The Art of Integration in Healing & Transformation

When it comes to any form of healing, recovery or transformation, change occurs in pockets, layers and non-linearity.

Through years of process, recovering from physical and mental illness, I learned to look for the telltale signs of progress and imminent change, and create a conscious container for integration. This is a concept I have also invited into my work with clients and organizations.

When integration becomes a conscious process, it provides a swift path to embodied change. Integration allows the body, mind and spirit to assimilate new patterns of existence.

At this time in humanity, I have a sense that we are in a transition period, where we are being asked to integrate changes into the way we live and relate. With the introduction of the Covid vaccine, we are also being asked to integrate changes into our DNA. Integration is the only way to evolution.

An unconscious integration process often feels de-stabilizing, erratic and non-sensical. We may feel in alignment and a sense of peace one moment, then erode into chaos and fear the next. We often fight against the integration process. No matter how hard we try to re-create peace or cling on to the sense of progress, we can’t. In fact, it is the letting go of trying that is one of the lessons we are being asked to learn!

Integration comes through embodied expression, space and time. We need to learn that it is our natural order to reorder, self-correct and evolve. Our own humility is essential to welcoming a process that needs no control.

When we try and concoct a process, speed up or manipulate our expression, we are no longer in an evolutionary state. We are creating our own chaos. The irony is: we are creating what we are running from. We are our own creators, after all.

So, to invite integration, simply be present. Notice the polarity between your altering states of peace/order and fear/chaos. Invite the swing of the pendulum until a new form of equilibrium arises. If we learn not to tamper with what is true, evolution is a given. We need to learn to trust this natural law.

This does not mean we shouldn’t cast our vision forward and follow our impulses, and desires. In fact, our will is the direct manifestation of our life force. We want and need to evolve in a forward motion. It’s just that sometimes, to step forward, we need to summersault and fall into a ravine to rest, reform and redirect. Trust the process. 

Are you being asked to integrate? Can you find the compassion to respond to this primal request?