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A Nuanced, Layered and Highly Personalized Approach

Deep within the Lascaux Caves more than 500 kilometers southwest of Paris lies an awe-inspiring collection of ancient art created by prehistoric cave dwellers more than 17,000 years ago. Paleontologists believe these remarkable cave paintings were part of a sacred space, christening the domed chamber where most of the art is found, as the “prehistoric Sistine Chapel.”

The creative impulse ran deep in our ancestors and their ancestors before them and remains a fundamental aspect of who we are today. The Cardea Method aims to tap into this impulse to help our guests create and live more vibrant and fulfilling lives. As with all acts of creativity, we are most willing to be spontaneous and inventive when we feel secure in our environment. Yes, held.

What to Expect with a Cardea Ketamine Session

An intention is exactly as it sounds: a personal goal you pursue in your journey. We know the meaning of such intentions often shifts radically during journeys, and we want our guests to be open to such shifts. We see a complex story behind every intention, and we want to be sure that we hold that story well, allowing it to remain flexible and primed for contemplation. Take for example a classic intention like “greater self-compassion.” Instead of taking that term for granted as a perfectly understood destination, we assist our guests in doing a more in-depth intention setting: What’s the unique history of self-compassion in their own lives? Where is it already happening? What’s the story of why they may resist it?

An intention is exactly as it sounds: a personal goal you pursue in your journey. We know the meaning of such intentions often shifts radically during journeys, and we want our guests to be open to such shifts. We see a complex story behind every intention, and we want to be sure that we hold that story well, allowing it to remain flexible and primed for contemplation. Take for example a classic intention like “greater self-compassion.” Instead of taking that term for granted as a perfectly understood destination, we assist our guests in doing a more in-depth intention setting: What’s the unique history of self-compassion in their own lives? Where is it already happening? What’s the story of why they may resist it?

Psychedelic experiences always carry some level of the ineffable—something like love or happiness — that is impossible to communicate with words. In many ways, art is the human activity that attempts to communicate the ineffable in its own roundabout and inexact way. Not everyone who comes to Cardea makes art but making art—including drawing, painting, writing or dance—is always an option.

At Cardea we take sound to a whole new level. In our Ketamine Space, we create a personally crafted sonic experience for each of our guests, many performed live by our sound practitioners. Instead of using prescribed playlists, we modulate a client’s unique emotional state by creating our own sequences of music and tones with different tonal shapes and forms.

We do this because neuroscience confirms what ancient healers and ceremonialists have known for centuries: sound and vibration play an essential role in deepening psychedelic experiences. Combined with psychedelics in the right setting, certain vibrational sounds and frequencies “bilaterally”

In the rush to psychedelics, many practitioners offer an “integration” session to help clients make immediate sense of their journey. This makes sense in some ways since people do often come to psychedelics for answers. But it also betrays one of the best things about psychedelics: rather than resolving things neatly, they open our minds to all kinds of questions, allowing us to see different sides of a particular dilemma. That’s very important in any process of human transformation.

To grow, expand and change requires something more nuanced and subtle than landing on a firm answer. That’s because there are layered reasons that keep us stuck. If we adhere to one answer, we ignore the other layers and forego the wisdom they offer.

Our methods are designed to help our guests reach a more receptive, playful, and creative state as they reflect on the experience of their journey. To help them get to this this place of continued contemplation, we meet with you again using the dialogic method, using the photos, or making art, or just talking, always continuing a reflective, rather than a formulaic or diagnostic process.