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In this weekly dose, Selma shares her experiences by describing her relationship to psychedelics and her culture. She goes into great detail about her journey with Ayahuasca. And learning the importance of embodiment integration exercises like dance. She explores the art of spirituality and wholeness with psychedelics with the creation of altars and ritual.
website healingsoulsllc.com
The Psychedelics Integration Handbook
The Psychedelic Psychologist is a conversational-style podcast hosted by Dr. Ryan Westrum with clients and guests who use talk therapy to integrate Psychedelic experiences for healing and personal transformation. Tune in to hear people’s experiences, breakthroughs and stories of healing addiction, depression, and trauma through Psychedelics. Dr. Ryan Westrum gracefully and empathetically narrates real therapy sessions with people in their most vulnerable and transformational moments.
Taking a breath in
taking a grounding
breath out for a moment.
I invite you to imagine being gently
placed on the earth as the conduit,
the go-between father sky.
And mother earth breathing in,
breathing out.
And as you imagine the conduit
between father sky, I invite you to
reach your arms up to the heavens,
to the cosmos all the while.
Rooting deeper into earth,
finding a place of center, finding
a place of stillness, gently between
the source of the divine
feminine and divine masculine.
Taking one breath in and
one authentic breath out.
I invite you to come back
to finding your place
in all of it.
Hi, it's Ryan.
Welcome to your weekly dose of
the psychedelic psychologist.
Where I invite my guests.
To share stories about their
psychedelic experiences.
We cover.
For a variety of topics
from overcoming addiction.
And severe depression.
to finding wholeness
in spiritual emergence.
Today's podcast.
You're.
Going to hear from one of my guests.
Salma.
Where we talk a lot about
reconnecting intimately to our.
Culture.
Connecting to an embodied practice of.
Of integration through.
Learning from the medicines
Salma.
It's great to see you.
Hi, Ryan.
Thank you.
How are you feeling coming
into today's conversation?
Mm I'm feeling a little nervous
and at the same time, very honored
to be in this space with you.
Yeah.
I know for you, ritual is super, super
important as it relates to psychedelics.
Has that always been the case?
That's a very good question.
And I feel like since I was little,
I really liked to imbibe what I like
to call magic into my life in so many
ways, but it wasn't until I started
working with psychedelics that I
realized the blurry line between ritual.
And did you already have integrated.
Yeah.
And tell me more about, because that
integration process and ritual brings
it into kind of the fold of reality
at some level or concrete, there's an
opportunity to do something with it.
Yeah.
I feel like rituals to me
are acts, are poetic acts.
So in order to mark that I am
doing my integration process.
I feel like I'm doing four acts too.
So to me.
How did you, find the invitation to
psychedelics and what has become so
clear within the psychedelic realm?
Hmm, well, my culture is.
Open would they use of psychedelics
from an ancestral component?
So ever since I was in my history
class, I S and I was hearing about
the aspects and all these cultures,
I always felt like, oh my goodness.
They must be like, oh, really
high all the time in order to come
up with those amazing stories.
So my history class has opened the door
for me to think that there was something.
Else than the reality, the
way I knew it at that time.
I was very open to, to know more
about substances that having used
over the time in human history.
And specifically for your culture and
the relationship you're building with it.
Have you found yourself more connected
to your culture, more connected to your
ancestors because of the medicines?
Oh, absolutely.
In fact, because I am a
foreign woman in this country.
The first time I took psychedelics, I was.
Connection.
I got how to reconnect with my roots,
even though I was not in my home country.
And it happened with wood mushrooms,
I took them and I was transported back
to the aspect culture and my roots and
to the importance for me to reconnect
with not just my, my ancestors, but
also to reconnect with my womanhood.
Yeah.
And that sense of belonging to the
land, even if this is not my land to
feel that, I have a place here, which
I was not feeling like that for awhile.
And is there an emotion I see or
hear in your voice when you talk
about that connection to your
womanhood, your ancestors, your land?
Yeah, absolutely.
It was so mesmerizing to me
to realize that I needed to.
And away from home do actually
tell you feel honor and
pride to be a Mexican woman.
That's really beautiful.
How do you walk with that?
Speaking of integration and ritual,
what are you doing to honor your land,
your divine, feminine your culture?
Well, now that you mentioned divine
feminine, and I want to say that that.
