lead these rites, acting as mentors and guardians for those setting out on their inner quests.

The fundamental structure of the ceremonial setting is one of its differences.

The variation in viewpoint may show up in how the experience is approached. With the help of the rituals, songs, and prayers, participants in ceremonies frequently operate in a group environment with an emphasis on the collective. Songs, chanting, music, and even dancing are some of the healing components of the ceremony that frequently minimise the hallucinogenic effects of the sacrament.

The ceremonial perspective of shamanic healing often views pain as resulting from spiritual separation or imbalances in important connections, rather than from a "disordered" psyche. The goal is to support a change in the relationships with the sacred, the natural world, rather than to "fix" the individual.

Psychedelic Therapy: The Transformational Science

The psychedelic drugs appear to relax inflexible thought and behaviour patterns, creating a window of neuroplasticity that can be used to promote healing. These viewpoints are supported by current studies on psychedelic therapy. According to research on psilocybin, a single high-dose session under guidance can result in powerful mystical experiences and long-lasting improvements in psychological well-being.

Crucially, psychedelic consumption is a component of a systematic therapeutic procedure that also involves post-session integration and pre-session counselling. When taken in a supportive, safe environment, the substance itself can stimulate emotional processing and insight, but it is not a cure-all. In this way, the meticulously planned set and environment of traditional plant medicine ceremonies like shamanic healing rituals and psychedelic therapy are very similar.

A Spin in Psychedelic Retreats

With the therapist providing assistance prior to, during, and following the experience, the psychedelic therapy landscape, on the other hand, is more in line with the Western mental framework of meaning making. In this case, a clinical mental health provider's focus is predicated on a different set of presumptions and is intended to address a person's particular mental health issues, such as addiction, trauma, depression, or anxiety, by using the psychedelic experience as an opportunity for more in-depth investigation and psychedelic integration.

The psychotherapy setting usually entails a closer relationship between the client and the therapist or therapists, with a focus on each person's particular needs. The actual environment is frequently intended to be serene and friendly; consider cosy furnishings, gentle lighting, and music that promotes and eases the therapeutic process.

Connecting the Modern and the Traditional

The contemporary psychedelic movement has been characterised by some as an effort to re-establish the healing practices and participative consciousness that Westerners have lost touch with. The oldest and most popular methodological technique of mind-body healing that people are aware of is shamanism. We might be able to counteract the "disenchantment of the world" that came with the rise of scientific materialism by going back to these roots.

However, it is important to avoid extreme intense practices while connecting the two healing practices. the similarities between traditional and contemporary behaviours. While psychedelic therapy occurs in a secure, clinically approved setting, traditional shamanic rites are ingrained in particular cultural and cosmological practices. It is crucial to keenly evaluate while commercialising indigenous methods in psychedelic therapy.

Overlap Navigation: Shamanic Healing Vs Psychedelic Therapy

It's crucial to remember that rituals and therapy have a lot in common and that one method can incorporate aspects of the other. In certain cases, therapeutic aspects are included into ceremonial settings, and vice versa, with therapists or facilitators combining techniques to produce a more comprehensive experience.

Understanding each approach's distinct advantages and disadvantages while carefully taking into account each person's demands and situation is crucial. A shamanic healing might be the best course of action for some people since it offers a more profound spiritual connection to the group. Others may benefit more from a clinically educated psychedelic therapy strategy that targets particular mental healing.

Conclusion

Decades of research have led to the widespread recognition of psychedelics as a therapeutic therapy. Two methods are emerging in this field as the Western medical framework catches up to long-standing, ancient psychedelic practices: "clinical" psychedelic therapy and "ceremonial" experiences (involving shamanic healing). Although they both use comparable medications and have comparable pharmacological effects, the experiences will vary greatly depending on their backgrounds, settings, and uses. It is advantageous to use both in psychedelic healing therapy but understanding both in-depth is crucial.

Shamanic Healing vs. Psychedelic Therapy: Exploring Ceremonial and Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Paths