Our Approach

Inspiration, Not Appropriation

Plant medicine ceremony has roots in many lineages. We honor those origins, name them clearly, and never pretend a tradition is ours when it is not.

I'm Austin, co-founder of Ceremonia and of Asian American descent. My co-facilitators each bring their own lineages, training, and ancestral practices into the room. What we share with retreat participants is shaped by who we are, not by who we are not.

How we hold ceremony

• Frameworks we own. Internal Family Systems, Circling, Somatic Experiencing, and Mindfulness, modern, evidence-informed practices we have studied and teach openly.
• Lineages we honor. When a practice originates from an indigenous or cultural lineage, we name that lineage, give credit, and only invoke it when a member of our facilitation team carries that connection authentically.
• Music from around the world. Our ceremony soundscapes draw from many cultures, South American, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Indian, African, French, Hebrew, Native American, and beyond. We choose music that serves the journey, and we credit artists.
• No costume, no caricature.We don't adopt regalia, language, or rituals from cultures we are not part of. Inspiration doesn't require imitation.

Why this matters

Psychedelic medicine work has, in some corners, drifted into the costume-and-cosmology version of indigenous ceremony, borrowing aesthetics without relationship. We think that's a mistake, both ethically and clinically. The work asks for honesty: about who you are, who taught you, and what is yours to carry.

We are continuously learning. If you see a place where we can do better, we want to hear from you.