Cultivating an Energetic Set and Setting: Enhancing Psychedelic Therapy with Acupuncture, Bodywork & Visionary Craniosacral Work
With the recent legislation in Colorado legalizing psychedelic therapy coming into reality, it feels timely to help patients understand how crucial energetic medicine like acupuncture can be to creating what I call an “energetic” set and setting. By utilizing an energetic and body-focused medicine such as acupuncture for preparation and integration, you may have an even more profound healing experience.
A couple of years ago, at my practice in Boulder, Colorado, I received a referral for a patient who inspired me to use the concepts and strategies within Chinese medicine as framework to create an “energetic medicine set and setting”—a set and setting for her body, mind and soul to come together as one to do the inner healing she needed to do for her PTSD. This patient had previously undergone psychedelic therapy, achieving remarkable results. However, as she prepared for another round of therapy, she approached me with a novel idea: could I provide support for her through acupuncture and bodywork, both before and after her psychedelic sessions, effectively creating a bookend effect? The patient reported that the combination of my work with psychedelic therapy gave her a more powerful healing experience than psychedelic therapy alone.
Understanding Set and Setting:
Set and setting are crucial concepts in the realm of psychedelic therapy. Set refers to the mindset, intentions, and emotional state of the individual undergoing the therapy, while setting encompasses the physical, social, and environmental factors surrounding the experience. Creating the right set and setting is essential for optimizing the therapeutic potential of psychedelic sessions.
How I Facilitate Set and Setting:
As a Doctor of Chinese Medicine specializing in energetic medicine, I focus on creating an optimal internal set and setting for individuals embarking on their psychedelic therapy journey. Through acupuncture, craniosacral work, and body-focused practices, I help patients cultivate a supportive energetic environment within themselves. This involves addressing blockages, nourishing vital energy, blood and fluids, and promoting a sense of grounding and centeredness. These treatments can facilitate a deep letting go process which permeates through all aspects of a patient’s being.
In the Visionary model of craniosacral work, there is a deep understanding that when you are working with the bones of the skull, the membranes around the brain and spinal cord, and the cerebral spinal fluid—you are actually working with the brain, with consciousness. If all of these structures are tight, what will that do to your consciousness? The Chinese medical classics consider the brain to be the seat of the soul—similar to the crown chakra. By working with the bones of the skull, and all of the meridians passing through, we can create a shift in your consciousness. By integrating energetic medicine into the preparation and integration phases of psychedelic therapy, we enhance the individual's readiness, resilience, and capacity for profound healing and transformation.
Crucial Aspects to an Energetic Set & Setting:
Work with the Blood: By working with the blood level energetics, there is an impact and a change in your spirit, which is one of the most important things you can do to prepare for your journey. In the Daoist approach to Chinese medicine, it is understood that your spirit resides in the blood, along with your emotions. There are acupuncture points specifically used to release emotions like anger, fear, grief, and anxiety from the blood and the body. By working with the blood level, you can begin to think and feel differently about yourself and life.
There are many ways to work with the blood: through essential oils such as carrot seed, massage, and acupuncture, the blood can be renewed and invigorated. When there is pain, there is usually blood stasis—for one reason or another, the blood is not moving. Body-centered treatments like acupuncture and massage move the blood, and invigorate it, and as a result these modalities can have a profound impact on your experience of the world around you. Other things you can do:
Think less
Eat red things (beef, beets, and berries)
Get to bed early
Get a massage—or massage yourself—you can massage your own hands & feet with oils.
Get enough sleep
Working with Essential Oils: Carrot Seed, Dang Gui, Safflower as a carrier oil
Bloodstone is a great stone to bring along on your journey; it both moves and regenerates blood, and helps to heal trauma of all kinds
Unlock the Inner Vault: Trauma often becomes locked within the body, sealed away like secrets in a vault. The advanced channel system of the style of Classical Acupuncture I practice allows me to help you unlock your own inner vault, allowing you to access these places deep places. In this space, even the bone can be transformed and changed. I often find that by working with the jaw, we can unwind unprocessed rage, fear, worry and grief—buried emotions that are tucked away deep into nooks and crannies of the the jaw, and in other bones like the hips.
By working at this level of depth, the bone level, we are tapping into the place where intergenerational trauma is stored and passed on. Essential Oils are helpful for working at this level—because an essential oil is made from the entirety of the plant, capturing the plants essence, therefore essential oils are a powerful medicine that resonate at the deepest level of your being.
One way to do this for yourself: when you notice yourself clenching your jaw, just tell yourself to let go…and
at the same time, place a hand on your heart and try to feel that connection.
Rose quartz can be used to support this process, along with Rhodonite.
Essential Oils: the use of flowers can be helpful for this transformation process (Rose, Jasmine, )
Nourish Fluids & Vital Essence: Psychedelic therapy can be demanding on the fluid system of the body, and your physical life-force. In fact, according the Chinese medicine, in order to fully release an emotion, there should be a cathartic release of bodily fluids—the tears of a good cry actually serve a purpose! With a focus on nourishing the fluids and vital essence, you will have greater bandwidth with which to process and integrate your experience. Things you can do to nourish fluids and vitality:
stay hydrated with electrolyte-rich food,
bone broth,
coconut water;
getting into nature.
water-rich stones like opal support the fluids
Support Digestion: Psychedelic therapy can place significant strain on the physical body, including the digestive systems. Classical Chinese medicine can help correct problems with digestion—whether longstanding, or acute. By supporting the physical aspect of digestion, I can support your ability to “digest” any emotions or insights you may have. Working with the digestive system is a powerful way to provide integration support, as this also helps you to process intense emotional experience.
Simple things you can do to support digestion:
stay away from cold foods and drinks,
eat simple foods,
avoid spicy foods.
The rinds of citrus peel help to regulate digestion;
‘spice seed’ oils such as caraway, cardamom and coriander can support digestion
essential oils such as tangerine peel could be useful to take long for your journey.
Grounding and Centering: It is important to find a true place of grounding and centering as you prepare, and as you integrate. I can help you ground and regulate your nervous system with acupuncture and craniosacral work. This provides a solid foundation for exploring expanded consciousness.
Hematite: For grounding, I often recommend hematite,
Connect with the Earth: walking on the earth barefoot,
Kidney 1: The Bubbling Spring: activating the soles of the feet, where the lowest acupuncture point resides, Kidney 1, the Bubbling Spring. This Acu-point is located on the sole of the foot, in the center, just underneath the pad of the foot.
You can imagine energy coming in and out of this point, and use this point to ground yourself by massaging it, or even taping hematite to it.
Final Thoughts: Building Your Therapeutic Framework
Deciding to undergo psychedelic therapy is a big decision with the potential for huge personal transformation. I suggest that you spend time thinking about how you might create your own energetic "set and setting, either by using some suggestions mentioned above, or by working with someone like myself. By cultivating a rich internal terrain within you, you will be fully equipped to get the most out of psychedelic therapy.
If you have any questions or would like to schedule a consultation, please feel free to reach out. I would be honored to walk alongside you in your journey to healing and self-discovery.
