Inner journeys require deft guidance deployed with subtlety

Talismanic underground figure Leo ‘The Secret Chief’ Zef began his psychedelic guide self-training using talk therapy in his voyagers’ sessions.

Eventually he wrote, “I realised I didn’t know what they needed and neither did they. Something inside them did. Just leave ‘em alone!”

Photos of the general public tripping in blindfold-and-headphones under strip lighting prompts revulsion in recreational users – or it did in myself, certainly.

Stanislav Grof, ‘The godfather of LSD’ according to its inventor Albert Hoffman, who ‘nobody has contributed as much to the development of my problem child’ explains in his landmark work LSD Therapy that he went through a similar thought process as a researcher in the 1960s and 70s. 

The simultaneous model,‘psycholytic therapy’ Grof says does have its advantages compared to regular psychoanalysis, cutting treatment times by a third. But the doses he believes are too regular and possibly too small. Most importantly, the open-ended process has no focus on the rigorous analysis and integration of insights. 

“It will seem weird to them. Normalise. Don’t pathologise”

Grof concluded that ‘psychedelic therapy’ which features three to four regular therapy sessions punctuated by high dose experiences where the patient mostly corresponds with their inner healer, 

While skilful guidance by the therapists can make impact, this requires elegance and subtlety. 

Vital Week Ten lecturer Kylea Taylor has worked for Grof Transpersonal Training since the 1990s. Like veteran Dr Bill Richards back in Week Four, she says the number one thing to keep in mind is the existence, and the potency, of the inner healer. In an ethical context this means trusting the client’s relationship with the process more than yourself. 

“Work at the speed of safety. Move at the speed of trust”

Creating a sense of permission to unfold, “the power to empower” is a very different role to that of the modern psychotherapist, who in my own experience prefers their narrative to any individual ones. Let alone any insight dispensed by cosmic visions.

“Normalise, don’t pathologise,” says Taylor, “It will seem weird to them, outside their own frame of reference.” While I absolutely agree this will be true for some voyagers, I’m inclined to believe plenty of others will find their fantastical visions more compelling than a grim raking over of their early childhood, accompanied by a gentle shaming of any non-narrative impulses. Get out the Soul Collage, which is like a ‘make your own Red Book kit’.

“Think, ‘How can I support this client to take their next step into freedom, where they can be fully who they are?’” Says Taylor, again echoing Bill Richards who worked alongside Grof for many years, this time with his ‘cosmic midwife’ allusion. Providing examples, stories and suggested reading are more appropriate than Freudian psychoanalysis, which can seem terribly pompous when you’re tripping. Just like all cokeheads. Stop gabbling like one right now: “Part of good attunement is not knowing what’s going on with them and attuning nonetheless,” says Taylor. 

And don’t rush it, despite the promises of miracle cures. “Work at the speed of safety… move at the speed of trust. Especially with clients who have a different life experience.”