Curated library
Expanded States of Consciousness
A curated library for people exploring expanded states of consciousness, with a focus on psychedelics. You'll find podcasts, videos and a few standout articles, organized by theme.
Safety first
Psychedelics are legal in some places and illegal in many others. Even in legal settings, they are not appropriate or safe for everyone. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to use any substance. It is a collection of resources for people who are already exploring this territory, to help them make more informed, thoughtful and supported choices.
This page is for education and harm reduction. It is not medical, psychological or legal advice, and it does not encourage anyone to use substances. I am a coach, not a therapist or medical provider. I do not provide, source or refer to substances or unlicensed practitioners.
If you take medication or have a personal or family history of mental illness, talk with a qualified clinician first, as you may be at risk of serious complications. If you are taking psychedelics, please be thoughtful about your preparation, support during the experience, and integration after.
How I think about integration
An expanded state can open something in us that ordinary life doesn't. What happens next is where the change takes root. For me, integration is two things at once: listening to what the body is still carrying, and finding the story that helps the experience make sense. These resources are here to support both.
Themes in this library
• Safety and Support • Research • Preparation and Integration • Music • Spiritual Experiences • Indigenous Wisdom • Challenging Experiences • End of Life • Leaders and Leadership • Choosing a Guide, Retreat, or Setting • Beyond Substances: Breath, Meditation, Awe, and Nature • Working Together
Start here
Safety and support
If you are in a hard moment right now, reach out to a real person first. Everything else can wait. In an emergency, call 911. If you are thinking about suicide, call or text 988.
Fireside Project Support Line
Free, confidential peer support by call or text at 62-FIRESIDE (623-473-7433), daily 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Pacific. U.S. only. Their free TripCheck service will call you during a planned journey.
Visit Fireside ProjectZendo Project
A harm reduction program with plentiful tools and resources. Its materials on supporting someone through a difficult experience are among the best available.
Visit Zendo ProjectTripSit Drug Combinations Chart
A widely used reference for risky combinations. Bring it to your doctor if you take any medication, especially antidepressants, lithium or heart medication.
See the chart
Set and setting
What you bring (your mindset, intentions and history) and where you are (the place, the people, the culture around you) shape an experience as much as any substance, whether it's a retreat, a ceremony or a clinical trial.
Hallucinogen Research Safety Guidelines
"Human hallucinogen research: guidelines for safety" by Johnson, Richards & Griffiths (2008). The Johns Hopkins team's paper on screening, preparation and setting.
American Trip by Ido Hartogsohn
Set, Setting, and the Psychedelic Experience in the Twentieth Century (MIT Press, 2020). Shows how culture itself is part of the setting. His podcast interviews are a shorter version.
Fireside Project Safety Resources
Plain-language guidance from the people who answer the support line.
Visit Fireside Project
Psychedelic science research
The science is promising and still young. As of September 2026, Compass Pathways' psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression is under FDA review, and no classic psychedelic is approved. The FDA declined MDMA-assisted therapy in
How to Change Your Mind
Michael Pollan's four-part Netflix series (2022) on LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and mescaline. The most accessible starting point.
Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research
The Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research, one of the field's founding research centers. Lists current studies and publications.
Psychedelics Today Podcast
A long-running show on research, therapy, policy and culture.
"The Trip Treatment"
Michael Pollan's 2015 essay in The New Yorker that brought the research revival to a mainstream audience.
Music
In clinical settings, music is treated almost as a co-guide. It gives the experience shape, carries emotion, and helps people return.
Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Playlist
How psychologist Bill Richards built the roughly 7-hour, mostly classical playlist used in Hopkins studies, and why. A version is on Spotify.
The Birth of the Playlist
From Hub, Johns Hopkins: the playlist's origins in 1960s research, and how NYU and the Usona Institute adapted it.
Mendel Kaelen on Music
Psychedelics Today, January 2021. The founder of Wavepaths on music as part of the psychedelic environment.
Preparation and integration
Preparation is the soil; integration is the harvest. Integration is simply the process of making sense of an experience and letting it change how you live. It can take days or years.
MAPS Psychedelic Integration Workbook
A free guide built on the Synthesized Model of Integration (Bathje, Majeski & Kudowor, 2022), across six domains: mind, body, spirit, relationships, lifestyle and nature.
The Article Behind the Model
"Psychedelic integration: an analysis of the concept and its practice" (Frontiers in Psychology, 2022). Open access, and the clearest definition of integration.
Psychedelic Integration by Marc Aixàlà
Psychotherapy for Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness (2022). A book with 11 metaphors for understanding integration. Also available as an audiobook.
The Psychedelic Therapy Workbook
By Elizabeth Nielson & Ingmar Gorman (New Harbinger, 2025). A practical workbook built on their harm reduction and integration method.
Work with me
Integration Coaching for Expanded States of Consciousness
Integration is where the change takes root. If you'd like support listening to what your body is still carrying and finding the story that helps your experience make sense, learn more about Integration Coaching.
Start your journey
Have a question or want to talk about integration support? Get in touch.