Mexico . . . the land of culture, arts, music, magic mushrooms and peyote. It all makes for a perfect vision quest journey and the main reason I came to San Miguel de Allende two years ago.
I was invited to be in the Tabula Rasa incubator program for psychedelic studies and I chose San Miguel de Allende as the location for these studies. The focus was to launch entry-level psilocybin therapy programs (and studies) for people middle aged on up.
What has been surprising – and beautiful is the number of people in there late 60’s and up into there 80’s who have interest in psilocybin therapy. Most often the reason of participation is depression and anxiety.
As a hospitality consultant within the wellness sector I’ve worked with destination resorts and retreats for over 25 years. With the abundance of studies taking place world-wide for psychedelic therapies I envisioned the future of psychedelic travel would soon be available at mainstream destinations resorts and retreats.
Given this, I started designing an entry-level psychedelic therapy program for middle-aged guests who travel to destination resorts. The main focus would be developing a full program for people who had never taken part in a psychedelic journey - but have wanted to try. The protocols would include therapies with diet, bodywork, and education on psychedelic journey’s before guests take “a journey”. As a most important aspect of psychedelic therapy should include an integration program after a ceremony that is fully as powerful as the ceremony itself, I also started visualizing what the integration program could include.
During meditation, an idea started forming around an art form that intrigued me. During my years of practicing internal martial arts forms and energy (including teaching and designing programs for destination resorts), I remembered watching a Japanese artist working with giant paintbrushes to create “energy art.” I contemplated that a breathing movement meditation program like Qi Gong would create the “brush energy” and be key to the energy of this art therapy.
Acting on my idea, I bought a giant Japanese brush, large-format art paper, and all the supplies I intuited that were needed. Then, I started my regular Qi Gong breathing and movement exercise and continued in this meditative state as I engaged with my brush with full energy as I connected with the paper.
I even gave a Bruce Lee yell as I went onto the paper as if I was holding a sword. The outcome was a beautiful art piece. It was like my noble expression of everything that was taking place at that moment.
This became the birth of Wabi-Sabi Art Retreats . . . and is now a main part of our integration program after a psilocybin journey.
Why Wabi-Sabi Art Retreat Integration program is working . . .
Research is increasingly proving the benefits of art as a form of therapy for mental health and in successfully dealing with stress and treating trauma.
As guests go through our integration program with Wabi-Sabi Art, I watch as their whole body, mind and soul become fixated on “the process.” I see that it’s all about the breathing and getting the mind/body energy working as one. Art without this energy is flat and lifeless. Our guests look into the metaphor of how their changing energy from the psilocybin journey affects their life - and then, how using this new energy with art magnifies living life even more so. It’s like learning a new language.
Partaking in my own mushroom ceremony as a trial, I was granted new ways to think through it all and found that adding in the art was one of the deepest processes I’ve ever experienced.
As I continue to study and work with middle-aged and older clients our largest wellness organization; Global Wellness Institute (https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/global-wellness-institute-blog/2022/04/07/new-initiative-the-psychedelics-healing-initiative/) has now embraced the studies of psychedelic therapies as we rapidly gain momentum in legalizing these types of retreats for therapy.
As the hospitality industry moves towards offering psychedelic therapy, I continue observing and designing pretreatment wellness therapies so guests who have never experienced psychedelics can get their mind and body ready through pre-treatment therapies. Along with the Wabi-Sabi Art Integration after their ceremony, the experience journey provides a well-planned retreat that surpasses most expectations.
As other sitters and therapists want to learn this art Integration, I’ve designed an online course so others can get started just like I did. Get more information on the course at www.wabisabiartretreats.com - we’re forming our first group now.