What Is Ceremony?
Recently, a client told me about a moment in her kitchen. She was washing dishes, thinking about her job, when suddenly she felt it: a wave of exhaustion that had nothing to do with being tired. In that moment, she knew, really knew, that she couldn't keep showing up the same way at work.
That's ceremony. Not the formal kind with programs and processionals, but the moments when something inside you shifts.
Ceremony shows up everywhere:
The tightness in your chest that appears around certain people or topics
The drive home when you wonder if your relationship isn't working
The way your energy shifts when you're in the right place with the right people
Noticing you hold your breath in specific situations
The diagnosis that changes everything about how you see your life
The plant medicine experience that cracks something open
These are just some examples, and most people brush these moments off. They distract themselves, rationalize the feeling away, or keep doing things exactly the same way. But these aren't random emotions, they're signals. You trying to get your own attention.
Ceremony is learning to pause and pay attention. To ask: What is this moment trying to tell me? What wants to change? What am I ready to release or embrace?
When you start treating these moments as ceremonies, as pauses for reflection and choice, you gain the power to respond intentionally instead of waiting for change to force itself on you.
Integration coaching is what happens after you pause. It's the structured support to process what you've noticed, understand what it means, and take intentional action toward the life you want to live.