My journey

Last year was intense in many ways. 

My journey has taught me a lot about my emotions, my body, illness, death, and how to live my life fully in the midst of all that happens. 

I realized how a part of me wanted to walk away from the pain and worries, and another part wanted to fight and enjoy every moment even more. Sometimes I found myself paralyzed and defeated, but mostly I felt supported by the divine, loved ones, and the earth. My way to deal with difficult things had always been to work hard(er), and sweat whatever I was suffering from out of my body, but I realized I couldn’t do that this time. I had to choose a different path, and I was grateful that life pushed me. 

What changed? 

I started praying.

Praying to the plants and the trees. To nothing in particular as I had no idea what to do other than what I knew from my catholic upbringing. I started to understand that praying was trusting that everything will be okay, even though everything was confusing. As I started to create space for my emotions, I quickly discovered how much they needed to be heard. I was surprised by the floods that arose from deep within me, especially since I thought I had been paying attention. An array of emotions surfaced: sadness, guilt, shame, anger, joy, gratitude, … and I felt flooded with them all. Despite the intensity of the flood, I was determined to take my time with my journey, to feel it all. Sometimes, I found myself caught in between dialogues of guilt and spirals for the need to control. To escape from what was ultimately an old program of not doing it right. 

I started listening. 

The thing that scared me most was choosing to get rid of a part of my body that I identified as me and mine. I had all kinds of questions that confused me, especially when people around me made different choices. It’s not easy to know what is right, as in essence there is no such thing as right. I really started to listen to my fear. That aspect of myself I believed I had under control. I realized that to a certain extent I had managed it, as it didn't significantly disrupt my life. But it was still there, more unconsciously. My fear was beating myself up for not doing it right, all the time. 

I started befriending.

During my dieta in Peru I saw my fear in its raw form and saw the gravity of how scared it was, screaming in my ear to walk away. It was a shock to witness myself so scared, to not trust myself nor other people, and to see that the only thing I wanted to do was walk away. But I didn’t. When I understood where the fear originated from, I told my fear that I understood it. Instead of pushing it away, I held my own hand and asked the fear if it wanted to stay with me so I could show it wasn’t alone and that I would not be punished. 

I started practicing gratitude. 

Seeing for the first time in my life what that meant: a bow to the vulnerability of life, the joy in little and big things, the pleasure of being alive and living life, breathing, experiencing it all. 

I am grateful. 

I love all of me.

All my parts.

The fear.

The sadness.

The anger.

The confusion.

The joy.

The play.

With all that I’ve learned this past year, I want to invite you to a journey celebrating life with the power of compassion. Igniting the fire from within, nourishing our souls, and awakening our hearts, coming to union with ourselves. From union arises a compassionate mind that has the wisdom and understanding of what suffering is, that we are all human and do the best we can. That we live in circumstances that are challenging and not always bring out the best in us. We learn to hold the distress of that suffering with warmth, empathy, and non-judgment, and with a commitment to be of service.

Join me in my first solo sound meditation retreat on June 8.  

Sound meditation 

The power of sound is phenomenal. Sound is frequencies and frequencies are vibrations that our body resonates with.  The capacity of sound for healing is especially impactful when we listen. 

My teacher of this sound meditation protocol, David Shemesh, tells us to “Follow the Sound”. What he means by that is basically to use sound as an inner compass and resonance tool that will help us harmonize and balance. 

Sound meditation is a protocol for the ceremony where we will follow the sound by allowing ourselves to enter deep meditative states while riding the waves of different frequencies. Theta and beta sound waves stimulate a downregulated system, while alpha states stimulate our more active sympathetic system. As we all know, our monkey mind can come alive at any time, and sometimes it’s hard to make it stop, to just not think for a moment and rest. A lot of our living being, our sympathetic nervous system is activated and we’re not resting. 

With the vibrations of different sounds, we can reach the body to get back to rest-and-digest state again, while also creating opportunities to process stuck and unresolved emotions. 

What is a Sound Meditation Journey?

A sound meditation journey is a profound practice that combines the ancient wisdom of sound healing with modern techniques of meditation. It is an immersive experience where participants are guided through a sequence of sounds and vibrations designed to induce deep relaxation, inner exploration, and spiritual growth.

At Arjuna Labs, our sound meditation journeys are carefully crafted to create a safe and nurturing space for individuals to embark on a journey of self-discovery and healing. Through the power of sound waves, participants are invited to explore the intricate connections between mind, body, and spirit, tapping into the body's innate ability to heal and harmonize itself.

During a sound meditation journey, participants are led through a series of sonic landscapes, ranging from soothing tones to rhythmic beats, each carefully selected to facilitate specific states of consciousness. As participants surrender to the waves of sound, they are guided into deeper states of relaxation, where they can release tension, stress, and stagnant emotions.

The Benefits of Sound Meditation

Sound meditation offers a wide range of benefits for both mental and physical well-being. Some of the key benefits include:

1. Stress Reduction: The soothing vibrations of sound help to calm the nervous system, reducing stress and anxiety levels.

2. Increased Focus and Clarity: By quieting the mind and inducing a state of deep relaxation, sound meditation can improve concentration and mental clarity.

3. Emotional Release: Sound meditation provides a safe space for participants to explore and release pent-up emotions, promoting emotional healing and catharsis.

4. Enhanced Creativity: The rhythmic patterns of sound can stimulate the creative centers of the brain, inspiring new ideas and insights.

5. Physical Healing: Sound vibrations have been shown to have a profound effect on the body's cells and tissues, promoting healing and regeneration.

Our Approach

At Arjuna Labs, we take a holistic approach to sound meditation, integrating ancient wisdom with modern science to create a transformative experience for our participants. Our sound meditation journeys are led by experienced facilitators who guide participants through the process with care and compassion, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for exploration and healing.

Whether you're new to the world of meditation or a seasoned practitioner, we invite you to join us on a journey of self-discovery and healing through the transformative power of sound.

Are you ready to embark on your sound meditation journey? Explore our upcoming events and retreats to find the perfect opportunity to experience the magic for yourself.

Psilocybin-assisted CFT

Psychedelics-assisted psychotherapy has gained attention as a new paradigm and has shown to be a promising treatment. However, still a lot of those treatments are offered as non-directive guidance and lack a theoretical model. Offering a psychotherapeutic model can actually enhance personal and meaningful experiences of psychedelic sessions.

Compassion Focused Therapy provides a rationale and practices that might enhance the effects of psilocybin-assisted therapy by increasing connectedness, compassion for self, and compassion for others. CFT is based on evolutionary psychology and attachment theory and stimulates the affiliative or ‘rest and digest’ system (Gilbert, 2014). It enables insight into the interplay of the lack of care and compassion, especially early in life, and underlying mental health problems, and shows how developing compassion can act as a psychotherapeutic process and promote social connection and social safeness.

Three types of CFT emotion regulation systems

Previous studies suggest that certain substances like psilocybin and mdma can produce similar increases in self-compassion and reductions in self-criticism, decrease negative affect, and increase connection and acceptance, similar to the proposed working of the affiliative system within CFT.

We believe that CFT may be a relevant psychotherapeutic model to help to improve the understanding of the experiences during administration or navigation and integration sessions, while at the same time providing meaningful practices that help the integrative process.

The theoretical model and treatment protocol proposed here is based on Compassion Focused Therapy and describes a psychotherapeutic framework that helps people understand and respond to their distress from the perspective of a compassionate mind.

Offering a psychotherapeutic framework of CFT may be of critical importance as the effects of the psychedelic experience are augmented due to the psychologically insightful experiences during the navigation and integration sessions.