The__Dream Unveiled: How Psychedelic Integration Shapes the Future of Business

From Insight to Action: The Power of Integration in Transforming Business and Personal Growth

The__Dream: A Portal to Altered States in the Business World

Two weeks ago nestled in the picturesque forest of Sintra, Portugal, a unique gathering took place. Over 600 innovators, leaders, thinkers, dreamers, and doers convened at The House of Beautiful Business' The__Dream, a hybrid business conference & festival thematically centered around creating a vision for a life-centered economy. It was a business gathering unlike any other: we were outside all day listening to speakers that spoke beneath trees, on the grass, or next to a flowering garden. No presentation slides, no props. Only raw dialogue and engaging with multidisciplinary, radical, and poetic ideas interwoven with the nature that surrounded us. The gathering felt as if from another world. And the vibrant energy and openness of the participants were palpable.

Altered States and Professional Growth: Unpacking the Integration Process

At The__Dream I had the pleasure of speaking about the power of psychedelics and the profound impact of altered states on our daily lives, for our relationships, and for the world around us. In a talk I called “Out of Our Minds,” I spoke about my work and that of INTEGRA to a curious audience of business leaders, entrepreneurs, designers, and artists about the importance of integration: transforming the insights from peak experiences in a way that leads to lasting and meaningful changes and healing.

A Collective Spark: Psychedelic Curiosity and Integration Among Business Leaders

Although I had planned my talk and the key messages I wanted to convey, I wasn’t prepared for the response of the audience. I didn’t realize until seeing their faces and hearing their questions how much people truly related with the topic. But not in the way I expected: many of them had never tried psychedelics before. I felt a collective spark about something beyond the concept of psychedelic medicine: it was about truly integrating our extraordinary, awe-inspiring moments like the ones being felt at this gathering. It was about making meaningful connections — to ideas (shared both from the keynotes on stage and from the intimate dialogues among participants between speaking sessions), to new people, to self, and to the Sintra forest — and then igniting action from those connections. And here I fully understood that the gathering itself was an altered state, a peak experience that called for reflection and integration. Just like a psychedelic experience, The__Dream evoked an ability to shift our perspective and it opened our minds to new ways of thinking and being.

But these gatherings are just the beginning. Like any altered-state journey, the real meaning-making begins after, following the integration of these experiences, taking the insights and lessons learned, and applying them to life. And integration is not just a personal journey, but a responsibility we carry. It's about transforming these peak experiences into sustainable action that can change our lives and the world around us.

Questions Unveiled: Exploring Psychedelic Safety, Integration, and Legal Landscape

My audience was a fresh balance of experienced journeyers with altered-states and newcomers to the topic of psychedelics, and what they all had in common was a trust and a curiosity. This open-mindedness, this willingness to explore the unknown in any setting, even in a business conference environment - is key for anyone’s path towards integration. It’s also a testament to the spirit of The__Dream and to the potential for transformation that lies within each of us, waiting to be unlocked.

During the Q&A, what I felt strongly among the audience was their interest in uncovering the truth.

What are the potential risks of using psychedelics?
What does the process of integration look like after an altered-state experience?
How do we know we’re working with an authentic and trusted facilitator? What questions should we ask before doing a ceremonial medicine experience, especially when we’re not going to the origins of the plant medicines themselves?
What’s the role of the pharma industry in making these accessible treatments for mental illnesses?
What’s being done from a regulatory standpoint - are these substances going to be legalized or just decriminalized?
How can I work with these medicines in a responsible, sustainable, and safe way?

These questions showed me how important it is to uncover a balanced, grounded, and digestible approach to the complexity of psychedelics: one that is scientifically informed yet culturally sensitive to the traditions of Originary and Indigenous communities that have stewarded many of these medicines for millennia. I was reminded of how gatherings like The__Dream serve as doorways to new models of being: not just as individuals but collectively impacting how we do business, how we lead, how we relate to others, and how we make decisions that affect our environment. The message I shared on integration had a ripple effect on the festival, with conversations holding a tone of respect and curiosity for both the little nuggets of insight and the big aha moments people received during their own journey over the course of those four days in Sintra.

The Integration of The__Dream: Cultivating a New Vision for Business and Society

The festival was a multidisciplinary melting pot of ideas and perspectives, contributing to a rich tapestry of dialogue and exploration. Many of the talks were integrative: physician Parneet Pal’s “Ode to Mitochondria” used biology as a lens to inspire a shift in paradigm and flip the narrative on health and sustainability in business. Environmentalist Olivia Lazard and TED Curator Bruno Giussani held a potent discussion about the ecological cost of progress and balancing technological efficiency with impact. Designers Leen Sadder & Ryan Murphy led a playful and powerful gamifying community workshop that explored how member dynamics influence the health and prosperity of a community. Post-humanist philosopher Bayo Akomolafe shared his vision for embedding the laws of nature in business. Over four days the talks flowed easefully from day into night. Altered states were explored more directly one evening, with a program called The__Trip: weaving music, a dance performance, and a breathwork journey followed by intimate integration circles co-led by me, neuroscientist Hannah Critchlow, and sleep scientist Antonio Zadra. Here the integration journey had already begun: under the full moon sky we reflected back to our shared joys and challenges of our most potent peak experiences and how we were changed by them.

Photo by The House of Beautiful Business

INTEGRA's Mission: Facilitating Integration for Business Innovators and Dreamers

As I returned from The__Dream, I carried with me not only the new ideas and connections made, but also the responsibility to nourish these seeds and integrate what inspired me, what moved me, what provoked me — and to create a plan of action to fuel the changes I want to make. And the real dream, the integration of my journey, starts now.

At INTEGRA we’re supporting people in their integration process for all types of altered states, not only with psychedelic states but also the peak experiences that come from unexpected events like that of not-so-ordinary business conference. Some of the questions we design for:

How to cultivate curiosity & awe and to articulate what and when peak experiences are most supportive in helping people connect with awe in the most impactful way
How to orient people to a new “set and setting” and to ground during such an intense period of stimulation to diverse ideas and information
How to amplify the potential of the new connections made among participants
How to leverage the community to make sharing and reflection more accessible and enjoyable
What tools and practices facilitate integration after such gatherings: not only individually but collectively, via the strategies to connect companies with people & ideas that enable collaboration, co-creation, and creation of new projects and businesses

I'm curious to hear from the experienced readers who've attended large gatherings, conferences, and festivals that unexpectedly blend your professional and personal worlds. How do you integrate your peak experiences into your daily life?