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dvonneloring
Jun 20, 2023

1 Essential Healing Tool

20th June 2023 Written by Dvonne Loring


I’m literally but mainly figuratively landing back in Melbourne from a trip away to Bali


I’ve never been to this part of the world before


It’s been 5 years since I was last overseas


9 years since I was last in Asia


13 years since my last trip to the motherland - The Philippines


There was a great deal of newness, novelty and sentimental nostalgia


I felt the south east Asian humidity balming my skin and re-wilding my hair


The smells. The warmth. The sounds.


There was familiarity yet it was all anew


After a trip like this, I’m being called towards integration


Integration is empowering because it asks you how you want to make meaning of an experience


It initiates choice


Let’s not forget we are meaning making creatures


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Integration is something I often see missed in the healing / therapeutic / wellness spaces


Yet it’s such a fundamental part


People can become addicted to workshops, therapy, festivals, retreats, full day immersions


This addiction can also extend to many things including travel, getaways, trips and adventures


I’m not denying the value of any of the above


All come with wonders to offer us


I'd like to draw your attention to where you mightn’t realise you’re denying the value available to you if you’re racing to the next thing, then the next, and the next and so on…


Before we engage in the next thing to come, integration slows us down and is an enquiry into


What was evoked


What awakened


What was met


Integrations supports you to metabolise your experiences from an event that happened to being an invitation to allow the the outside world to touch you internally


From this meeting point, wisdom can be birthed which can reverberate through you and weave itself into the fabric of who you now are and inform how you'd like to show up


The consumption of experiences without bringing presence or intention to your engagement with them can become unknowing and empty gluttony and your experiences can fall vulnerable to being reduced to a means of escapism


Allow your experiences to nourish you


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Integration practices can be anything from revisiting photos or videos from your trip, it can be scrapbooking, it can be sharing stories and speaking to what it meant for you. It could be moving, dancing, reflecting or (my favourite) journalling


After any big and profound or even a small yet powerful experience, integration is an important process because it begs important questions


Here are some questions to support you and your integration processes -


Who am I now having had this experience?


What did I learn?


What knowing has come through?


What no longer feels relevant?


Do I want this experience to inspire me?


If so, what might that look like?


How do I want this experience to inform this new version of myself?


What has this experience taught me about myself, about others and about the world?


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If we consider healing to be lifelong, consider integration to be its twin flame to journey with you also


I’m still distilling what my time in Bali represents for me but what I already know is that it invited a remembering, it summoned gratitude and I’m reminded of how beautiful life can really be


Happy integrating darlings



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