Getting to Essence Love, Basic Okayness

 

The medicine can help us transition from the pain body to the bliss body. The pain body is having burdened parts while fearing and hating them. The bliss body is the healthy subtle body suffused with Self-awareness and inner compassion for all the parts.

 

The medicine activates the burdened parts so their suffering is vividly felt in the body. When there is hatred and fear of the part, the suffering feels acute. Where there is welcoming and acceptance of the part, the suffering immediately decreases.

 

This intense, real-time somatic feedback guides us quickly from aversion and suffering to Essence Love. The transformation to a loving inner environment is rapid, sometimes in only a few sessions. The intensely felt somatic feedback is what makes Essence Love practice with the medicine so astonishingly effective.

 

It is not necessary to completely unburden all our parts to experience Essence Love. By becoming Self-aware and giving our parts loving attention, we transform our inner environment from hating and fearing burdened parts to loving and healing them. It is like the difference between a rainy day and a sunny day.

 

We realize that we have control over how we feel: suffering or okayness. We have an actionable choice now. We can choose okayness more often and with increasing confidence.

 

Once we have become Self-aware and can welcome parts, unburdening our parts is the next step. The parts love it when we are Self-aware because we can give them high-quality attention and love. Within a loving inner environment, the burdened parts will learn to trust our Self-leadership and unburden over time.

 

As each part unburdens, we will feel the difference in our body. 5MeO is a miraculous healing medicine because of the clarity and the somatic amplification of our emotional state. We are given the opportunity to heal our pain body step by step into the bliss body.

 

Now, I will walk through the skill sets needed to navigate this process.

 

Self-awareness and Inner Compassion

 

Self-awareness and inner compassion are the two primary skills required for the transformation to Essence Love.

 

Self-awareness is the key to all of psychedelic meditation. The practice is to sustain Self-awareness throughout all phases of the practice.

 

Self-awareness is remembering that we are aware and sustaining being present with whatever arises. Whenever a part blends with us, Self-awareness is lost. As soon as we notice that we are blended with a part, we are already unblended and back in Self-awareness. Self-awareness is awareness knowing that it is aware. Our clarity recognizes itself.

 

Self-awareness is not a part and can never be burdened or damaged. Self-awareness is always available and always okay. We can trust Self-awareness and rely on Self-awareness in all situations.

 

Within Self-awareness, everything is allowed to arise, including the suffering of parts. Welcoming the suffering of parts is inner compassion. Inner compassion is the key to Essence Love, or it is Essence Love.

 

Inner compassion is one of the innate positive qualities of Self-awareness and is not separate from Self-awareness. When we become Self-aware, inner compassion spontaneously arises.

 

Parts Detection

 

5-MeO-DMT is a miraculous healing medicine. In low and moderate doses, it lights up the subtle body and everything in it, including burdened parts that need healing. Burdened parts become activated and manifest as uncomfortable sensations in the body or as strong emotions.

 

The easiest way to become aware of activated parts is to stay in touch with the body and notice sensations of discomfort.

 

Nausea or tension in the belly.

Pain or tension in the jaw.

A headache or pressure in the head.

Discomfort in the throat or chest.

Sensations in the limbs.

 

It is unlikely that a headache will spontaneously appear in a few seconds. Most sudden new sensations are parts becoming activated. These sensations are trailheads to discovering which part is activated. New unpleasant sensations are our parts detectors.

 

Unblend From the Part

 

A strongly activated part will flood us with its suffering, and it may blend with us. Blending means we have become the part. We think like the part, and we feel like the suffering part. As soon as we notice the suffering, it is time to unblend from the part.

 

Remember that we are aware. Becoming Self-aware is the key to unblending from the activated part. Within Self-awareness, we are no longer blended with the part. We are Self-aware, and we are aware of the part instead of being identified as the part.

 

Becoming unblended is a big difference. Now we have much more autonomy and freedom to heal the suffering part. Self is always okay, even when it is aware of a suffering part.

 

It is essential to understand that being flooded with suffering and being blended are two independent variables. We often blend with day-to-day parts without any suffering present. We forget that we are aware while folding the laundry and blend with a part thinking about the past. It is also possible to remain unblended when a part is flooding us with its suffering. We are Self-aware and aware of the suffering.

