How to Integrate Plant Medicine: The Most Overlooked Part of the Healing Journey
- Stephanie Burg
- Jun 10
- 4 min read
Wondering how to integrate plant medicine after a powerful ceremony or journey? You’re not alone. Preparation often centers on the ceremony, but integration is where the real healing happens. And few are truly equipped to guide that process.
In this reflection, I share why integration is essential, what it really takes to embody the medicine’s teachings, and offer resources to support your journey. If you need deeper support, please reach out. I'm always here to offer loving assistance.
When Western Therapy Couldn’t Reach What the Medicine Opened
When I first sat with plant medicines close to a decade ago, I quickly found that Western therapy couldn’t meet me in the aftermath of my experience.
After my initial ceremonies, a lifetime of suppressed & repressed emotions began to come back online.
It was overwhelming and scary, to say the least, for me and for my therapist.
Cold, clinical conversations rerouting me to focus on simple acts of self-care only went so far as I navigated unraveling (and beginning to feel for the first time) decades of unfelt trauma, grief, rage, sadness, abandonment & neglect…
The intensity of my experience was so strong that talk therapy couldn’t reach the real-time experience of a traumatized body & mind beginning to heal & come back into wholeness.
Had it not been for two of my primary teachers at the time—one, my Ayahuasquero himself, and the other, my beloved friend and coach, Cora, who I journeyed with to Peru—I’m not sure where I would’ve landed.
And still, there was so much I had to learn on my own…
The interesting thing?
My experience was not unique.
Hard, even hellish, integration is more common than most people realize when embarking upon a retreat or ceremonial experience. And few practitioners are highly skilled in integration practices & support.
What Integration Is (And What It’s Not)
More and more people are turning to plant medicines to heal, which is a beautiful thing; however, culturally, we’re still massively overlooking the integration process.
Few people understand the depth of this process…
..and if your therapist isn’t versed in integration, you may feel shame or even a re-traumatization of the very wounds attempting to heal.
Integration isn’t just a one-time session.
It’s not simply journaling the next morning…
Or sharing in circle, the day after the ceremony.
True integration is a highly nuanced and long-term devotional practice.
It’s the ongoing and most important part of the work.
Unpacking what was revealed, while making real changes in your life to align with it.
Without it?
Your “medicine work” becomes just another story in the archive.
A peak moment that never fully landed.
A healing process that begins but stops short of its full potential.
When We Skip Integration, Patterns Persist
We’re seeing it more and more—folks who return to the medicine again and again, but the core patterns remain unchanged.
This is part of what happens when we skip integration.
The goal isn’t to continue ingesting more and more medicine(s).
The path of healing is about becoming the medicine yourself—truly embodying the gifts and lessons of your journey(s).
You Can’t Outsource Your Healing
Some hard truths:
→ If you're working with plant medicines every single month outside of an acute healing process, or self-serving without a guide, you're not allowing yourself to digest what you learn.
You’re bypassing the real work and asking the medicine to do something only you can do.
→ If you're turning to the medicine to “clear out what you're carrying,” you're missing the point.
You’re outsourcing your healing instead of embodying it.
You’re not learning to sit with yourself and tend to your needs in the daily ceremony that is your actual life.
And all of this takes a toll on your body, psyche, and spirit.
What Integration Actually Requires
Learning how to integrate plant medicine well means embracing a process that is subtle, slow, and often confronting.
It asks for spaciousness, humility, and the willingness to be deeply honest with yourself.
And while many integration trainings will give you the framework for how to help folks integrate,
Supporting someone through this process in real time is deeply nuanced work.
Choose Your Facilitator With Care
As more and more trainings and certifications are popping up to train folks to be guides, please recognize that your facilitator or integration provider should never make you feel ashamed, too much, or like you’re doing it wrong.
The plants and medicines we increasingly have access to are a blessing and a tremendous gift.
However, not everyone is ready to work with them, and not everyone is ready to serve them.
Please be discerning with who you entrust the care of your psyche and soul.
An immature or unseasoned guide can do more harm than good.
And your process deserves the highest levels of care, awareness, and attunement.
You Deserve Deep, Attuned Support
If you ever have questions or need more support around your integration process, please reach out. I’m always here to help.
Ready to go deeper?
Explore healing tools and support post-ceremony with the following healing tools and Breathwork Audio to support integration in the Healing Product Shop.
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