Jenalle Dion has created a journal to help you record your psychedelic experiences. It’s a trip.

Former Nelson, BC resident Jenalle Dion has moved to North Vancouver and created two different journals to help you keep track of your psychedelic experiences. One is the “Wakeful Integration Journal,” for macrodose experiences, and the other is the six-week “Intention Journal,” for those who are microdosing.

She’s launched a Kickstarter campaign for the journals and we caught up with her to discuss how the idea came about. Below is the interview.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/920110985/wakeful-travel-journals-support-your-transformation?ref=cjhb83

Hey Jenalle, congrats on the launch. What was the inspiration for your journals?

I had a working opportunity to travel to Costa Rica to visit 20 different retreat centres and I was invested in doing my own “work” by attending a seven-day ayahuasca retreat. After experiencing several more ayahuasca ceremonies I returned home and felt called to create something that I’d been thinking about for years: a Mindful Travel Journal. I worked countless hours on this project, got funding from Futurprenuer, lived in community with my coworkers in Peru for six months, worked remotely and travelled Central America for a few more months, came home, was about to launch the journal. And then…COVID hit. I lost my dream job and had no idea what to do next. And it was the worst time to launch a travel journal.

I went inward and reflected on my plant medicine experiences and realized that transformative travel didn’t have to be external. It could be internal, exploring the terrain of the heart and soul versus mountains and oceans. I also asked around to my friends who work with medicine and they agreed this was a much-needed product that currently didn’t exist. This reassured me that I could support people — just through a different lens. The Mindful Travel Journal acted as a template. I then welcomed knowledge of others who worked with medicine in the psychedelic space and within a couple of weeks the Wakeful Integration Journal was born. Later, I created the Wakeful Intention Journal which acts as an accountability partner to support a microdosing framework.

You say we’re experiencing a “psychedelic renaissance.” What do you mean by that?

Our culture is one that needs to understand something completely before it can be labelled as “credible.” There always has to be a “reason” something works or it doesn’t. This can be helpful in ways and limiting at times too: helpful because it leads to more research and with more research we can prove that these “Schedule 1 substances” actually do have medical use and do not have a high potential for abuse. Psychedelics are not addictive in nature. And limiting because we could have had this “renaissance” in Western culture a long long time ago if it weren’t for the war on drugs. And because these medicines work in ways that science cannot always explain, they were misunderstood, and therefore labelled as dangerous. We’re seeing a renaissance because of the increase in science, media and people sharing their stories.

An increasing amount of studies are being conducted on all types of conditions, especially for mental health. The FDA labelled psilocybin as a “breakthrough therapy.” MAPS and Numinus did a phase 3 clinical trial where 88% of participants reported a significant reduction in their PTSD symptoms, and 67% no longer qualified for a PTSD diagnosis. People are healing life-long conditions, deep trauma, and physical ailments. The news about these transformative experiences begins to mushroom, and the stigma begins to break. The medicines start becoming more accepted. And more accessible as decriminalization efforts bleed into more states and provinces. More people are curious. More people come out of the psychedelic closet. More authors write about it. More podcast hosts talk about it. More people transform. Everyone and their moms begin to microdose. More people share the knowledge. More people are respecting the medicine. And when the medicine is respected, it works with us and helps to create lasting change in our lives. It starts to shift our collective culture. These healing plants and fungi are nothing new. Indigenous cultures around the world have been working with these medicines for thousands of years. We’ve been stripped of our rights to travel wakefully through our very own consciousness. And now, I believe that these medicines are sprouting into the mainstream because we need them more than ever.

For our editor’s first-person account of an ayahuasca ceremony in the Kootenays, click the image above.

How have ceremonies impacted your life?

Oof. That could be a whole book. Put simply, ceremonies have helped me have a better relationship with my childhood. We all have an inner child that is wounded, scared, or hurt. And those emotions almost get stuck inside of us, and they cause us to project our pain on others through various ways. Through plant medicine, I was able to release the stuck emotions. And then give love to that inner child. I was able to disconnect from the constructs of what I thought I knew was the only way of being. I have been able to connect to the divine feminine in me that had been hiding under beliefs of my upbringing. My anxiety has decreased immensely. I’m no longer living in a victim state, and blaming the world or other people on my problems. I have attracted a job I love, incredible friends, a business that has massive potential, and I have an all around stoke for life!

Have you done one since the journal came out and if so, how did it change your experience?

Yes, although the journals aren’t printed just yet. I’ve printed the pages out and used them to prepare, navigate and integrate a few mushroom ceremonies. It makes sure that I get ultra clear on my intentions. It ensures that I don’t forget anything when packing for ceremony. It let’s my creativity flow through colouring the illustrations, and drawing my experience. The journal gives me clarity, and reflects my own wisdom back towards me. It helps me remember the lessons that come up in ceremony, and then write out an action plan for lasting change. It’s a constant reminder. An accountability buddy that I can always go back to.

Apart from serving conscious explorers, how are you serving psychedelic organizations in the space?

I’m offering my services to retreat centres, clinics, providers, or mindful product brands so that they can have a custom journal that’s catered toward their content and protocols. So, they explain to me what they’re looking for in a journal, then I take those ideas and bring together designers, artists, and manufacturers, to create a white-labelled or co-branded journal that’s unique to their brand, voice, and vision.

Where can more people find out info about your journal and about psychedelic ceremonies in general?

To learn more or to pre-order a journal, you can visit my Kickstarter page, which runs until December 4th, 2021. You can head to Wakeful Travel’s blog to read up on psychedelics, integration, and journaling, as well as follow us on Instagram. There are a ton of incredible resources out there, but it’s important to ask a lot of questions and do your research before sitting in ceremony. Talk to people you trust who have sat before and see what they recommend. You can visit Retreat Guru to find a retreat that resonates, or you can visit Third Wave’s Directory if you’re looking for a retreat, clinic, coach or therapist. We’re also launching a microdosing community where you can come, set intentions, answer prompts, meet rad people, and tune in to set your day.

 

For our editor’s first-person account of an ayahuasca ceremony in the Kootenays, visit: kootenaymountainculture.com/should-you-do-ayahuasca?