John Newton - Musician, Meditation coach & Integration Specialist

Listen to the latest album here.

Offerings

  • I offer 1:1 containers to support you with integrating a psychedelic journey, whether that be with Psilocybin, LSD, DMT, Mescaline, MDMA, or Ketamine. In respect to the vulnerability this involves, I work with a four session minimum, so that we can co-create a container that enables us to deeply explore your experience and weave the learnings into your life in a sustained way.

    Integration can take on a number of differing meanings. Some questions I like to consider include:

    What aspects of your journeys do not seem adequately addressed from within a psychotherapeutic paradigm?

    How do you approach integration when a default worldview is undermined after a journey?

    Does a psychotherapeutic or coaching approach to integration support your desire for creative expression?

    What is the role of movement and contemplative practices in psychedelic integration?

  • I offer 1:1 sessions on developing insight meditation practices, including samadhi, metta, emptiness and imaginal practices.

    For me the sense of adventure and discovery is crucial for a meditation practice with vitality. We may have experiences on a meditation retreat where something profound is touched, but despite the initial power of these openings, the views around practice easily shrink in vision, leading to inertia and a lack of heartfelt engagement with our path. Teaching meditation is two-fold: learning tools for practice, and supporting an attitude of courage, curiosity and confidence in ourselves. I work with calming concentration practices (samatha, samadhi, metta, brahma viharas) and insight practices, also known as emptiness, nondual or open awareness practices. I also share what is loosely known as imaginal practices - ways of working with the imagination in meditation that incorporate jungian psychology, psychosynthesis, and Rob Burbea’s soulmaking dharma.

  • Available for film score projects, including curation, consultation, composition, editing, mixing and mastering.

FAQs

  • I tend to think of the entire trajectory of exploring psychedelics as a process of integration - especially the experience itself. This framing takes the pressure off integration as the exclusive period for change, instead allowing it to become a more humble process of learning to care for, steward, and consolidate perspectives that are catalyzed by psychedelics, so that they actually make a difference to our lives. Through engaging with the integration process this way, we develop the sensitivity needed to meet our experience with an expansive and curious attitude.

    When I am shaken out of stasis and shown a perspective of the world that is ineffably beautiful, how am I to live, knowing that I can’t turn back to who I was before, but not having a clear direction forward (note - the answer is not to keep taking psychedelics). In the psychedelic nousphere, most of the discussion on integration is about what even is integration and why does it matter? Instead of engaging this question as an inquiry, it is often used to develop an industry of expert integration specialists to tell non-experts why they need integration support.

    I feel it is more than okay to not have the answer to why I need integration support. Sometimes integration is about having therapeutic support working through difficult experiences. Alternatively, the purpose of integration can be to create a space for open-ended philosophical inquiry and questioning of default views. For those with the integrity, sensibilities and aspirations of a philosopher, mystic, or poet, there is limited support in a field dominated by the individualist psychotherapeutic paradigm of trauma, and the coaching paradigm of implementing habits and goals.

    I like to take this ‘why’ seriously as a question, and approach integration in the spirit of philosophical inquiry. Not only is this more fun and participatory, but it also lessens the likelihood of imposter syndrome, so common among psychedelic facilitators and therapists. I don’t have any answers, and my path of integration has always been a practice of not fixing on a view, but remaining open to views. In this way there is room for both an emphasis on embodiment, as well as more cerebral approaches to integration. In short, I care about caring for the depths of psychedelic experiences, not about convincing others of a particular view.

  • A space to explore content from a journey through multiple perspectives and inquire into any areas where support is needed with making meaningful changes.

  • I initially trained in the insight meditation tradition with Christopher Titmuss, and have been strongly inspired by Rob Burbea’s ‘ways of looking’ paradigm. I don’t privilege any particular tradition or body of teachings over anyone’s direct experience and practice. However, my practice is deeply embedded in a lineage of Pali canon teachings, and I do not dilute teachings in order to make them more accessible. Stylistically, I enjoy approaching meditation as an artistic craft with a playful, imaginative attitude that can be easily integrated into a bespoke ecology of practices.

    My guided meditations are available here: https://open.spotify.com/show/00jouBwSuuwU5pYj7qyFrU

  • I am a graduate of the first MTTC (Mindfulness Teacher Training Course) designed by senior dharma teacher Christopher Titmuss, with whom I have been a student since 2014.

    In 2023 I received certification as a Psychedelic Practitioner from the Synthesis Institute’s Psychedelic Practitioner Training Programme (PPT).

    I was formerly on the Synthesis Retreat team in the Netherlands for three years, where I co-facilitated legal psilocybin retreats for over 300 clients. Since 2016, I received extensive training in providing psychedelic-infomed harm reduction services in festival settings.

  • No, but I can refer to Awaken the Medicine Within for legal group retreats.