19 Qualities to Cultivate for Psychedelic Guides
I was recently serving psilocybin mushrooms in Jamaica for two groups with Atman Retreat. Psilocybin was never legislated against in Jamaica so you can cultivate, sell, and consume magic mushrooms legally. As someone who has been using psychedelics for twenty years, “it was a trip” to trip legally.
My fiancé and I became psychedelic guides accidentally. We learned how to guide folks through lots of trial and error with our own consciousness first and then others. I didn’t learn these qualities because I was perfect. I learned these qualities because I made mistakes.
I’m sharing these qualities with you to start more conversations. Tell me what I missed. Tell me what you look for in a psychedelic facilitator. Call me on my BS.
HUMILITY ABOVE ALL
While helping bust other people's egos, it's extremely easy to inflate your own. Pay as little attention as possible to the people who fall in love with you while you hold them in their darkest sorrows and greatest joys.
BECOME AN ANONYMOUS VESSEL
Do the work as cleanly and as anonymously as possible. Leave yourself out of it. None of these messages are yours to deliver. You are here to support each person in understanding their unique message. You are not here to share any specific philosophy or dogma or possibility. You are here to lead each participant back to their own creative force.
KILL YOUR SAVIOR COMPLEX
Do not take credit for healing someone or enlightening someone or unlocking someone. If a participant tries to tell you that you healed them, remind them that they healed themselves and that you are just part of supporting their growth.
LEARN HOW TO LEAD BREATH WORK & MEDITATION
You’re going to need the ability to control your own breath, the ability to influence another one's breath, and the ability to queue breath work.
ORGANIC CLOTHING & A HEAD COVERING
You don’t have to believe me. Test out wearing different colors and fabrics until you find what works best for you. All I’ll say is that for thousands of years, this work was probably done in organic clothing with a head covering. A white cotton scarf or headband, preferably organic, worn tightly against the skull will possibly protect you from excess energy.
DAILY ENERGY WORK PRACTICE
You’re going to need an energy practice that allows you to…
clear your energy
work on other folks energy and
coordinate group energy when needed.
I practice Kundalini Yoga as my main energy work practice but I have also used Qi Gong, Reiki, Yin Yoga, and other yoga practices.
CLEAR LIFE
You will need to live a lifestyle that allows you to come to work completely clear of any agendas, side plots, or distractions and focus solely on being present for whatever arises.
CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING
You will need the ability to improvise over and over again. No matter how many times you think you might understand a situation, you will always be challenged to come up with new solutions. Every trip is totally unique. Every client is totally unique. Every day of doing this will be a little different.
ASKING FOR FEEDBACK & RECEIVING IT GRACEFULLY
A dedication to receiving feedback with the utmost patience, humility, and good intention. If you bite the hands that give you feedback, you will stop getting feedback and it becomes much harder to improve.
DON’T TRY TO SERVE EVERYONE
Understand that you may not be the right guide for certain people. All people have a right to preferences. Whether that's race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or another quality, someone may prefer to have a guide who matches or contrasts their own identity. Do not assume which is correct for which people and do your best to ask directly.
AWARENESS OF BODY SHAME
If you are working with women, you are likely working with someone who has had an eating disorder or body dysmorphia. Do you know which comments will make someone struggling with their weight more comfortable and which jokes will shame them? If you haven’t struggled with your body size, it’s hard to know. My favorite book on loving your body is The Body Is Not An Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor.
AWARENESS OF WHITE SUPREMACY
White supremacy is built into most every system on this planet. If this sentence doesn’t ring true to you, it’s a great time to do some studying. I was taught by white teachers that racism ended with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. How did the textbooks convince us that the assassination of a black man proved that all men were equal?
If you are white or white presenting, Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad is THE BOOK. Doing this work completely changed how I work with Black clients.
AWARENESS OF THE DRUG WAR
I was lucky enough to be raised in an environment where psychedelics were illegal but no one I knew was prosecuted for using them. Your guests may have had a very different experience of the drug war. They may be coming in with programming that certain molecules are evil, make you lazy, will change your gender, and so on. Obviously if they’ve shown up for a psychedelic retreat they are ready to shift those opinions. I’ve worked with guests who have trouble getting high because they’ve been so convinced that getting high is bad. Luckily a higher dose of psychedelics tends to break through all programming.
Remember that the privilege of working with psychedelics comes with a responsibility. You must fight to end the drug war on all levels for all people. You don’t get to use these molecules without promoting access for all.
AWARENESS OF GROUP DYNAMICS
An awareness of group dynamics and how folks influence each other is important. Notice how people can raise each other up or drag each other down. Then stack your deck with ways to spin the conversation up if needed, and to separate those who spin each other down. I use a set of group conversation prompts that lay the groundwork for total transformation instead of letting people retell their old stories. Help people tell the story of who they are becoming instead of who they have already been when you want to support big transformation.
ABILITY TO READ BODY LANGUAGE
I am here to facilitate an internal journey for someone. Every time your guest needs to come out of their internal journey to communicate with you is an interruption. So you need to know how to look at someone tripping and decide if they need help. Once you’re good at looking at people to see if they need help, you can practice the next level, which is meditating while you “sense” who needs help without looking.
ABILITY TO LEAD A MOVEMENT PRACTICE
You’ll need a movement practice that supports you in staying flexible, limber, and strong. Even better if you can teach it to your guests as well. I'm particularly fond of yin yoga and foam rollers. Choose a movement practice that is accessible to everyone on average. You can push folks here and there, if you desire, but make sure that everyone feels welcome. You want them to go home wanting more movement in their lives, not regretting how much movement they did while out of practice.
KNOW & FLOW YOUR SEXUAL ENERGY
Sexual energy is your life-force energy. It is vital to cultivate and use your energy wisely. There are too many stories of people being sexually abused while using psychedelics in healing circles. People will fall in love with you while you do this work with them. Do not abuse their trust.
Sexual energy and sexual chemistry will come up when you work with people. As a polyamorous bisexual woman, I used to spend a lot of time and energy trying to figure out who I wanted to f*ck in a new group of people.
To change that instinct I did a couple of things. First I spent a year in intentional celibacy so I could see how pursuing sex was affecting me. From that clearer place, I cultivated an anchor partner who I could flow sexual energy with. I found that getting super satisfied with my sex life helped me not look for that at work.
Finally, I have my own policy on what to do if I feel attracted to someone that I’m guiding. I wait a year to say anything. I’ll refer them to a new facilitator without telling them that I’m attracted to them. After a year of no contact, then I’ll ask them out on a date. It’s not an even playing field because you will still have a power dynamic from being their guide. It’s something I’m trying out as a compromise between celibacy and sex guru.
CONNECTION TO YOUR ANCESTRY
We all come from some people who were trying to do their best. Connecting to your ancestry will help you place yourself in the world. You can also call on your ancestors for help with this work. I often call in the spirit of my grandmother and great grandmothers.
PEOPLE WHO WILL CALL YOU ON YOUR SH*T
This work can inflate your Ego and make you feel like you are God. Don’t fall for it. You need a community of people who will tell you when you are out of line, especially when you think you are perfect. You will make mistakes. The more perfect you pretend to be, the more those mistakes are going to hurt. Stay humble. Cultivate amazing community. Shut your mouth and listen.
WHAT’S YOUR TAKE?
I’m sharing these qualities with you to start more conversations. Tell me what I missed. Tell me what you look for in a psychedelic guide. Call me on my BS.
Free Workshop
I’m hosting a free live workshop in St. Louis on this topic. Go to https://decommodifypsychedelics.com/event to learn more and rsvp.
