In the evolving world of psychedelic therapy, a critical yet under-explored frontier lies at the intersection of sexual healing and psychedelic experiences. As someone with over sixteen years of personal experience with psychedelics, and over eight years working as a somatics practitioner, I am compelled to address this “sexual education gap” within psychedelic therapy. This post is a call to action for wellness practitioners and seekers alike to engage with this vital but often overlooked dimension of healing.
The Missing Dialogue: Sexual Healing in Psychedelic Therapy
My work draws from lived experience and experientially based education: Somatica® and Somatic Experiencing® frameworks, studies at the Kinsey Institute of Sexuality, all woven through a queer, eco-centric lens and work with herbalism and regenerative agriculture. Despite these rich influences, there remains a pervasive silence around sexuality in psychedelic therapy settings—a silence that risks replicating past traumas and reinforcing stigma.
Currently, explicit sex-positive education is rarely encouraged or integrated into psychedelic therapeutic frameworks. Codes of ethics, such as those by the California Association for Marriage and Family Therapists or MAPS for MDMA facilitators, strictly prohibit sexual contact between practitioner and client—rightly so—but they often fail to define what constitutes sexual contact or how to ethically navigate sessions where healing sexuality is a primary goal. This lack of clarity leaves a void in clinical practice and conversation. Please introduce yourself to the open source document ‘On Touch: Considerations for Altered States and Psychedelic Practice’ ethical guide hosted by EPIC, the Ethical Psychedelics International Community. Please note that the EPIC community is a wealth of resources including psychedelic safety flag and practitioner code of conduct living documents.
Why Sexual Healing Matters in Psychedelic Practice
Sexuality is not just about physical acts or desire; it is deeply intertwined with our sense of authenticity, empowerment, and embodiment. When we suppress our “wild” nature—our primal instincts like sex and altered states—we disempower ourselves. Societal structures that disconnect us from nature contribute to dissociation: a state where our mind disconnects from our body or present environment. Dissociation can manifest as emotional numbness, out-of-body experiences, or a profound disconnection from self—often rooted in trauma.
Reconnecting with our embodied selves—including our sexuality—is essential for healing trauma and reclaiming power. This is true even for those on the asexual spectrum; embodiment may include explicit sexual expression and it expands beyond it to include awareness of the pelvic floor, genitals, and intimate presence throughout the body. Neuro-diversity awareness helps us understand that this presence has no normal and that orienting around nervous system regulation can look very different for different people.
The Intersectionality of Healing: Beyond Sexuality Alone
Healing within psychedelic jounreys must also consider broader systemic oppressions: sexual shame, gender norms, patriarchal trauma, racial trauma, classism, and ecological disconnection. Kimberlé Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality reminds us that these layers compound one another, making holistic care complex yet imperative.
In this light, reconnecting with sexuality during psychedelic sessions can become a radical act of reclaiming power—not just personal power but also restoring balance within our social ecosystems and Earth itself. After all, we are not apart from Earth; we are an expression of Earth’s conscious. As humans heal and evolve beyond the impacts of rape culture, they also deepen their connection to caring for the Earth. Psychedelic experiences can support trauma recovery by helping individuals rewire the effects of personal harm. This healing process fosters a profound understanding that the wounds we carry are intimately linked to the damage inflicted on Earth’s ecosystems, transforming personal grief into motivated action for environmental stewardship.
The Psychedelic Experience: Pleasure, Consent & Boundaries
Psychedelic experiences can be profoundly orgasmic—sometimes sexually explicit but often transcending physicality into ecstatic states of oneness or full-body opening. My own initiation into this realm came through an intense experience combining psychedelics with erotic asphyxiation—a practice I do not recommend due to high risks but which illuminated how deeply intertwined pleasure and altered consciousness can be.
Yet such explorations remain taboo topics within professional training programs. How do we hold space for clients who wish to explore pleasure deeply during their sessions without compromising consent or safety? What if they want to remove clothing or engage in non-sexual self-touch? These scenarios occur more often than acknowledged within psychedelic communities.
Kylea Taylor—founder of InnerEthics®—emphasizes following the inner healing intelligence activated during extraordinary states rather than rigidly adhering to pre-set plans. If taking off clothes emerges organically (and pre-session agreements allow it), then exploring feelings around this action can be part of healing.
Defining Sexual Contact & Ethical Practice
Before setting boundaries around sexual contact, we must clarify what it means within therapeutic contexts. Touch can be deeply healing yet non-sexual; one anonymous therapist shared how being safely touched by a trusted man was profoundly restorative for her client who had experienced sexual trauma.
Practitioners should normalize that “sexual stuff comes up all the time” during sessions—it’s part of many people’s journeys—and approach these moments with openness rather than avoidance. Setting clear agreements beforehand about comfort levels is essential. If a client requests touch outside established boundaries, practitioners must consider their own comfort and ethical responsibilities carefully.
Nervous System States & Healing Pleasure
Achieving orgasm requires simultaneous deep relaxation and excitement—a unique nervous system state that psychedelics can help facilitate by softening psychological barriers like shame. However, many clients carry shame tightly tied to their sexuality or bodies.
How much time have we spent addressing shame outside psychedelic sessions? To support genuine exploration during altered states safely requires groundwork during sober sessions—discussing nuances around pleasure and shame openly before entering vulnerable spaces.
Empowerment Through Choice & Consent
Ultimately, the only agenda when working with sexuality under psychedelics should be empowering clients to make choices grounded in consent and safety. We must explicitly acknowledge power differentials between practitioners (or sitters) and clients while fostering environments where clients reclaim autonomy over their bodies and experiences.
For some people reclaiming their bodies may involve sexual exploration; for others it might center on general somatic awareness without explicit sexuality. Both deserve respect as valid paths toward wholeness.
When feelings are mixed—pleasurable yet uncomfortable—that too is normal when breaking open new layers of selfhood during healing work. Creating space where clients can hold both good and difficult feelings simultaneously allows gradual movement toward more pleasure without judgment or pressure.
Moving Forward: A Call to Integrate Sexual Healing into Psychedelic Care
As psychedelic therapy continues gaining momentum as a powerful modality for mental health transformation, integrating sex-positive frameworks becomes urgent:
Expand practitioner education to include sex-positive training alongside trauma-informed care.
Develop clear ethical guidelines defining sexual contact while allowing nuance for embodied healing practices.
Normalize conversations about pleasure as integral—not incidental—to therapeutic breakthroughs.
Commit to anti-oppression work addressing intersecting traumas related to gender, race, class, sexuality, and ecological identity.
Encourage ongoing dialogue among therapists about navigating these complex waters with humility and compassion.
Sexual healing within the psychedelic context offers profound opportunities for empowerment—helping individuals reconnect deeply with their bodies, desires, boundaries, and ultimately their truest selves connected to Earth’s wisdom.
Final Thoughts
If you are a practitioner working with psychedelics or considering this path—or someone seeking somatic therapies inclusive of sexual healing—I invite you to embrace curiosity around these intersections boldly yet gently. Our collective responsibility is to hold safer containers that honor consent while exploring the full spectrum of human experience—including pleasure—as vital medicine on the path toward wholeness.
Let us slow down enough to listen deeply—to each other’s stories, bodies, fears, joys—and co-create practices that support radical healing grounded in authenticity and respect.
If you found this thought-provoking or wish to learn more about integrating somatic approaches with sex-positive psychedelic therapy practices, feel free to reach out! Emailing me directly at bohelerlovage@gmail.com is the best way to get in touch.
Thank you for reading.