After the Ketamine the Laundry: How to Integrate Ketamine Therapy for Best Results

Ketamine Therapy

May 18

Bringing the Spiritual Into the Mundane

Do you know the feeling that follows a profound spiritual experience only to plug back into your life and start arguing with your partner and dissociating on screens again? It can be brutally disappointing, but please don’t be too hard on yourself! It’s normal.

There’s a well-known book by the Buddhist teacher, Jack Kornfield, After The Ecstasy, The Laundry, that discusses just this: the challenge of returning to ordinary life (“the laundry”) after moments of realization (“the ecstasy”). In his book, Jack Kornfield emphasizes the importance of bringing spiritual experiences back into everyday life as a practice of deepening and integrating. While moments of awakening, deep insight, and ecstasy can be transformative (whether they happen on psychedelic medicines, or during meditation or prayer), the real work lies in bringing that wisdom and compassion into ordinary life. The key is that integration and spiritual work is an evolving practice, it’s never about getting it perfect.

I hear clients talk about having had a profound and life-changing experience after a ketamine journey. Oftentimes, the realization has to do with reframing the way they talk to themselves – with more kindness and self-compassion. Perhaps they start to integrate and make sense of their big emotions such as shame and anger. I hear clients share that they want to bring the truth, trust, and compassion they felt during the journey back into their lives. They want to remember what it’s like to feel at peace within themselves and know that they are fundamentally okay. So how does one prevent the ecstasy from fading away entirely? How do self-compassion, integrity, patience, trust, and generosity become daily practices?

Cultivating Mindfulness as Integration

In his teachings, Jack Kornfield offers a few ideas:

Embrace the Mundane!
True spiritual growth occurs not only in extraordinary moments but also within the context of the ordinary. The mundane aspects of life are rich opportunities to practice present-moment awareness. This includes the trickiest moments of parenting, addressing finances, and even standing in line at the grocery store. How can you be more gentle with yourself and others? Can you practice taking a step back, taking a deep breath, and returning to the present moment before reacting? Hint: taking a deep breath is key here. When we take a deep breath in through the nose into the lower belly and slowly release it through the mouth, we help our nervous system shift back into its parasympathetic response (“rest and digest”).
Cultivate Compassion and Wisdom
Jack Kornfield teaches that the foundation for developing compassion and wisdom is cultivating mindfulness and awareness. By developing the ability to be fully present in each moment, we can observe our thoughts, emotions, and experiences with nonjudgmental attention. This awareness allows us to see things as they are. You might consider practicing the loving-kindness (metta) meditation. This practice involves generating feelings of love, kindness, and goodwill toward ourselves and others. By intentionally cultivating these qualities, we can expand our capacity for compassion and develop a sense of interconnectedness with all beings.
Practice Compassionate Action and Wise Understanding
Compassion is not just a state of mind; it is also expressed through actions. Jack Kornfield encourages individuals to actively engage in compassionate acts in their daily lives. This can involve acts of kindness, generosity, and service towards others. By integrating compassion into our actions, we develop a greater sense of connection and contribute to the well-being of others. Wisdom arises from understanding the nature of reality and the interconnectedness of all phenomena. Jack Kornfield teaches that cultivating wisdom involves investigating the impermanent, unsatisfactory, and selfless nature of our experiences. By recognizing the impermanence of things, we can develop a deeper understanding and find freedom from attachment and suffering.

Neurobiological Integration Support

In addition to the spiritual integration work above, there are practical ways you can support your body and mind after a psychedelic experience to integrate the experience neurobiologically. I regularly remind clients that their brain is most “plastic” (referring to synaptic plasticity, or the ability of the brain to form new connections) for 72 hours after their ketamine journey. Ideally, the integration process should begin immediately after your journey to maximize your ability to positively integrate the experience. As a basic rule of thumb, I tell clients that before they go to bed the night of their journey, they should try to engage in three different activities:

Movement
Movement of some kind to support the movement of energy and emotions through the body (e.g. walking, dancing, yoga, stretching).
Creativity
Something creative (e.g. cooking dinner, writing a poem, playing an instrument, singing).
Contemplation
A favorite form of contemplative practice (e.g. meditation, prayer, pulling tarot cards, journaling).

Integration Tips

The following suggestions may help increase your understanding of the experience and support your ability to use this material to create lasting and positive change in your life. Consider incorporating the following into your routine:

Start a daily practice of mindfulness (e.g. meditation, breathwork, yoga, prayer, spending time in nature).
Commit to a daily practice of creative expansion (e.g. drawing, painting, dancing, journaling).
Make time to process insights (e.g. talk with a trusted friend or family member and/or schedule non-ketamine therapy sessions).
Commit to dietary changes (e.g. eat balanced meals, cut down on sugar and processed foods, reduce alcohol use).
Prioritize sleep and rest so that your brain and body can adequately heal.
Drink lots of water to flush out your system, especially if you notice a lingering headache after your journey experience.
Make time for daily movement. Practicing yoga, taking walks, dancing, playing a sport, and any other form of joyful movement is grounding and regulates the nervous system.
Consider getting bodywork (e.g. massage, acupuncture) after your journey to support lymphatic drainage and to move energy through and out of the body. As they say, “our issues are in our tissues”! Alternatively, take an Epsom salt bath and/or stretch at home to flush out toxins and move energy.

If you are interested in cultivating self-compassion and compassion towards others the 72-hour post-ketamine therapy window is an excellent time to start these practices since your brain will be more receptive to change.

Remember, it’s not about being perfect either! Bringing the ecstatic and spiritual into the ordinary is the real practice. Be gentle with yourself as you incorporate mindfulness and compassion practices into your daily life.