Psychedelic therapy and plant medicine ceremony presents an unparalleled opportunity for healing and growth, even for those that have used psychedelics recreationally. We can encounter transformative experiences often equated to years of traditional therapy compressed into mere hours. This immense power, so readily available in Ceremonia, has transformed countless lives. Yet, lurking in the background of these profound journeys is a potential pitfall we must be ever vigilant of: spiritual bypassing.

Understanding Bypassing

At its essence, bypassing occurs when we sidestep the raw emotion or feeling that arises within us, opting instead to embrace a more 'acceptable' emotion. In the spiritual realm, this manifests as spiritual bypassing: a deliberate evasion of the present emotion in favor of those that are deemed more 'spiritual', like trust or gratitude.

For example, if you are angry at someone for hurting you, bypassing might be to choose to love this person instead. This might seem like the noble thing to do, but what you are actually doing is ignoring the very legitimate anger that arose within you. This anger presents an opportunity to investigate what is underneath the surface: to uncover the parts of you that hold expectations, that have dogma, don’t hold boundaries, or a multitude of other things. But by choosing to feel something you actually aren’t, even if it’s a positive emotion like love or gratitude, you are losing the opportunity to inquire within and heal the parts of you that get triggered

The goal, of course, is to organically embody these positive emotions, but rushing into them without processing our genuine feelings can leave us in a state of spiritual limbo.

The Pitfalls with Psychedelics

Psychedelics can encourage spiritual bypassing when you enter the experience without the capacity or training to be with your experience in fullness. While the psychedelic experience can uncover traumas or suffering that has long been hidden by protective parts, these have been hidden for a reason: our protective parts didn’t believe we could function the way we think we should without them. 

The mind fundamentally craves safety. In its flight towards safety, the mind can latch onto the easiest path: to not feel this feeling, to not visit this memory, and instead to choose to feel something good like love or gratitude.

Unfortunately, many facilitators encourage this unknowingly. Maybe they do it themselves in their own lives, or maybe they have gotten to a place where their spiritual and psychological system naturally enters a state of love and gratitude quickly. Even the selection of music that is played during a psychedelic therapy or ceremony session can encourage this bypassing: when the room is in a state of grief, then a vibrant and celebratory song comes on, our subconscious might subtly believe: “I shouldn’t be feeling sad. I should be feeling joyous.”

Then it will make the shift and ingrain into our psyche that this is the right way. This can then be something that we take home and integrate back into our lives: to choose to feel something we actually aren’t, embedding a pattern of avoidance deep within our psyche.

Finding The Balance

One might ask: “every religion, every shaman, and every form of spirituality tells me that I should be feeling love, joy, peace, and gratitude. How can I get there?”. The ancient teachings from world religions, revered shamans, and modern psychotherapeutic practices, including the core principles of Ceremonia, all point towards the power of surrender and acceptance.

Even modern psychotherapy including gestalt therapy and Internal Family Systems (IFS), both core parts of Ceremonia’s facilitation, teaches that the path to healing is to allow yourself to feel your feelings. What happens is that the allowance of the present experience creates space for what we resist to dissipate. By immersing ourselves fully in the present, without resistance, we allow the natural flow of our inner healing intelligence to guide us.

What is beautiful about the psychedelic experience is that our own Inner Healing Intelligence navigates us naturally. This beautiful dance of surrender creates space for genuine healing, leading us towards the purest forms of love, peace, and enlightenment. Buddhism teaches that there is no such thing as a good or bad experience: it just is, and when we allow ourselves to not resist the is-ness of an experience, we get to experience the full beauty of presence

Embracing the Now

The beauty of the present moment, in all its raw and unfiltered glory, is the true essence of our shared spiritual journey. As we, the Ceremonia community, continue on this path, our commitment is to ensure that every individual feels seen, heard, and supported. Together, we can navigate the intricacies of these spiritual landscapes, ensuring that each of us finds our own unique path to true healing, without the shadows of bypassing clouding our journey.

Conclusion

Navigating the spiritual journey requires awareness, patience, and guidance. At Ceremonia, our dedication to embracing every emotion, every sensation, in its fullest, ensures that our collective journey remains genuine. By understanding the nuances of spiritual bypassing and ensuring our practices honor the totality of our experiences, we pave the way for a future filled with authentic healing and profound transformation.

If you or someone you know is venturing into the realm of psychedelics and spirituality, ensure that the journey is undertaken with full awareness and understanding of the potential pitfalls, including spiritual bypassing. Together, let's create a world where every spiritual journey is genuine, transformative, and free from inadvertent harm.