What Plant Medicine Reminds Us in Eating Disorder Recovery
Psychedelics ask us, How much more powerful could we be if we spent more time creating the shape of our lives, instead of creating the shape of our bodies?
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How much more powerful could we be if we spent time molding our dreams and visions into reality rather than sculpting our legs and arms into a constructed idealistic shape?
How much more time would we have to focus on what truly brings us joy, meaning, passion, purpose, and value? This is the shift in perspectives, values, and priorities that plant medicines bring.
How powerful are we if we have to shapeshift in order to be “worthy”?
How powerful can we be if we deny our hunger and suppress our appetites?
How powerful can we be if we are taught to question our voice, value, and worth, and disregard our intuition in favour of someone else’s opinion?
The path of healing from an eating disorder is uncovering, recovering, and discovering the power within. The power moves from being determined by external factors and takes root in the unwavering place deep within that k n o w s.
Through this quest of recovery, we question the validity of our judgements, beliefs and opinions about ourselves and others until we come to an unshakable understanding of our inherent worth and dignified belonging.
When we stand from this place, we create our lives in shapes, rhythms, and textures that are meaningful, purposeful, whole, and connected.
The power radiates from within.
This is one the teachings of sacred plant medicine: to move from the fragile, external focus to an internal focus.
Microdosing or journeying with a larger dose of psychedelics often point to this teaching: shift the need of relying on outside validation to feel powerful, loveable or accepted, and instead ground within the innate worthiness of simply being human.
Realizing that the power is in our hands, that the medicine is us and is already here, a great awakening occurs.
Inner strength often takes form in ways we don’t often recognize
From there, we remember that our power lies not in someone else’s hands but in our own, and yet, who we are today is inextricably interconnected to a larger whole. We stand on the shoulders of our ancestors and those who came before us, who left us gifts and challenges to work with. The power is in our hands.
Our bodies are bodies of the Earth, containing the same elements found in nature.
When we journey with sacred plant medicines or psychedelics, they help us break the spilt between ourselves as humans and the Earth, and as such, we open ourselves to pathways of healing and other voices who can support our growth and healing.
This means the body isn’t ours alone – we are made of microorganisms, water, air, codes and memories from our ancestors – and this frees us up to design a recovery roadmap that includes many realms, beings, and elements that inspire and speak to us in deep, meaningful and resonate ways.
When we remember that our bodies are made up of our ancestors and the Earth, we are reminded of a larger web of support that surrounds us, that we can lean into, and that we can start to trust once again.
We are so much more powerful and can go so much further together. When we expand in this way, it’s no longer just each one of us in our own bubble, and this opens us up to other ways to receive healing – none more better than the other.
psychedelics remind us that…
When I take care of my body, I am taking care of the Earth.
When I take care of the Earth, I am taking care of my body.
By receiving the goodness from the Earth, we celebrate each other’s existence.
This sense of direct connection of intertwinement means that we are never alone, and that our healing and transformation is interconnected and interdependent with the whole.
That means that your recovery is important and has a positive and powerful impact (sometimes in ways that we could never imagine or comprehend), and that there is a great network of various forms of support that can be tapped into and explored.
Photo by Brianna R. on Unsplash