Healing Together: A Psychedelic Retreat, A Sacred Prayer, A Return to Right Relationship

Dear Fellow Humans,

I recently traveled to Holland for an experiential psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy training retreat, expecting to learn and receive—but not knowing just how deeply I’d be touched, both professionally and personally.

The experience was held with great care and reverence by a skilled team of four facilitators—Tamara, Karlie, Henry, and Rob. Together, they created a cohesive council that offered loving, professional, and deeply attuned care. Their diverse backgrounds in psychiatry, psychotherapy, and shamanic healing created a container that was both empirically grounded and spiritually expansive.

Our ceremony space at Mother's House Retreat Center

A genuine bond formed between those of us on retreat—strangers at first, but that swiftly shifted as we were guided through deeply vulnerable relational practices that invited us into listening, witnessing, relating, and caring for one another.

During the two group medicine ceremonies, Tamara and Karlie shared their singing voices as part of their sacred healing tools. One of the songs they offered was the Ho’oponopono prayer. The words of the prayer—simple, time-honored, and profound—have taken root in my being and I wanted to share them with you.

I’m sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

I love you.

This version of the prayer comes from a modern adaptation of Ho‘oponopono, a traditional Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and healing that existed long before colonization. Originally, Ho‘oponopono was practiced in families and communities to address conflict, restore relational balance, and bring people back into right relationship with one another, the land, and the spiritual world. It was guided by elders or spiritual leaders and rooted in values of shared responsibility, truth-telling, forgiveness, and connection.

For me, this prayer is also a reminder to express gratitude and love to our people. It is an anchor of the purest ways to be in relationship with others: to apologize, to appreciate, and to love.

Humans—we are in a collective relationship crisis. We are divided. Warring with each other. Disconnected. Distrustful. Too often, I hear someone say, “I hate people.” We are turning to superficial and cheap substitutes to fill the deep void of loving connection. We’re forgetting that relationships require intention, effort, consideration, care, and love. We don’t know how to repair. How to stay. How to soften. This prayer calls us back. It’s a compass for how to be human with each other.

Scottish Hyland cattle at Zuid-Kennemerland National Park in the Netherlands

I hope you consider internalizing this prayer along with me.  You can speak it silently in a moment of shame. You can write it in a letter you never send. You can say it to your neighbor or the person you accidently bumped into. You can say it to your child, your partner, your parent, or the parts of yourself that feel unlovable.

I’m sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

I love you.

With you in this human experience,

Satina