Uh, big of discovery that I have in
there with you and in our sessions,
I feel like no connecting with that
part of myself was not always so
available or so easily accessible to
me coming from ancestral trauma and
the fear of showing up in my fullness
as a woman in the world was always
something that creates some fear for.
So tapping again in these
energies and reclaiming them has
been a big part of the journey.
You talk about reclaiming them.
So you're coming into, in a way,
a concert, a deeper relationship
within yourself because of the
psychedelic experiences you're having.
Yeah, absolutely.
That, that opened up my eyes to realize
that in order for me to go back to
wholeness, to go back to my truest, I
needed to retrieve that Holton medicine
of the divine feminine and, and start
walking this path dressing up with yeah.
With that divine feminine energy.
And, how are you relating
to all of it when it comes?
It sounds like.
Extremely powerful.
Are you able to find
ways to channel yourself?
Are you able to connect to yourself?
I know movement is key in psychedelic
integration, or do you find yourself
doing any kind of exercises or activities?
Absolutely.
I have been doing that with dance since I
had a very powerful journey with Iowasca.
one of the main things that came up.
The dancer inside of me, I having
repressing for solo central movements,
sensual expression, and it was through
the dance that I started looking more
of, of my body and realizing that my
soul leaves in this vessel and what
a tragedy it was for me to know.
Able to tap into that movement with
more grace with more authenticity, just
because I was even in my own fear of my
divine, feminine, and also my sensuality
going inside yourself right now.
As you say it, tell me
what's coming up within you.
What's coming up inside you.
I will say.
Gratitude for being able to access to
that power within myself, gratitude for
accepting my Valdi now, which hadn't been
the case all the time and gratitude for
being able to dance and to move and to
feel that divine spark within myself.
Thanks to the movement to.
You are remarkable in that expression
and you're very clear, extremely
vulnerable, and I can sense
that it's also authentic in you.
There's a new authenticity that's coming
and that's been quite the journey.
And I do want to acknowledge that
that had the impossible, thanks to
this container, to be able to explore.
And as I say, do not feel.
Discovering more new places within myself
that I didn't even know they were there.
Yeah.
You if we could pivot for
a second, I appreciate it.
You talked about mushrooms being
extremely, interwoven to you
as well as to your culture.
And as you also alluded to Iowasca,
can you tell me, are those specific
medicines that you're using, on a
deeper level, do you separate the.
intention and then relate to the medicine.
How do you choose what's calling
you or does it call to you?
I love that question.
I do feel medicines for
me are like teachers.
And again, using this metaphor of
going back to high school, some
teachers were amazing and you
work at the message right away.
And some other teachers, you will be
like, Ooh, maybe you are not teaching me
the right way or in my learning style.
But finding iOS and psilocybin were
like, okay, these are my teachers.
I'm receiving something.
Wisdom and healing from them that I just
want to cultivate that relationship, but
they are quite different, you know, like
the first time I took it, Alaska was
going through, um, yeah, a lot of society.
I was very depressed.
I felt very lost in my path.
I, yeah, it was dealing with a
lot of lackness of wanting to
continue to live life in informally.
So I will say that even though I was
doing mushrooms before, was that,
catalytic experience that really reminded
me like, Hey, wake up, you are alive.
You have one life, you have an
air vessel, do something with it.
You know, the shaking of my human
has happened with iOS and the
connection to my lineage, to my woman.
And thanks to mushrooms.
That's really eloquently said, I can hear
that there's nuances and there's specific.
And I love the way you talked about the
teachers, some being easily understood.
And yeah, I know for myself, I'll ask
a, definitely shakes the vessel and puts
you into a place of like, okay, wake up.
Yeah.
It's not just like the forging
or the intensity of it.
It's also like this huge divine model, at
least for me, that's how I perceive her.
That really like, they'll do like,
okay, like this is not the path.
Or like, Hey, this is a path and
you're not opening your eyes.
I hear in your voice, a
reverence to these almost.
I often allude to these two
plant medicines as sacraments.
Do you see a sacredness to this
work is that I know there's room
for play, but these two specifically
designed as sacred for you.
Yeah, I do, especially because I
have experienced well doing it in
our recreational way, which I'm not
opposed to whatsoever recreational.
It was part of like what I haven't
been doing recreating myself, but
then I see that when I consume the
substances with more, more reverence
or in a ritual container, my mind
just surrenders deeply and I receive
like deeper or more sustainable.
task formation in the journey.
