Integration: A Psychedelic Love Affair of the Conscious & Unconscious
Integration is a popular buzzword. Practitioners commonly praise integration as a crucial part of whatever transformational event they just facilitated, but seldom else seems to ever be mentioned about what integration is, why it's important, and how to go about this word that seems to reap so many rewards.
As someone who has been on both the giver and the receiver end of Earth medicines, psychedelics, multi-day meditation retreats, and the healing community for years, integration is a word I find to be largely misunderstood and overused, yet is an essential part of intentional metamorphosis.
Integration is the process of weaving the learned parts of the subconscious self into conscious awareness in order to receive greater wholeness of being. This can (and needs to be done) with both the Shadow and Light parts of ourselves in order to heal trauma, make peace with our innate complexity, and move into accordance with our True Selves.
To understand integration as a process, we need to define the subconscious, or unconscious, self.
Psychologist Carl Jung once said “until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” The unconscious self is the deeper part of our psyche - it encompasses the memories, beliefs, and emotions that we are not actively aware of, but influences our behavior, reactions, and relationship with the world nonetheless.
The entire autonomic nervous system, our fight or flight responses, and automatic responses to external stimuli are all aspects of the unconscious self. Traumas, childhood memories, learned behaviors, and ingrained beliefs are all stored in the subconscious self. This facet of the psyche makes up a total of 95% of the brain's processing power, leaving only 5% to our conscious awareness.
The unconscious conserves precious mental energy for us to cope with the world. It allows us to turn off the sensory disturbances of modern day life, go through the day free from active decision making at every single moment, and can protect us from emotions we are not ready to face. It is the part of us that is forefront when we mindlessly go through our morning routine or that allows us to zone out on our drive home from work. It is also the part responsible for repetitive patterns in our lives - seemingly for better or worse!
This is why psychedelics, meditation, and certain practices of personal inquiry can be so helpful; they possess the potential to bring forth aspects of the subconscious mind. They allow us to know what has been unknown, see what has been unseen, and feel what has been unfelt. This puts us in the driver seat to install real, tangible change through active review and reprogramming of the subconscious self. These experiences also tend to provide a big boost of energy to bring desired results into fruition.
While big boosts of energy are undoubtedly helpful, it takes real, palpable habit changes and mindset shifts to create lasting transformation. This is where integration comes into play - we receive the downloads from these modalities that let us know how wonderful we can truly feel, and then it is up to us and our humanness to keep these learnings in place to actualize long-term.
As you can probably guess, this is not a simple, one-size fits all process. True integration requires radical awareness, loving presence, tangible practices, and, oftentimes, accountability from someone who understands us and our patterns. Working with a consistent life coach or specialized practitioner can be immensely helpful in the endeavor to understand the self on this level, as facing triggers and resistance is almost guaranteed.
There are ways, however, to work with the subconscious mind on your own when installing change, such as through meditation, journal exercises, and the general openness to spot the self-limiting beliefs that keep you stuck. The subconscious loves reminders and repetition, so the more this is practiced, generally the easier it will become.
Remember to practice this equally with shadow and joy - it can be helpful to bring in as much authentic happiness and feel good vibes as possible following a transformational experience. The fullness of life is best experienced when we are able to hold it in all of its spectrum of multiplicity, after all.
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