 

It is always possible to become Self-aware and unblend while we have a suffering part. The suffering does not need to go away for us to be okay and have inner compassion for the suffering part.

 

Welcome the Part and Start a Conversation

 

Thank it for showing up. Tell it you will be its friend.

Ask it who or what it is and what it needs from you.

The secret weapon of IFS: “Just ask!” They will answer. Parts don’t lie.

 

Psychedelic Protectors

 

Psychedelic Protectors have specific concerns about what may happen when taking the medicine. Tell them that they are welcome here and thank them for caring about your well-being. Ask them what they are concerned about, and address those concerns directly. See if they are satisfied with the explanation and follow up as necessary. Sometimes they just need their concerns acknowledged as important and will soften back when they are. If they are still concerned, ask them if it is okay to take a small dose and see how it goes. Let them know that they are welcome to come along and make sure that it is going well.

 

Managers

 

Managers are concerned that an Exile will become activated and flood us with its suffering. Tell them that they are welcome here and thank them for caring about your well-being. Ask them to tell you their mission and what they are protecting you from.

 

Ask them how old they think you are. Often, they will believe that we are quite young, the age when the Exile was formed. If so, let them know that we are grown up now. Now that we are grown up, we can handle feeling our feelings. See if the Manager is surprised at how grown-up and mature we have become.

 

Ask the Manager for permission to speak with the Exile. Tell it that you want to feel the suffering of the Exile so that we can heal it. Let it know that when you unburden the Exile, the Manager can retire from its unpleasant task and do something more fun. They usually like this idea.

 

Continue spending time with the Manager until it softens back and allows us to spend time with the Exile.

 

Firefighters

 

When an Exile becomes activated and shows us its suffering, Firefighters may try to intervene to get us away from feeling the Exile’s suffering. Tell them that they are welcome here and thank them for caring about your well-being.

 

The Firefighter may try dissociating so that we cannot feel the pain. They may come up with a sudden distraction, such as thinking about doing taxes. They may decide that the session is complete and it is time to quit, usually with a convincing reason, such as taking the garbage out on time.

 

Firefighters are just another kind of Protector, so start a conversation about how you are a grown-up adult, you are no longer afraid of feelings, and you want to heal the activated Exile with compassion and love. Remind them that when you unburden the Exile, it will be free to retire from this odious job and do other, more interesting things.

 

Exiles

 

An Exile is a feeling of suffering that we never want to feel again, so we hate and fear the Exile. The hatred and fear create even more suffering. The Exile feels abandoned by us and is desperate for our attention, so it floods us with suffering, hoping that we will care for it.

 

When an Exile is activated, welcome it and tell it that you are going to be its friend. Ask it to share its suffering with us and tell us its story.

 

If the Exile is flooding us with too much suffering, let the medicine wear off a bit. You can also ask the Exile not to flood us with too much suffering so we can give it high-quality attention. Parts have agency and will often respond by toning down the suffering to manageable levels.

 

If the medicine wears off too much, the Exile may disappear before we have a chance to heal it. In this case, take some more medicine and ask the Exile to come back for more attention.

 

You can ask the Exile if it would like some physical contact, such as holding hands or sitting in your lap. Tell the Exile that you will be its friend from now on, and invite it to show up whenever it wants your love.

 

Unburdening Exiles

 

Exiles are often satisfied with love, attention, and some physical contact. IFS has unburdening ceremonies that you can study and use, but they are usually unnecessary for solo IFS work with the medicine.

 

Unburdening Protectors

 

When an Exile becomes unburdened, see if you can contact any Managers who are protecting us from the Exile. Introduce them to the Exile so they see it is unburdened. Let them know they are free to give up their unpleasant task of keeping the Exile hidden. Thank them for their years of service and ask them what they would like to do instead.

 

Activating Parts On Purpose

 

When a part is causing problems but doesn’t appear spontaneously in the medicine, activate it intentionally. Think of a situation that would ordinarily activate the part and imagine yourself in that scene. If the part becomes activated, welcome it and start a conversation.

 

Integration Practice

 

The integration practice for Essence Love medicine sessions is a daily check-in with the parts that we are working with to see how they are doing. When a part becomes activated in daily life, bookmark it and check in later to see if it needs attention.

 

Parts appreciate the attention and heal faster when we check in regularly. Our parts love to be in an environment of love and compassion.