I love it.
Can we talk a little bit about, what
you said, recreating, recreational use
potential dance, potential movement, all
mixed in with sacred and grandmother.
Iowasca psilocybin.
So where are you in the space
right now of what's it like to.
Intentionally play or be sincere,
but also have fun in this.
Mm.
It feels like a cosmic Vance enough
fullest, spectrum of light darkness,
playfulness, serious nails, intention.
And at the same time, openness
for whatever comes and just
receive it as a blessing or a jam.
My.
And in your story, has it been some aha
moments when potentially you're doing
something recreationally or you think
you're going to just kind of tap into
something and then all of a sudden on
the peripheral or the side you use the
word catalyst or layer that you're just
kind of like, Hey, don't forget this.
What do you do then when it's
like intentional play, but these
kinds of gems, you talk about.
And just remind myself
that I need to breathe.
Sometimes it's so intense and so deep
and so powerful that I'm like, I'm
only like cumin in this tiny area
or remind myself that even
though it's also cosmic, divine,
like I live in this realm.
Sometimes living in Israel can feel
limiting compared to the things I
took and experiencing they Ferial.
Yeah.
If we try to poignantly talk about it,
like we're doing it sometimes limits
the expression or the experience, which
is one of my biggest frustrations,
with psychedelic work, to be honest.
Yeah.
Talked about that a little bit.
Let's let's kill a dead horse here.
And how bad talking about it is limited.
well, I think going back, that's one of
the main reasons I love Rachel so much
because that's a way that I can bring
back some of the material into this realm.
And it still feel connected to the
psychedelic war in a way that I
don't have to be always taking the
medicine to achieve that level of
expansion or sacredness, or even
tapping deeply to my higher self.
That's vital.
The idea that we don't have to
take the medicine to get to the
place that we've experienced in
the past and how that ritual can
provide that to us is instrumental.
Mm.
Yeah.
And again, what can I do to honor
these teachers without having to
be sitting with them all the time?
Yeah.
Is there anything you specifically
do regarding sacred alters or ritual?
Yeah, well, you just mentioned,
I worked with elders.
I really liked to use them as a tool
to acknowledge the things I'm grateful
for or calling II into my life.
just creating a place for
them to be and to, or.
What are you integrating right now?
What's what's on your table of
cultivating what's new found ahas.
Where are you at with the
realm of psychedelics?
Hmm.
Well, to give back to myself, to give
back to the community, to give back to
the land with my gifts, with my talents.
We just, you know, being a presence
that can model authenticity or invite
others to do have deeper conversations.
I know just to stay at a superficial
level, but to be like, Hey,
like we're humans here together.
How can we really touch our
souls and find connection?
Even if we may be completely
different in backgrounds or.
Right.
The idea of being in different backgrounds
and stories, and also was, did something
unlock in you or did you have an
experience to have this profound insight?
Because it's very intuitive to connect
with people, to build community, to
see differences, but also similarities.
What has transpired to see that?
So clearly.
Well, I feel like feeling like a full
rain, you know, having an accent and
being from a different country, but then
realizing that even in my own country,
I always felt like an outsider and
embracing that and be like, well, if I
am an outsider in my home country and I
am an outsider on the place I have chosen
to live in, then I have nothing to lose.
When I show up.
It's like, I'm here to me.
And be human with me.
Great.
That's refreshing the idea of just
accepting the fact that we're all a little
different and that we don't necessarily
feel like we belong one place or the
other in our home or outside of our home
, which is being also a real estate show.
Thanks to psychedelics.
Tom is my bully and I
belong to my role and.
I can be moving around, going to one
place to know to different countries,
but at the end I live in this body.
You only have this boy, it must provide
a deeper reverence of safety too.
And I hear you talk like that.
Can you explain to me your confidence
and security within that statement?
Because it seems very reassured.
Yeah, I'm feeling safe in my vault
is something fairly new to me.
I, as I say, I like living in
Mexico and going through a lot
of, violence going on there.
I never felt fully, you know,
free or safe in my body.
But now thanks to all these embodiment
practices and psychological ordinance,
of course, I am able to really
feel at home and at peace now.
Do you sense it?
Do you know it or is it intuitive?
Are there aha.
Moments of, oh yeah, I'm safe or
what do you tether to, or anchor into
within your security or trusting self?
Hmm, I would say it goes
back to reclaiming identity.
