How to Use Music as a Tool for Psychedelic Integration After Ceremony
In the growing world of psychedelic work, integration has become a crucial phase of the journey. It’s the period after the ceremony, where the real job begins – processing insights, emotions, and experiences in order to bring them into your everyday life. One of the most powerful tools for integration is music. While music plays a significant role during ceremonies, it can also be used to ground and facilitate growth once the psychedelic experience is over.
In my work as a ceremonial musician over the past four years, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing profound transformations in groups during psychedelic, multi-day workshops. These ceremonies, held monthly, are filled with deep inner work that is nothing short of magical and awe-inspiring. However, through these experiences, I’ve come to realize that the real significance lies not just in what happens during the ceremony, but in what unfolds afterward. The true work begins at home, where participants integrate the insights they've gained and weave them into their everyday lives.
In this blog post, we’ll explore how you can use music as a tool for psychedelic integration, offering practical tips on how certain frequencies and sounds can help you continue the healing process long after the ceremony ends.
Why Integration Matters After Ceremony
Psychedelic integration is the process of making sense of the experience you had during a ceremony – whether it was with plant medicine, breathwork, or another spiritual practice. It’s about taking the insights, emotional breakthroughs, and spiritual teachings and bringing them into your daily life in a way that fosters growth. Without proper integration, the profound moments of clarity you experience during a ceremony can fade or remain disconnected from your life.
Music, which played such a crucial role during the ceremony, can serve as an essential companion during the integration process. Just as it helps guide the journey during a psychedelic experience, it can continue to provide a beneficial framework after the ceremony is complete.
THE ALCHEMY OF MUSIC
The true work begins at home, where we integrate the insights we’ve gained and weave them into our everyday lives. Music can be the key to unlocking that process.
How Music Helps in the Integration Process
Music is more than just sound – it's a powerful energetic tool that can help balance emotions, ground your energy, and allow you to process the deeper layers of your experience. Here are some of the ways that music can be used during the post-ceremony integration phase:
1) Grounding and Stabilizing Emotions
After a psychedelic ceremony, your emotions can feel heightened or unpredictable. Certain frequencies or songs can help you ground yourself and bring balance back to your emotional state. Low, steady tones such as drumming or deep, resonant notes can help stabilize your nervous system, bringing you back into your body after an intense experience.
In my practice, I’ve found that grounding frequencies, such as a low C note, help anchor me when I feel energetically scattered. This type of sound provides a steady foundation for my emotions, allowing me to feel safe and centered in the days following a ceremony. Consider listening to tracks with earthy, grounding tones during your integration process, especially when you feel overwhelmed.
2) Facilitating Emotional Release
Sometimes, the emotional work of a psychedelic ceremony continues after the ceremony ends. Certain songs can help facilitate this emotional release by creating a space where you feel safe enough to express what you’re feeling – whether that’s grief, joy, or relief. Soft, heart-centered music, like gentle acoustic guitar or vocal harmonies, can help you access these emotions and allow them to flow.
In my personal experience, I’ve seen how music can help people cry, laugh, or release emotions they didn’t even realize they were holding onto. During integration, try incorporating softer, more emotional songs into your listening routine to help guide these emotional releases.
3) Deepening Insights and Reflection
Music can also help you dive deeper into the insights you gained during your psychedelic experience. Certain songs or frequencies can take you back to the state of consciousness you experienced in ceremony, helping you reflect more deeply on the messages and visions that came through. Binaural beats or theta wave music can be particularly helpful for accessing these reflective states, as they help guide your brain into a meditative state similar to what you may have experienced during the ceremony.
When I’m working on integrating complex insights, I use meditative music or drone-like sounds that allow my mind to wander and reflect without feeling rushed. These reflective spaces help me understand and process the meaning behind my experiences on a deeper level.
4) Bridging Ceremony and Daily Life
One of the challenges of integration is finding ways to bring the spiritual and emotional breakthroughs from a ceremony into your everyday life. Music can act as a bridge between these two worlds. By listening to the same music that was played during your ceremony, or by choosing songs that evoke a similar energy, you can maintain a connection to the experience and remind yourself of the lessons and healing you received.
For example, after a plant medicine ceremony, I often create a playlist of songs that remind me of the energies I encountered. Playing these songs in the background during meditation, journaling, or even while doing daily tasks helps me carry the spiritual insights into my everyday routine. This continuity through music helps me embody the teachings of the ceremony and integrate them more fully into my life.
5) Harmonizing the Body and Mind
Frequencies and rhythms have a direct impact on your nervous system. In the post-ceremony phase, where you may feel more sensitive or raw, music can help harmonize and regulate your physical and emotional energy. Listening to healing frequencies, like 432 Hz or 528 Hz, can help calm your system, promoting a state of relaxation and balance.
I’ve often used singing bowls or crystal bowls at home to recalibrate my energy after an intense ceremony. Their clear, ringing tones have an immediate effect on my nervous system, helping me feel aligned and at peace. Consider exploring sound healing tracks specifically tuned to these frequencies during your integration period to support your healing process.
THE ALCHEMY OF MUSIC
By continuing to work with sound after the ceremony, you create a bridge between the profound experiences you had and your daily life, allowing the process to unfold more fully.
