To support the client’s active engagement in psychedelic-assisted therapy, health professionals may start each session by pausing to honour the client's willingness, courage, patience, perseverance, or others to be present as an active participant in their healing. They may also honour the support person’s presence in the same way.
Therapeutic Ritual
Rituals have been used in plant-based healing ceremonies in Indigenous cultures throughout history. We have drawn inspiration from this Indigenous wisdom and the potential benefits of repeated intentional practices for creating consistency and therefore enhancing safety and trust in the process.
Clients have the option to continue these rituals in the future to reconnect and resource their past therapeutic treatment. If any of the therapeutic rituals do not resonate with clients, health professionals are to respect client autonomy and empower choice in practicing trauma- and violence-informed care.
Numinus Rituals
The following therapeutic rituals are suggested for incorporation in psychedelic-assisted therapy sessions at Numinus.
Please ensure that you read through all items before proceeding by selecting each title.
This is a practice of inviting an expression gratitude (for anything) in one’s own way at the beginning of every session. The health professional models this, and the client (and support person if present) are invited to follow with their own expressions of gratitude if they choose. Gratitude practice has ample evidence for supporting psychological and physical well-being, and also supports strengthening autonomic regulation, therefore is an excellent place to start, and to use embodied inquiry to touch into with the felt sense.
For example, “as you name being grateful for ___, what sensations, if any, can you notice in your body?”
Activity
Ritualize gratitude this week in your everyday life. Options may include writing 10 things you're grateful for upon waking or before going to bed.
Examples
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You might pause before a meal and express gratitude for the natural and human processes that have gone into bringing this meal before you.
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You could also share with people in your life what about them you're most grateful for.
Health professionals are encouraged to teach and practice conscious breathing practice with their clients. The essence of this ritual is to provide a short breathing practice done together with the intention of bringing clients into both the present moment and their body. This is both as skill building in preparation and a tool for establishing connection (to self, to the health professional, and to the present moment) at the start of a session or to call forth breath as an embodied resource to support ANS regulation at opportune times.
The breathing practice may be either activating or upregulating and emotionally evocative, such as conscious connected breathing or calming or downregulating such as box-breathing, prolonged exhalations, or even bilateral oscillatory movements with a natural breath. Clients may already have their own breathing practice, and you can invite them to teach you it. The key is to practice together and then pause briefly afterward to notice any subtle or obvious shifts using embodied inquiry.
Done near the conclusion of the Medicine Sessions, this ritual is a reflection made by health professionals regarding personal meaning that surfaced as a result of witnessing the client’s process. For example, “when you chose to turn toward the dark tension in your belly so courageously, I was reminded of the support and courage I’ve needed to look at the dark corners inside me, and I felt a sense of our common strength as humans and how we all need support.” Health professionals can also invite support persons to share their own reflection about how their loved one’s process had meaning for them personally. This ritual supports relationship-centered care and may enhance trust and connection between health professionals and clients, as it exposes how health professionals are also engaged in their own process of growth. As Ram Dass says, “we are all walking each other home.”
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Use a small surface such as a desk or side table to intentionally display any meaningful objects or photographs that the clients might bring to the session (invite the clients to do so during Preparation Sessions)
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Health professionals present the medicine in a special bowl or cup and invite clients to state their intention aloud prior to self-administering. Then, the health professional follows with stating their own intention as the facilitator (e.g. “My intention is to be fully present to your process and support you and your intention to the best of my ability in service to your deepest healing and highest good”)
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Thank all the supporting people who made the work possible, offering the benefit and merit of your work together to something larger
The Numinus Perspective
At Numinus, we have a strong commitment to the process of Truth and Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. As such, it is critical none of our therapy team members engage in harmful aspects of appropriating Indigenous Peoples’ spiritualism, cultural practices, or healing traditions in the delivery of our services. For example:
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White settlers or settlers (including both clients and health professionals) appropriating sacredness of Smudge Ceremony and the burning of sacred plant medicines, such as White Buffalo sage or appropriating the use of sacred cultural objects (e.g., Eagle Feathers, Abalone Shells, etc.)
As a culturally appropriate alternative, it is recommended non-Indigenous health professionals utilize aromatherapy, such as rose water or lavender spray in the room or over/around the client/health professional instead, if desired. For self-identified Indigenous clients, health professionals should strive to accommodate cultural practices and provide access to sacred medicines (e.g., sweetgrass and sage) to self-identified Indigenous clients at their request.