“Skin contains land and birds”: Understanding inner healing intelligence through critical vitalism and Indigenous thought
Keith Williams, Andrée-anne Bédard, Laura Pustarfi
Journal of Psychedelic Studies July 28, 2025 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1556/2054.2025.00448 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
The paper expands the concept of inner healing intelligence (IHI) in psychedelic-assisted therapy by drawing on vitalism and Indigenous philosophy from the Americas. IHI is reframed as an innate capacity to heal through engagement with a vital life force tied to place and the more-than-human relationships that constitute the extended self. The authors invite the therapy community to consider this relational and ecological view, offering recommendations for emplaced, embodied practice and future inquiry rather than a prescriptive framework.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Inner healing intelligence is reconceptualized as an innate capacity to heal through engagement with place-based vital life force and more-than-human relationships, rather than as an individual internal process. |
Abstract
Inner healing intelligence (IHI) is a foundational orienting concept in the psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) field that refers to the innate tendency of living beings to move towards healing. In this paper, we introduce an expanded articulation of IHI, drawing largely on vitalism and Indigenous philosophy from the Americas. We conceptualize IHI as the innate capacity of an individual to move towards healing by engaging with the vital life force of existence specific to place and intrinsic to the myriad more-than-human relationships that constitute the extended self. Rather than presenting a prescriptive framework, our aim is to invite the PAT community to take IHI seriously and to imaginatively explore the implications of this expanded view. We offer this articulation not to define or delimit the concept, but to contribute to a broader, ongoing conversation about the relational and ecological dimensions of healing. By foregrounding the ontological and ethical consequences of IHI, we suggest that this perspective can enrich therapeutic practice and support the collective aspirations of the psychedelic renaissance. To this end, we propose several recommendations for how a more emplaced, embodied, and relational enactment of IHI might unfold in practice, while pointing to future directions for inquiry that resists closure.