A dear compassionate inquiry client of mine recently published an article on a meditation retreat she attended and at the end of the article she wrote a beautiful summation of the integration session we had together.  I felt to share this here to give you an idea of how my integration sessions unfold and also just to give you encouragement that integration sessions are so helpful and really do work. Here is what she wrote:

“When I returned to Colorado after my retreat, I felt better at first, but then depression and anxiety crept in after a week. I learned important lessons during my ketamine journeys, but they didn’t feel woven into my day-to-day life. So I reached out to Deva Arani, an integrative life coach certified in compassionate inquiry, a somatic healing modality, for assistance. 

I met with Arani for an integration session not knowing what to expect. Before we began, she asked me to pose a question, so I asked: “Did ketamine-assisted therapy actually make a difference?” 

Then, Arani helped me tune in to the sensations in my body where I feel my anxiety and worry most, my solar plexus. She encouraged me to feel that drowning sensation and go back to the earliest time I remembered feeling this way. 

I pinpointed a moment at age 6, when I had massive anxiety and worry at school. Then, she guided me through that moment by posing specific questions. After a few minutes, I was able to articulate a deep sense of feeling alone. No one was there to help me. 

Midway through our session, Arani asked me to identify the emotion beneath my sense of isolation, and it hit me: fear. I have a tremendous fear that I’m alone in the world and I have to figure it all out by myself. 

Then, Arani asked me what I felt during my ketamine journey, and my answer came quickly. Fearlessness. She guided me to tap into the embodied sense of fearlessness I had experienced in Costa Rica and bring that sensation back to my solar plexus to soften and dissolve the metaphorical stone of anxiety lodged there. 

For me, it was powerful and moving. 

At the end of our session, healing tears streamed down my face. I understood that, though it’s not easy, I could call on this innate fearlessness whenever I needed it. My new insight became accessible if I slowed down and tuned in to my body and inner wisdom. 

That has been the gift of ketamine therapy for me.”

Jennifer Davis-Flynn.

I was deeply touched by this reminder of how integration can unfold with help. Please reach out if you would like to schedule an integration session with me.

You can read Jennifer’s very touching article in full here.