You Can’t Stop The Waves - But You Can Learn How To Surf

By Shiri Godasi


This week marks a full year since I moved to Costa Rica. 


It’s curious, every day recently I’ve been wondering to mySelf - how on Earth did I get here? This place was def not on my vision board - we left LA in July of 2021 with the intention to move to Hawaii. I’d never even thought of visiting CR until last summer when our planned vacation to Mexico wasn’t coming together.

And here we are, a year later. Situated, merged with the local community, looking at sorting residency. Life is funny like that. 

This solar cycle was one for the books: 6 (!) moves including house hunting and packing/unpacking/storage ordeals; multiple trips abroad; a couple of dozen flights (at least)... All the while attempting to provide stability for my young daughter, manage a business, create, and keep showing up for my students… Take care of myself. Seriously, I thought 2020 was a doozy.

Every single foundation of the life I lived in LA (decades worth) was completely dismantled this year. On multiple levels, it's been started over from square one. Beautiful Costa Rica, a land abundant in water, swept away the falsities. Its nurturing, holding quality has given full permission to let go and build a life that is more in cadence with the natural rhythm. Purposeful, but not uncomfortable, even painful.

When you’re swimming at sea and turbulent waves come in, you’d better grab some driftwood - and surf for your life. If you don’t know how, you still must try, and learn to stabilize more and more through each passing cascade. I envisioned living in the tropics, took a huge risk, and moved my family out of our safety net and straight into uncharted waters, trusting that we will know how to brave the surf. The waters turned out to be utterly unstable, ultra cleansing if not abrasive, and ultimately a deep blessing - one that I suspect is still rippling, still gaining momentum like an ocean’s tide. 

And the greatest marker for how far I’ve come in my surfing ability over this year is the feeling of security, serenity, and overall deep gratitude I am able to maintain, even when the tidal waves threaten to wash over me.

September is indeed a big marker for me - as it is also the month where one of my other babies was born. 

Here’s the backstory:

Recently I consulted with a client who asked for a book recommendation to help them prepare for and set up their own ceremonial space. With all the resources available these days, weirdly enough - I legit had to scratch my head!

What practical, step-by-step how-to hand guides are available for people who are approaching psychedelic therapy and want to get started on their own, without the price tag of retreats and clinics? 

And... I suddenly recalled that exactly three years ago on September 2019 I set out on a mission to create the most comprehensive hand guide for at-home psychedelic journeying and integration.

I was a new mom, my time became incredibly precious and my capacity to support private clients decreased significantly. And I wanted to create an evergreen resource that can provide support to my integration clients without me needing to physically be there - to make the knowledge available and liberate it from my personal limitations. 

Also, at that time Michael Pollan had released How To Change Your Mind and I was aware of all the "newbies" stepping into this space that needed proper guidance. And with psychedelic therapy (legal/underground) having a sizeable price tag, issues of safety, cognitive liberty + accessibility were fueling me. 

So over the course of 30 days, I worked tediously to create & birth another child - Psychedelic Integration Therapy Master Program:

4 in-depth modules

30 slide presentations

30 videos + audios

700+ minutes of all-original content 

100's of pages of downloadable slide decks

Reflective worksheets

Dozens of additional supportive resources. 

All of this was created from scratch, within 30 days. One module per week, one presentation at a time… Often working late into the night after putting my then 1-year-old baby girl to bed, I reached my goal. 

Then, I published this on-demand, self-paced hand guide as my first online educational program - and the first comprehensive psychedelic integration-focused program of its kind anywhere, that I was aware of. 

It was offered in a small coaching group format and our intimate cohort of badass psychenauts met weekly to dive into the modules, tackle psychedelic integration therapy-related queries, and receive laser-focused personalized advice and the support of the group. It was a novel, powerful and inspiring experience - though not replicated again as I (eventually found out) was being pulled into something bigger. 

A short 3 months later in an international seminar I organized, attendees asked if there are opportunities to commit to a longer integration support training with me. Since I had a lot of material set up and ready to go - I said sure!

No emails, website sales pages, social media posts... This is how The Psyched Soul PlaySkool was born**.

And though the PlaySkool has developed infinite-fold since that first cohort nearly 3 years ago, soon opening its 7th cohort - the same Psychedelic Integration Therapy Master Program remains a foundational bedrock for my professional integration coaching training.

So far, thousands of people have benefited from this program, directly supporting individuals as well as enriching the service offerings of numerous leaders and organizations in the field of psychedelic support. And though scientific evidence has expanded quite a bit since its release, its contents still hold rock solid. 

And why am I sharing all of this?

To celebrate the 3-year mark of this program that took many of us to the next level - I decided to reopen the original format of Small-group integration therapy coaching. 

Introducing PSYCHEDELIC THERAPY BREAKTHROUGH GROUP INTENSIVE - Woot! 

If you are planning a psychedelic trip this season, and want expert guidance & therapeutic support in a focused container to take your transformational journey to the next level - this group is for you. We begin on October 6th. 

For more information and registration,  click here.

And here’s another thing I learned this year: when you are at sea and someone offers you a surfboard, you take it!

Here’s to a year of becoming One with the surf. 

**Fun fact: As luck would have it, the pandemic hit within a month of opening the online training that is The PlaySkool...! So I was ready! And not only did my service operations not take a hit - they blossomed in ways that I could have never predicted. This is all thanks to my daughter who inspired me to transition to an online business model, right on time. We begin our next training cohort on January 2023 - registration opens on October 6th. Get on the waiting list through the above link to keep posted. 

Author’s Bio
Shiri Godasi (She/Her) is a teacher, visionary creatrix, depth poet and mother. She is best known for her pioneering methods in the field of psychedelic integration and community bridging, including founding 5 psychedelic harm reduction organizations. She is passionate about creating a decolonized, psychedelic-positive counterculture and empowering others to step into radical authenticity/radical action to co-create a just world. Her professional certification program The Psyched Soul PlaySkool of Integration & Soulpreneurship trains people to become creative system disruptors through expert psychedelic support and heart-centered leadership. Her approach draws from transpersonal psychology, New-Earth sacred commerce, Eastern philosophy and multidisciplinary arts, fusing ancient wisdom with modern practices for a ‘Psyched’ lifestyle.