Session focus worksheet

X, stated plainly

Naming it before the day does two things. It makes X recognisable mid-session: states where deliberation is hard are bad places to work out what you are even looking at. And it gives you something specific to return to afterward, rather than a blur. One plain sentence is enough — precision here is worth more than depth.

Gollwitzer, P., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation Intentions and Goal Achievement: A Meta-analysis of Effects and Processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. — https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1

How X usually presents

Under ordinary conditions X has shapes: where it sits in the body, what summons it, what it makes you want to do. Gendlin called the bodily version of this the felt sense — an unclear whole that can be recognised before it can be explained. Mapping X's ordinary shapes now means that if it arrives mid-session, you are meeting something you have already seen, not something new.

• Where do I feel X in my body right now, if anywhere? (the felt sense)
• If X had a voice or a want, what would it say? (parts work)
• How old does X feel, roughly?
• What does X usually make me do — avoid, appease, brace, leave?

Gendlin, E. T. (1978). Focusing. Bantam Books.Schwartz, R. C. (1995). Internal Family Systems Therapy. Guilford Press.Levine, P. A. (1997). Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma. North Atlantic Books.

Stance: how I want to meet it

There is more than one workable stance, and the traditions name them differently. What matters is choosing yours now: deciding in a calm state beats deciding mid-session, whatever you choose. The menu below is real options, not steps — pick one, mix two, or write your own.

• Allowing — make room for it instead of fighting it. The psychological-flexibility move: fighting an unpleasant state tends to intensify it; willingness loosens its grip. (Watts & Luoma 2020; Hayes et al. 1999)
• Turning toward — look at it directly and describe what you find. Exposure logic: the fear structure has to be activated, then given information it did not have. (Foa & Kozak 1986)
• Following — let the material lead rather than steering it. Grof's surrender principle: resistance to the experience's own direction is often the engine of the difficulty. (Grof 1980)
• Visiting and stepping back — approach in doses, retreating to an anchor between looks. Dosing your contact is legitimate technique, not cowardice.
• Leaving it be today — a session aimed elsewhere is a complete outcome, not a failure.

Watts, R., & Luoma, J. (2020). The use of the psychological flexibility model to support psychedelic assisted therapy. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science. — https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2019.12.004Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (1999). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change. Guilford Press.Foa, E. B., & Kozak, M. J. (1986). Emotional processing of fear: Exposure to corrective information. Psychological Bulletin, 99(1), 20–35. — https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.99.1.20Grof, S. (1980). LSD Psychotherapy: Exploring the Frontiers of the Hidden Mind. Hunter House.

Permission lines

Words written beforehand carry unusual weight mid-session, when composing kind sentences is harder. Clinical manuals use exactly this device — brief written reminders of stance and permission, read before and during. Write the lines you will want to hear, in your own voice. An answer given beforehand still counts.

• If X comes up, I don't have to fix it today.
• I can look away and come back. It will still be there.
• Whatever happens, I don't owe this session a breakthrough.
• Feeling worse briefly is not the same as things going wrong.

Gollwitzer, P., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation Intentions and Goal Achievement: A Meta-analysis of Effects and Processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. — https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1Mithoefer, M. C. (2017). A Manual for MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (rev. ed.). Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.

If it gets heavy

Distress is not the same as emergency. Fear, grief, and the sense of coming apart are common, documented, and pass — the survey data on challenging experiences describes exactly these, at high intensity, mostly without lasting harm. What actually needs help is different and shorter: chest pain, seizure, unresponsive, acting on a plan to harm yourself or someone else. Between those two sits everything else, and for that there are exits, in order. Arousal that fits back inside what Siegel called the window of tolerance usually settles on its own; the ladder below is how you help it fit.

• 1. Lights on.
• 2. Sit up.
• 3. Change or stop the music.
• 4. Say out loud: I want this to slow down.
• 5. Move — another room, cold water on the face, feet on the floor.
• 6. Call the person on my contact line.
• 7. Chest pain, seizure, unresponsive, acting on a plan to harm → emergency services now. No certainty required to call.

Carbonaro, T. et al. (2016). Survey study of challenging experiences after ingesting psilocybin mushrooms. Journal of Psychopharmacology. — https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881116662634Barrett, F. et al. (2016). The Challenging Experience Questionnaire: Characterization of challenging experiences with psilocybin mushrooms. Journal of Psychopharmacology. — https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881116678781Siegel, D. J. (1999). The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are. Guilford Press.Richards, W. A. (2016). Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences. Columbia University Press.

Anchors

An anchor is anything steady that helps you find your way back — breath paced long on the out, an object in the room, a phrase, a position. Somatic traditions call the simplest version orienting: noticing where you are through the senses. People who sit with others do this out loud for them; alone, the anchors chosen beforehand are the ones that remain. One or two is plenty — three is a ceiling, not a floor.

Levine, P. A. (1997). Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma. North Atlantic Books.Fadiman, J. (2011). The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys. Park Street Press.

Afterward

The first hour after the effects lift belongs to the ordinary body: water, food, warmth, rest. Emotional processing does not stop when the acute effects do — material keeps settling for hours and days, which is why big decisions wait and why a few lines written tonight hold more than memory alone. Nothing is owed to X by morning.

Robinson, O. C. et al. (2024). Coming back together: coping and support strategies after extended difficulties. Frontiers in Psychology. — https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1369715Foa, E. B., & Kozak, M. J. (1986). Emotional processing of fear: Exposure to corrective information. Psychological Bulletin, 99(1), 20–35. — https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.99.1.20