Poetry, practical guidance, and research to support you in making sense of your experience and bringing it into everyday life.

Integration unfolds over time. These resources offer ways to reflect, find support, and bring what you've experienced into everyday life. Take what feels useful, leave the rest, and come back whenever you need.

You don't have to navigate this process alone.

Looking for Support?

If you're having a difficult time during or after a psychedelic experience, Fireside Project offers free psychedelic peer support.

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Poems

I often read poetry while serving medicine at Tandava. Here are some of the poems I return to, for you to spend time with and revisit in your own integration.

Before the Dissolving

Michelle Gale in collaboration with ChatGPT

Lay down your name Fold it like a cloth and place it at the foot of the sky you wont need it where you are going Let the breath be the boat and the stillness the sea you are not the wind you are the space it moves through Whatever you fear let it be a bell Whatever you long for let it be a gate There is no map Only Remembering So loosen your grip on who you think you are The stars have never needed a name to shine You are not falling You are returning To what has always held you even when you forgot

Lost

David Wagoner

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here, And you must treat it as a powerful stranger, Must ask permission to know it and be known.

An excerpt. Read the whole poem at On Being.

The Way It Is

William Stafford

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread.

An excerpt, from The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems.

For a New Beginning

John O'Donohue

In out-of-the-way places of the heart, Where your thoughts never think to wander, This beginning has been quietly forming, Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

An excerpt. Read the whole poem at Poetry Chaikhana.

The Invitation

Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing It doesn't interest me how old you are I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for

An excerpt. Read the whole poem at oriahmountaindreamer.com.

Allow

Danna Faulds

There is no controlling life. Try corralling a lightning bolt, containing a tornado. Dam a stream and it will create a new channel.

An excerpt, from Go In and In: Poems from the Heart of Yoga.

Our Deepest Fear

Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,

An excerpt, from A Return to Love.

Kindness

Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth.

An excerpt. Read the whole poem at On Being.

Love After Love

Derek Walcott

The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror

An excerpt. Read the whole poem at poets.org.

Breathing

Thich Nhat Hanh

Breathing in, I see myself as a flower. I am the freshness of a dewdrop. Breathing out, my eyes have become flowers. Please look at me.

An excerpt. Read the whole poem at Lion's Roar.

The Guest House

Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.

An excerpt. Read the whole poem at the Scottish Poetry Library.

Wild Geese

Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

An excerpt. Read the whole poem at On Being.

5-MeO-DMT

An introduction to 5-MeO-DMT, the medicine I serve, for anyone curious about this work or considering a medicine experience.

Learn about 5-MeO-DMT

Scientific Research

Explore what research says so far about psychedelic experiences and integration, and the questions that remain.

Explore the research

Five Institute Integration Information

Tandava

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Integration at Tandava

Free Integration Circles

For those who want support within a safe community, Tandava also hosts free integration circles every two weeks.

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