Session 1 Pre-Work
Embodied inquiry is a modality that is derived from mindfulness-based interventions and other process-based and somatic therapies.
Because embodied inquiry requires the use of mindfulness both personally and professionally, there will be opportunities in this course for you to grow in both areas. Let’s jump into some foundational concepts of inquiry before we learn more about how embodied inquiry applies specifically to psychedelic-assisted therapy.
Psychotherapy may be viewed as based on two broad approaches:
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Please read the following paper which consists of a study examining these two modes of mind. It serves as important background material for understanding one of the ways in which enhanced psychological flexibility for mental health and well-being likely occurs and why mindfulness is an important ingredient. It also provides a rationale for the utility of process-based therapies that utilize inquiry for assisting clients to attend to direct experience as it unfolds, reducing the tendency to get caught up in cognitive elaboration, worry, or rumination.
Farb, N. A., Segal, Z. V., Mayberg, H., Bean, J., McKeon, D., Fatima, Z., & Anderson, A. K. (2007). Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 2(4), 313–322.
Inquiry is used to recognize and track experience as it is unfolding in the moment, and this is how it is more frequently used during an actual psychedelic Medicine Session. Clients may also be invited to bring up a challenging experience (often during Preparation or Integration) that occurred in the past or that is ongoing, and inquiry can be used to investigate how this shows up for the client somatically, emotionally, and cognitively.
This module introduces inquiry as a structured method and contemplative dialogue. It outlines the utility of such a framework, the rationale for its use, specific attitudes, and objects of attention that can help health professionals when engaged in inquiry with a client. In this reading (as is common in mindfulness-based programs), inquiry is often used as a post-meditative practice to help group participants increase their reflective capacity and enhance their ability to:
be aware
notice direct experience
track direct experience
apply what is learned into daily life
While this reading is intended for those who are running MBCT groups and psychedelic-assisted therapy with individuals, the inquiry process is the same when it is being used in a post-reflective manner.
As you learned in the reading, there are three layers of inquiry that leverage one’s ability to bring attention to experience, contrast ways of attending, tracking experience and integrating learning to increase well-being:
What did you notice?
How might this way of paying attention be different? And then what happened? And then?
How might this relate to preventing depressive relapse, managing difficult mind and mood states, or staying well?
As a summary of what you learned, please review the three layers of inquiry and the intended outcomes.
In the first layer of inquiry, clients are asked “What did you notice about this experience”? It is common for clients to default to analyzing their experience instead of describing the various aspects of their experience. Health professionals facilitating inquiry should gently direct clients back to focusing on their direct experience (Woods, Rockman, & Collins, 2019).
During the second layer of inquiry (early on in the process), the question should shift to “how might this way of paying attention be different?” to shift the focus to the deepening of their mindfulness. The health professional facilitating the inquiry session should also focus on the sequential and unfolding nature of each moment by asking “and then what happened?”. This approach encourages the client to stay with the present moment experience and focus on their thoughts, emotions, body sensations, impulses to act, and behaviours (Woods, Rockman, & Collins, 2019).
Finally, the third layer of inquiry focuses on integrating the experiences and what has been learned to everyday life. Clients are able to apply and generalize the skills they learned using this layer to assist that process (Woods, Rockman, & Collins, 2019).
It is important to remember the layers provide a foundation and structure for inquiry. However, remember that one does not want to be rigidly adherent to them and that ultimately, the priority is to follow the client’s process.
Farb, N. A., Segal, Z. V., Mayberg, H., Bean, J., McKeon, D., Fatima, Z., & Anderson, A. K. (2007). Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 2(4), 313–322.
Woods, S.L., Rockman, P. & Collins E. (2019). Chapter 8: Inquiry as Contemplative Dialogue. In Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
