From “Me” to “We”: The Forgotten Power of Collective Healing

When we think about healing in the modern world, we often picture a private space: one person, one therapist, one story to work through. And for many, this is where the journey begins.

But in many ancestral traditions, healing has never been just individual. It has always been collective — something we experience together.

In group ceremonies, we are reminded of something we’ve forgotten: that our wounds are not separate, and neither is our healing.

Healing Together: More Than Support

In a group ceremony, something extraordinary happens.

• When one person struggles, others learn to hold space for them.
• When one person heals, the whole group feels it.

Healing becomes contagious. It restores our sense of interdependence — that we belong to one another and to the common good.

Collective healing reminds us that what is healed in one, belongs to all.

Beyond “Fixing Me”: Why Ceremony Is Different

In Western therapy, the focus is often on my trauma, my healing, my progress. And this can be valuable, especially at the beginning.

But indigenous ceremony adds another dimension: it is not only about me.

It is also about relationship — with nature, with the Great Mystery, with the spirit of the plant.

This shift changes everything. Healing is no longer just treatment; it becomes relationship.

The Body Believes What It Feels

Modern science confirms what ancient wisdom already knew: the body follows what we believe is real. This is why affirmations and visualization can sometimes create real change.

But there’s a difference between imagining and embodying.

Plants — like other altered states — make us feel a new reality in our body, not just in our mind. And when we both see and feel it, transformation takes root.

Everyday Example:

Think of a time you laughed until your whole body shook. That moment wasn’t just a thought — it was embodied joy. Collective healing works the same way: it turns vision into experience.

From Isolation to Belonging

Perhaps the deepest gift of collective healing is belonging. Many of our wounds come from isolation, rejection, or disconnection.

In ceremony, we discover that healing is not something we do alone behind closed doors. It is something we do together, in community, as part of life.

And in that shared space, something inside us remembers: we were never meant to heal alone.