The Undeniable Power of Psychedelic Healing on Physical Health

When people talk about psychedelics, they often focus on mental health: depression, trauma, anxiety. But a growing number of people are exploring something deeper; the link between psychedelic healing and physical health.

Today, we’re sharing the extraordinary journey of Karlijn, a dedicated psychedelic facilitator with the Inner Shift Institute. Karlijn’s story isn’t about client testimonials; it’s about her own life-altering experience healing cancer with psychedelics, proving that sometimes, you truly are your own medicine.

The Wake-Up Call: From Abnormal Cells to Radical Change

Karlijn’s journey began with a routine check-up that evolved into a serious diagnosis.

“In the Netherlands it’s working like this when you are when you are a woman and 30 years old you receive a letter from the medical health center that you need to go for an appointment to research abnormal cells in your womb and cervical center…”

Initially, the cells were only slightly abnormal (Stage 1 or 2), but a year later, the situation was critical.

“I had stage three. So it’s like a very far stage of cervical cancer and I was really in shock. I just had this instant feeling and knowing like okay, I need to go deeper, I need to do the inner work to get to know what it is, what it is underneath this pre-stage of cervical cancer in my womb.”

She intuitively knew the physical symptom was a warning sign for a deeper emotional and ancestral pattern. Karlijn turned to Ayahuasca with a Shipibo shaman to purge and gain insight.

“I was kind of only purging the whole evening and I really felt I was purging out all the toxic and the physical energies that really needed to get out of my body…”

The profound insight revealed a lifetime of putting others first, eroding her personal boundaries and self-love—a pattern deeply ingrained in her family line.

“I had learned my whole life to please other people and to not have very grounded boundaries for myself…”

After this intensive inner work, Karlijn returned for testing. The abnormal cells were gone.

“It’s gone,” she recalls the shock of the medical professionals. “I knew we really are our own medicine man and woman so we can we can do this.”

Healing with Psilocybin for Lasting Physical Health

A couple of years later, the abnormal cells returned, signaling that the pattern was still lurking. This time, Karlijn chose to embark on a solo journey focusing on healing with psilocybin (magic mushrooms). The insight she received was both stunning and incredibly simple.

“The answer I received was so amazing and actually very simple. It said that as women, we store all our emotions—all the memories—in our womb. Everything is there.”

The psilocybin showed her that the cells were “restless” because she wasn’t giving her womb enough attention and love. The medicine offered a direct, actionable healing tool: use her own hands to breathe love into her womb, staying present with the pain and trapped energy.

“I actually did this kind of the whole ceremony just to breathe through it. The energy only wants to flow and to be seen so it can transform.”

Again, the result was a “miracle.” One week after the journey, the abnormal cells were completely gone. This second successful healing with psilocybin experience cemented her belief.

“I knew I did some really, really, really deep work there.”

This transformation underscores the theory behind psychedelic healing of physical health: trauma and unprocessed emotions create stress, which leads to physical inflammation and disease. By using tools like psilocybin to go to the root cause—the emotional and psychological patterns—we reduce the internal stress, allowing the body’s natural systems to heal themselves.

At Inner Shift Institute, we witnessed another striking example of psychedelic healing. One client had been in a wheelchair for twenty years following a neurological injury. During the ceremonies, he re-experienced and released trauma that had kept his body locked in a state of chronic tension. Right after the psilocybin session, he was able to stand and take steps without support for the first time in two decades.

“He said it felt like his body had been waiting for permission. After the second session, it was like his nervous system came back online.”

The Scientific Bridge: How Trauma Manifests as Disease

When emotional trauma or long-term stress remains unprocessed, the body doesn’t forget—it stays in survival mode. The HPA axis (which controls cortisol and adrenaline) keeps firing. Over time, this constant activation floods the system with stress hormones and creates a state of low-grade inflammation.

Research shows that trauma-related HPA dysregulation is linked to elevated inflammatory markers such as IL-6 and TNF-α—key drivers behind many chronic illnesses. (Sciencedirect, 2018; PMC, 2022)

• Stress modulation: Psilocybin can calm overactive stress circuits by acting on serotonin 5-HT2A receptors.
• Inflammatory balance: Psilocybin may reduce pro-inflammatory cytokine activity, helping the immune system return to baseline.
• Neuroplastic repair: Psychedelics boost BDNF, which supports the reconnection of neurons affected by stress.

The Final 50%: Integration is Key

Karlijn is quick to point out that the plant or mushroom isn’t a magic pill. “The ceremony by itself is 50% of the work and then the integration is the other 50% of the work.”

For Karlijn, integration meant fundamentally changing the pattern that caused the disease in the first place—choosing for herself, setting boundaries, and cultivating self-love every single day.

“I really believe in taking little steps. It is for example creating one hour space in the morning for myself to do my yoga, to do meditation, to write… instead of waking up and taking care for the dog and taking care for my friends.”