There are many stages during psychedelic psychotherapy; the exploratory phase is one of them.

Psychedelic psychotherapists can use the material that arises in session to move toward therapeutic goals.

The therapist helps connect emerging experiences to goals while staying open to unexpected insights.

I believe that discovering, speaking, and living our truths, along with unconditional self-love, are the true medicines for our wounded hearts and traumatized bodies. Psychedelic psychotherapy (PAT) helps us access both.

Each session of PAT is different, and like any kind of therapy, the actual process and results depend on each individual person. I use a 5-phase framework for my sessions, which helps me better work with where the client is. The phases include: grounding and dropping in; on-set of the medicine; therapeutic exploration; coming down; wrapping up. I will focus on the exploratory phase in this post.

In the exploratory phase, we examine everything that comes up and arises in the client's consciousness: images, sounds, shapes, textures, sensations, stories, memories, and emotions. This might include: doors, fields, stars, space, pyramids, forests, tunnels, catacombs, coffins, insects, trees, father, mother, sister, aunt, basements, and creatures known and new. Not everything has meaning, but we must explore and discover what does. The client is the explorer of the cosmos and their own psyche. The therapist is a guide, a psychological surgeon, a trusted friend, a confidant, and an attendant in this process. Good exploratory questions are essential here. These don’t always have to be therapeutic, but they do help the client........

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