Understanding Spiritual Emergence vs. Spiritual Emergency

with Dr. Katrina Michelle, PhD

What happens when a profound spiritual experience destabilizes your sense of self? How do you tell the difference between a powerful awakening and a breakdown?

In this episode of The Vital Point, I talk with Dr. Katrina Michelle, a holistic psychotherapist, integration coach, and former Director of Harm Reduction at the Zendo Project (MAPS). Katrina’s work bridges the clinical and the mystical, specializing in transpersonal psychology, psychedelic integration, and spiritual emergence.

She holds a PhD in Psychology and conducted her doctoral research on Exploring Resistance to Spiritual Emergence. She also leads The Curious Spirit, a New York-based collective of therapists trained to support clients navigating altered states and expanded consciousness.

We dive deep into questions like:

• What is spiritual emergence, and how does it differ from a spiritual emergency?

• How can psychedelics, meditation, or breathwork trigger these states?

• What happens to identity during intense mystical experiences?

• Why do some people grow from these states while others collapse into crisis?

• How do we responsibly integrate non-ordinary states into daily life?

This conversation is especially important for anyone working with psychedelics, breathwork, or other expanded state practices—whether you're a seeker, facilitator, or clinician.

Learn more about Katrina Michelle:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/katrina_thecuriousspirit

Website: http://www.thecuriousspirit.org/

Feeling like something big is shifting inside you?
Join our free community for breathwork, integration, and conscious support:
👉 www.skool.com/bluemagicalchemy

Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/bb53d386aca2/email-signup