Medicine Work Is Not the Destination: The Power of Integration

In today’s spiritual landscape, it’s easy to place ceremony and medicine work on a pedestal. Many people cling tightly to the identity of being “on the path,” believing that simply sitting with medicine or attending a ceremony somehow makes them inherently good, awakened, or evolved. But the truth is — medicine work is only the beginning. The real transformation happens afterward, in the quiet, often uncomfortable process of integration.

Yes, choosing to work with medicine is a powerful step. It’s a step that sets someone apart from the masses who may not yet be willing or ready to face their shadows. But being “one step ahead” in awareness doesn’t mean we’ve arrived. Awareness is only the spark — it’s how we tend to the fire afterward that determines our growth.

Medicine is a teacher, not a savior. It opens doors, but it’s on us to walk through them.

So, what is integration?

Integration is what we do outside of the ceremony space. It’s how we live when no one is watching. It’s not about how deep your journey went, or how many messages you received from spirit — it’s about how you apply those insights when you’re back in the real world.

Integration is:

• How you speak to your family when you’re tired and triggered.

• How you show up for your partner when it’s not easy.

• The prayers you whisper in the morning, when no one hears.

• The thoughts you allow to live rent-free in your mind.

• The way you treat your body, your community, and the Earth.

• The respect you offer to the sacred without the need for attention.

Medicine is a teacher, not a savior. It opens doors, but it’s on us to walk through them. And when we do — when we live with intention, humility, and care — that’s when the medicine truly begins to work. Not because of what happened in ceremony, but because of how it shaped who we are becoming outside of it.

So let’s not confuse sitting with medicine for doing the work. The work is in the integration. And the integration lives in the everyday — in our habits, our choices, our presence, and our love.

May we walk in peace, truth and harmony.

With all my love, Alina