Are we playing with fire? About plant ceremonies and long-term integration

Time gives insightful perspectives. Today we want to share with you about our own experiences with plant medicines (we’ll mostly refer to Ayahuasca, but there are many more out there such as Peyote, etc.). We did not know each other at the time but we both experienced these powerful plant ceremonies in South America at various moments in our past (7, 10 or 15 years ago). We’ve stayed lucid since then continuing with daily or regular practices of meditation, yoga and breath work as our main spiritual tools. We both in our separate observations have known these plant medicine experiences to bring profound healing and insight…and also profound difficulty and challenge to our own psyches. We both know those who have had a very difficult time living “normal” lives after participating in these shamanic circles. Intense experiences can be beautiful, yes, but sometimes the intensity can feel like too much.

Are we playing with fire when we engage in such state-altering experiences? How do we make the integration of these experiences possible in the long-term and still live balanced, healthy and happy lives right back here in the “mundane” worldly existence?
We are asking the following: How can we “see God” (and our own shadow) and go back to our regular work and lives? And can we ever, in a lucid state, experience that beautiful ceremony-like energy again? :-)

This is a huge topic, and one we may revisit in the future too.