Welcome to this Week's Edition of Red Things on Tuesday

Hello, Friend!

If you're new to the Tam Integration mailing list, Red Things on Tuesday is a glimpse into our journey. We're continually growing and exploring, just like you. This collection of books, music, teachings, psychedelic ephemera, and the like that we think is meaningful and have been enjoying. It gets sent out on most Tuesdays. The name is based on something a Vedic astrologer told Daniel (me!) once, making this a sadhana . We appreciate you participating in it.

If you're interested in joining one of our integration circles, the information for those is at the bottom of the email, or you can also visit the website here or our Social Link Tree Here.

Thank you to our sponsors

This week's Email is sponsored by Alex at Fungi Tribe, who teaches people to grow healing mushrooms at home. His 12-week online course starts on 28th February - with video guides, live Q and A’s and an online community to share your journey with. On Tuesday, subscribers of Red Things will get 20% off the full course (coupon code: tamintegration). For more information and to register: https://www.fungitribe.com/growing-mushrooms-for-healing-and-transformation-usa​

​

The Deep Relaxation of Psychedelic Integration

So many integration 'activities' get suggested to us as we come out of our journeys. Meditate, for sure. Practice yoga and walk in the woods. Make some art. Go to a circle and share. Take time to make wholesome food. All good advice.

And they all have something in common. They all allow us to slow down and stay connected to the deeper parts of ourselves revealed in our journeys. The yoga isn't about yoga. It's about learning to be mindful of how we hold tension in our body, and how to relax it. And if we're lucky, it's about becoming aware of the thoughts and emotions contributing to that deeply held tension.

Relaxation gets a bad rap in our culture of gratuitous productivity. We associate it with laziness, with the fiddling of the grasshopper. We picture people sipping umbrella drinks without an ounce of self-reflection.

We don't consider that we denigrate relaxation because we're afraid to feel what we might find inside ourselves when we let our guard down. We pretend that we're bracing against the external. That might have been true once. But at this point, that's morphed into an entire uptight personality structure that is so deeply committed to keeping us from going mad from the pain of our own inner fear and grief.

​Spiritual bypassing gets a bad rap, and for good reason. But psychedelics often act as temporary bypass agents, and this is awesome. They often relax the parts of our brain and nervous system that create defensiveness and hypervigilance. They bypass the physical armoring that keeps us on the robotic treadmill of our lives. They go right to the heart of the matter. They let us finally feel, and be honest about what we need. A true miracle. But we've seen time and time again that we can't live from that place of bypass. We've all seen examples of the contrived inauthenticity that comes with trying to mimic last week's psychedelic insight without the open embodiment of it.

Integration becomes the chance for the rest of the system to play catch up with the cosmovision. We're waiting for the tension in the neck to get the memo that it doesn't have to live that way anymore. We want to give some space to the pit in the stomach so it can finally feel safe enough to heave out a lifetime of repressed tears. We do our integration practices because our insights need the fertile ground of our soft bodies to take root.

If you're reading this, I'd love for you to take a pause. I'd love for you to try and relax. Notice the thoughts that live inside any tension you find. It's what I've been doing the entire time I've been writing this. 'It's not good enough' lives in my jaw. 'My to-do list is too big' takes up space in my right shoulder. There are some more personal thoughts too, but you get the idea.

What's there for you? See what it's like to let go in the direction of a previous psychedelic peak experience. What would it take for you to be there again? What's in the way, and how ready, willing, and able are you to deal with those roadblocks? How long can you sit with it before you tap out? Can you increase that over time?

This is one of my main practices. Some days I'm better at it than others. Sometimes I have a quantum leap and realize there is a whole other level of what I'm trying not to feel. It's so humbling. Embarrassing even. I should have realized this before! But I'm trudging the road of happy psychedelic destiny like everyone else. And in closing, I'm grateful to be trudging it with you.

​

Alyssa Gursky on Psychedelics Today

Tam Integration hasn't made a list of 30 under 30, but Alyssa Gursky might be number 1 if we did. A wonderful artist, thought leader, and art therapist, she's also the beloved integration art teacher for the Tam Integration Coaching Training Program.

One of the fun things about this conversation is the part where they discuss how some people's use of color changes after they have a transformational experience. (spoiler alert! They usually use more color!)

​

​

​

Forever Grateful

​

​

​

Upcoming Events

Tam Integration Coaching Training Info Session

March 13th, Noon Pacific, 3pm Eastern
​Link to Register​

We want to invite you to attend an exciting event where you can learn about the world of psychedelic integration coaching. This event is designed for individuals who are passionate about supporting others in their healing and growth and are interested in becoming highly skilled and competent coaches.

​

Tell Your Psychedelic Story Workshop with Mareesa Stertz

February 29th at 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern
​Link to Register​

This workshop is designed to help you frame your most transformative psychedelic experiences into a compelling story that will help friends/family, future clients, and even investors understand the value and impact of psychedelics and why it should matter to them.

Tam Integration Coaching Training

October 2024

If you're interested, please take a look at the info page and click the link to watch the videos:
​https://circle.tamintegration.com/psychedelic-integration-coach-training/​

​

Links to All Integration Circles

All Donation-based Circles

https://tamintegration.com/psychedelic-integration/​

​

Support Tam Integration with a subscription to the membership archive

Our integration circles are freely offered to everyone. Your support, however, makes them possible. It means so much. If you're looking for a way to keep the circles going while gaining access to over 200 hours of educational materials about psychedelics, please join the membership portal!

Sponsor this Email

If you have a product or service, you can sponsor this email and promote yourself to the 13.5k subscribers of this email.

Disclaimer

Nothing in this email should be considered medical or legal advice. We're not suggesting that you break any laws or do anything dangerous. This email is offered as education and entertainment in the spirit of harm reduction. Consult medical and legal professionals if you have questions.

​

​