Does it gratitude and admiration
of the human body and how it works?
Divide the technology behind our bully
and what are we going to do with ed?
Yeah.
That divine technology is trusting.
And actually that it's it's if we're
kind to a different compassionate to
it, and in a way of being acknowledged
when acknowledging the specialness of
this experience, not taking it for.
Exactly.
And to not lose our
sense of war wonderment.
And it goes back to the inner
child, doing these psychologic
experiences, how sometimes I feel
like I lose the sense of amusement.
human experience can get boring sometimes.
And then it goes back to
like this inner child.
How can we, how can I continue to be
excited and experience life in a way that
brings wonderment all the time, especially
with the volley, like, yeah, I live in
this body and sometimes I I'm here, but to
not lose that opportunity to be impressed
by all the things that can be possible.
Speaking about the inner child.
Do you get a sense that, that evokes
a sense of wonderment and odd?
Because I know psychedelics
can have that challenge, right.
Is there's a lot of beauty in the world.
There's a lot of chaos in the world,
but it also brings us into that place
that you spoke about being, oh no.
We're back in mundane, every existence.
So I really value you saying
remembering the intercept.
What do you do to honor your inner child?
Well, I have big show of my
six year old in the there.
I really like to put in a sense
in the elder and to remember
that before being this grown up,
hold on, but I am trying to work.
I was sending the girl and she knew
the bus even before, before I knew.
Yeah.
She brought us here, right.
To trust that intuition.
Exactly.
And to trust and to follow the
breadcrumbs down the rabbit hole.
Wait, where did the bread Clem's lead you
right now where what's on the horizon.
To continue to make more outdoors, to
honor life, to honor nature, to, in love
of the journey of integration as, as a
path to not only go back to wholeness,
but also experience human is in.
profoundly does wholeness for you.
Are you speaking about
the body, mind and spirit?
Are you speaking and tell me a little
bit about how you personally divine
wholeness and look at that for me home,
is this tapping deeper into my soul's
blueprint and to be able to not fear what
comes up and just show up the way I am.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So trusting what's next
and trusting what's here.
Exactly.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ryan.
What kind of patients does that hold for
somebody that's ever wanting to explore?
And I can imagine if I put myself in
that position, I hear your laughter.
What kind of patients does one
have to have for that seeking home?
Well, I think that's exactly
the teaching and the lesson.
How can I remain patient?
even when, when I want to know
what's next, when I want to keep
moving and exploring, it's like,
can you just be here now with what?
Just came up?
And digest that like, sometimes I feel
I want it all these teachings, I know
these lessons and it's like, well,
there's no more room and space for that.
If I'm not processing or
they adjusting them first.
So there are moments of stillness
and patience and listening
before moving into the wireless.
So the human exposure.
That's super enlightening because
for me, I talk all the way.
It's about integration being
the idea of how we can digest
it, rather than just consume it.
And especially in the world we live in now
with the digital age and the ever desire
to catch up, keep up and keep biohacking
or whatever it's refreshing for you to
say, I need to sit and digest this there's
infinite amount of wisdom I could write.
Ignoring if I keep trying
to eat it up and go at it.
Yeah.
And also to honor, there's no
Joseph digesting process, but
also the composting, uh, why
it's no longer serving me?
What is getting old here?
What is a stagnant?
So I can just give it a back
to the land or in my wall.
They live in and compose that.
So new, new teachings, new
experiences can be great.
Where do you see yourself going?
What's on the, mystery
of psychedelics next?
What do you see is on the threshold
for your psychedelic experiences?
I stay myself continuing to
be brave and honoring life and
really sticking to loving life.
I feel I was leaving without really like
deep reverence for life, my own life.
But now I, I feel there's a new
spark inside of me that really
wants to do something with my life.
Yeah.
Selma, it's been a deep honor and
I'm so grateful to hear your story.
Thank you for letting me participate.
And you do have been key and
instrumental Ryan in this journey
of self exploration healing.
And to really take the risk of
following my soul as, as these combust.
Psychedelics offers us
a wonderful opportunity.
To often connect with our ancestors.
And specifically.
A deeper appreciation of our culture.
It's a personal journey.
That everyone deserves to have.
By doing this, it also invites a
deeper appreciation for the embodiment,
the honoring and the expression
through psychedelic integration in.
In the here and now.
All the while remembering.
To be gentle.