Embodied Imagination® for Psychedelic Integration is a practice developed by Dr. Katherine Lawson, rooted in the original method pioneered by Jungian analyst Robert Bosnak. Trained directly by Bosnak, Dr. Lawson has adapted the approach to meet the specific needs of individuals working with psychedelic medicines.
This method draws from depth psychology, neuroscience, and dreamwork, offering a structured, experiential way of engaging with the material that arises in altered states. Rather than treating psychedelic experiences as isolated events or stories to be interpreted, Embodied Imagination® invites the images, sensations, and perspectives that emerge during the journey to be reentered, re-inhabited, and explored in a state of dual conciousness.
The process is distinct from conventional integration methods. Rather than relying solely on discussion or cognitive interpretation, it works with the body and imagination to allow meaning to arise through direct engagement with experience. Practitioners guide individuals into a lightly altered state between waking and dreaming. There they revisit key moments from their journey, inhabiting not only their own point of view, but new information held within the images and outside of habitual waking consciousness. This simultaneous awareness opens space for insights that are often unexpected, deeply felt, and enduring.
Because psychedelic experiences often share qualities with dreams, intensity, symbolic richness, and shifts in perception—this method also applies naturally to dreamwork. Many practitioners use the same tools with both dreams and journeys, finding that the boundaries between the two often blur.
Embodied Imagination® does not aim to interpret or explain, but to make contact, contact with the intelligence of the experience itself, and with the inner figures that carry its messages. From that contact, integration becomes a visceral process of relationship, not explanation. Much like with psychedelic experiences, this approach is best understood in practice. A demonstration of the method is available in our free training video.
Psychedelic experiences often carry profound insight, but without integration, these insights can remain fragmented or fade. This method offers distinct advantages that help bridge the gap between non-ordinary states and everyday life:
This method can be used across a range of therapeutic and healing contexts, including:
For clients integrating psychedelic experiences related to trauma, depression, anxiety, addiction, spiritual exploration, or personal growth.
This method can be adapted for group settings, where participants benefit from shared reflection while still receiving individualized guidance through the integration process.
The same structure applies seamlessly to dreams, offering a powerful way to access meaning and insight from dream imagery. Practitioners working with both psychedelics and dreams will find continuity in the approach.
The method is also valuable before psychedelic experiences, helping clients set intentions and prepare their nervous system and imagination for the journey ahead.
Developed by Jungian analyst Robert Bosnak, Embodied Imagination® redefined the way we approach dreams, not as symbols to be decoded, but as living experiences to be inhabited. His method centers on the embodied nature of imagery and invites practitioners to engage with multiple perspectives from within the dream. This simultaneous awareness creates what Bosnak calls a “composite” state, an expanded field of consciousness that moves beyond the personal ego and opens space for transformation.
Recognizing the deep parallels between dreams and psychedelic states, Dr. Katherine Lawson adapted the Embodied Imagination® method to meet the needs of psychedelic integration. After extensive training with Robert Bosnak and years of working with clients in altered states, she developed a structured approach that stays true to the original method while responding to the distinctive qualities of psychedelic experiences, particularly their intensity, symbolic richness, and transformational potential.
