Preparing for a Transformative Medicine Journey: Tips and Insights
When my client, Maya, first considered participating in a medicine ceremony, she felt a mix of excitement and fear. She had read stories of people experiencing profound healing, but she also knew the journey could stir deep emotions and buried memories. "Am I ready for this?" she wondered. As she began to explore, Maya quickly learned that the experience isn’t just about the ceremony itself — it’s about how you prepare and integrate what unfolds.
For those called to the path of plant medicine, preparation is not only practical — it's sacred. As Gabor Maté, physician and trauma expert, says: “The essence of trauma is disconnection from the self. And the healing is reconnection with it.” Medicine work can be a profound tool for that reconnection, but it doesn’t happen in isolation. Grounded, thoughtful preparation is what allows the healing to take root.
Here are a few practices and insights to support you before your ceremony:
1. Set a clear intention
Your intention is your inner compass. Why are you drawn to this journey? What are you hoping to explore, understand, or release? Michael Pollan, author of How to Change Your Mind, writes: “The setting of an intention is like programming a search engine. It doesn’t guarantee what you’ll find, but it increases the likelihood that what comes up will be relevant.” To help support this, I guided Maya to journal in the days before her ceremony. Her intention shifted from a vague desire to "feel better" to something much more personal: "I want to meet the part of me that stopped trusting after my father left."
2. Cleanse your body and environment
Many traditions recommend a dieta — a period of simplified eating, removing substances, and quieting external noise — not as a rule, but as an offering. You’re signaling to your system and to the medicine that you’re entering sacred space. That might mean minimizing alcohol, caffeine, and processed foods. It might also look like taking a break from social media or prioritizing sleep. It’s not about perfection — it’s about intentionality. As indigenous wisdom keeper and healer Taita Juanito Chindoy says: “The medicine begins working the moment you commit to it.”
3. Build a relationship with your inner world
In the weeks leading up to ceremony, consider practices like meditation, journaling, or Internal Family Systems (IFS) parts work. These help you become familiar with your inner landscape — the parts of you that may show up during the experience. Richard Schwartz, founder of IFS, teaches: “Every part has a positive intention. Even the ones that seem destructive are trying to help in some way.” Together, we began this exploration, and Maya began having regular dialogues with her inner critic and the young part of her that felt abandoned. When ceremony came, those parts felt familiar — like companions she was ready to meet again, rather than strangers.
4. Cultivate trust in the process
Medicine journeys rarely unfold how we expect. Some people experience visions, others silence. Some feel love, others meet grief. All of it is valid. As Ram Dass so gently said: “The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” Learning to surrender to what is — rather than what should be — is one of the greatest skills you can take into ceremony. Having a guide or integration coach can also make a world of difference. Someone who can hold space, reflect insights, and remind you of your intention when things get murky.
5. Make space for integration
The days and weeks after ceremony are just as important as the preparation. It’s where the insights get digested and the shifts start to show up in everyday life. You might cry for no reason, feel unusually open, or experience confusion. This is all part of the integration process. As Stanislav Grof said: “Psychedelics are to the study of the mind what the microscope is to biology and the telescope is to astronomy.” They show us what’s there — but then it’s up to us to make meaning of what we’ve seen. Create time to journal, walk in nature, or talk with trusted friends or facilitators. Ask yourself: How can I bring what I’ve learned into my relationships, my work, and the way I treat myself?
In the end, it’s not about the peak experience — it’s about the life that follows
Maya says the ceremony itself was powerful, but it was what happened in the months afterward — the gentler way she spoke to herself, the forgiveness she extended to her family, the return to painting — that changed her life.
A medicine journey can be a profound catalyst. But the real magic lies in how you meet yourself before, during, and after. Prepare well. Go in with reverence. And trust that you’re being guided exactly where you need to go.
Want support on your medicine path? I offer personalized coaching for preparation and integration. Reach out here to connect.
