| This study used consensual qualitative methods to explore the lived, embodied experiences of intuitive entheogen dance experiences (IEDE) in women. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the transcribed interviews. The specific primary aim of the study was to investigate the following research question: What is the lived experience of IEDE, and how can this experience be understood through a psychological perspective? Secondary aims explored the following questions: (a) How does one arrive at IEDE? and (b) What meaning and purpose comes about the experience of IEDE? Six participants were interviewed about their experiences with IEDE. Thematic analysis revealed a somatic nature of the entheogenic experience with thorough illustrations of how the spiritual experience is felt directly through the body. The findings amplify Jung's understanding of the psychic dimension with the somatic dimension and how these two dimensions might be further integrated and bridged. The results suggest that the body has an inherent widsom and the whole mental health of the person cannot be fully explored and healed without considering the body. It is important for psychotherapists to begin to understand that the body is learning about spirit and psyche through it's physical expression and that this learning remains in memory in the physical body. Further research would help support and explore the potential for the healing of trauma using movement and altered states of consciousness, explore how the body is the shadow and how unconscious material first becomes lost in the body and then also how it is integrated into the self through movement and through alteres states. Further research could also explore archetypes and complexes within an IEDE, diving deeper into personal, cultural, and primordial themes. |