Practical Tips for Using Music During Integration
Here are some practical ways to incorporate music into your psychedelic integration process:
Create an Integration Playlist
After your ceremony, make a playlist of songs that were played during the ceremony or songs that resonate with the emotional and spiritual themes you encountered. This will act as a familiar anchor to ground you when you’re processing the experience.
Use Music During Meditation or Journaling
Music can deepen your reflective practices. Play soft, healing music while meditating or journaling about your experience. This will help you access a calm state and bring deeper clarity to your insights.
Reconnect with Ceremonial Music Through an Online Singing Circle
Joining my monthly online singing circle is a wonderful way to stay connected to the power of ceremonial music after your ceremony. Over 90 minutes, you’ll have the chance to sing medicine songs, explore your voice, and reconnect with the music that resonates with your inner healing journey. The best part? In this safe and nurturing environment, no one else can hear you, just like singing in the shower. Whether you’re a seasoned singer or a complete beginner, this circle offers a space for personal discovery and joyful self-expression.
Sounding for Energy Release
Sounding – using your voice alongside instruments like a shamanic drum, shruti box, or singing bowl – is an excellent way to release stagnant energy and reconnect with an altered state of consciousness. You can tap into the emotional energy from your ceremony by vocalizing, humming, or chanting while playing one of these grounding instruments. This helps clear emotional blockages and can even guide you back into the intuitive, altered states you experienced during the ceremony. Below you will find a step by step guide, how to use sounding as a tool for integration.
Listen to Grounding Tracks in Nature
Spending time in nature after a ceremony is incredibly grounding. Take your music outside - listen to earthy, grounding songs while walking in the forest or sitting by water. This combination of nature and sound will support your integration process.
Explore Different Frequencies
Try listening to healing frequencies like 432 Hz or 528 Hz during moments of reflection, or when you need to calm your nervous system. You can find tracks specifically tuned to these frequencies online. If you want to get into the science behind specific frequencies and how rhythms shape the journey, check out this blog post I dedicated specifically to the science behind music and altered states of consciousness.
THE ALCHEMY OF MUSIC
Sounding – using your voice alongside instruments like a shamanic drum, shruti box, or singing bowl – is an excellent way to release stagnant energy and reconnect with an altered state of consciousness.
Sounding Exercise for Energy Release Using a Shruti Box or Backing Track
One powerful way to support your emotional integration after a ceremony is through a sounding practice. Using a shruti box or even a simple drone-like backing track from YouTube, you can engage in an exercise designed to help you release emotions and reconnect with the energetic flow you experienced during the ceremony.
Set the Scene
Find a quiet space where you won’t be interrupted. Light a candle or some incense to create a peaceful atmosphere. Choose a shruti box or a backing track that plays a drone sound in a key you find grounding, such as C or D. Here is a backing track in C.
Begin Sounding
Start by taking deep, slow breaths. Allow yourself to relax into the rhythm of your breath. Once you feel centered, begin humming or chanting softly to match the tone of the shruti box or backing track. Don’t worry about the notes being perfect – this exercise is about expression and release, not performance.
Allow Emotion to Surface
As you continue to sound, allow any emotions that are present to surface. Your voice may grow louder or softer, depending on how you feel. Let your body move naturally – rock back and forth, sway, or stand up and walk around the space if that feels right. The key is to stay connected to the sound and let it guide you toward emotional release.
Release and Ground
After a few minutes of sounding, you may feel a shift in your energy. Take a moment to sit in silence, noticing how your body feels. If there is still tension, continue sounding until you feel a sense of release or completion. Finish by grounding yourself with a low, steady hum or by placing your hands on the earth.
This exercise can be a powerful way to release pent-up emotions and reconnect with the deeper state of consciousness you accessed during your ceremony.
THE ALCHEMY OF MUSIC
Reconnect with ceremonial music through my online singing circle – a safe and nurturing space where you can explore your voice, sing medicine songs, and reignite your connection to music.
Conclusion: The Power of Music for Post-Ceremony Healing
Music is an invaluable tool for psychedelic integration. It helps ground your emotions, facilitate emotional release, and bring clarity to the insights you gained during the ceremony. By continuing to work with sound after the ceremony, you create a bridge between the profound experiences you had and your daily life, allowing the healing to unfold more fully.
Whether it’s through grounding frequencies, emotional songs, or meditative tracks, music can be the thread that ties together the deep work done in ceremony and the ongoing integration process. As you navigate your journey of healing and growth, let music be your companion and guide, helping you process, reflect, and transform long after the ceremony is over.
P.S. Invitation to My Online Singing Circle:
P.S. If you're looking for a nurturing space to reconnect with ceremonial music and your own voice, I invite you to join my monthly Online Singing Circle. Over 90 minutes, we’ll sing medicine songs, explore vocal expression, and connect with the healing power of music. Whether you're new to singing or experienced, this is a safe space to rediscover your voice, tap into the transformative energy of sound, and deepen your connection to the music that resonates with your soul. You can sing freely, without judgment, and no one else will hear you – just like singing under the shower! Join us to nurture your voice and reconnect to the music that heals.