Scoring the Journey Part Two: Mapping the Arc — Designing the Playlist by Journey Phase
Music in psychedelic healing traces an arc that mirrors the inner movement of a session, from grounding and expansion to confrontation, release, and return. Understanding that contour helps facilitators shape playlists that align with a person’s unfolding nervous system rather than steering it. For neurodivergent participants, pacing matters even more. Sensory and emotional regulation can shift quickly; predictable, gradual transitions help the body stay safe enough to open to the medicine. The goal is responsiveness: letting the music breathe with the process.
Across this five-part series, we follow how music moves from philosophy to practice, from the ethics of listening to the sensory and technical craft of sound. The articles explore how playlists can mirror the phases of a journey, how texture and tone support regulation, and how facilitators develop the sensitivity to listen with the whole body. They also walk you through the practical steps of building a playlist from scratch—selecting tracks, organizing your library, and using music apps. Together, the series provides a grounded framework for creating music experiences that cater to neurodivergent nervous systems with clarity, responsiveness, and care.
Journey Phases and Emotional Contour
Most contemporary frameworks describe a similar sequence of phases: Ascent, Peak, and Descent (sometimes expanded into subphases such as Opening, Onset, Build, Confrontation, and Return) (Messell, Summer, et al., 2022). Each phase has distinct psychological needs and corresponding musical qualities that support those needs for many participants.
Ascent / Opening: Gentle, textural, grounding sounds that invite trust. Minimal rhythm, warm timbre, and clear space. This phase benefits from music that signals safety without drawing focus—tones that imply, “You can let go.”
Peak: Music that supports depth and intensity. Evocative harmonies, emotional range, and unfolding movement. For some, the music becomes a form of transport; for others, it provides structure—or, at times, becomes overwhelming.
Descent / Return: Music that integrates and softens. Lyrical, human, or earth-toned pieces that welcome the body back. Simplicity, repetition, and some familiarity help reorient attention to the present moment.
The sequence can be visualized like a breath—inhaling (build), holding (peak), and exhaling (release). This rhythmic pattern mirrors how the nervous system organizes expansion and contraction. Facilitators can adjust the tempo, density, and dynamics to match the arc of the experience, allowing the sound to support natural regulation.
Matching Intensity to Nervous System States
Music can act as both an amplifier and a co-regulator. Intensity too early can flood the system, while too little structure may leave the person unanchored. For neurodivergent clients—especially those with sensory sensitivities—volume, tempo, and layering of sound must be titrated with care. Even a slight frequency shift can alter the perceived emotional tone or level of arousal.
During ascent, lower frequencies and predictable progressions help anchor awareness. As intensity builds, the gradual introduction of complexity allows the system to adapt to the altered state. Fuller harmonics and dynamic contrast can evoke a sense of release or catharsis at their peak. Yet, even here, facilitators should avoid abrupt changes that could startle or destabilize participants. During the return, simpler arrangements—such as slow drones, gentle piano or guitar, ethereal voices, or natural sounds like chimes and field recordings—signal safety and completion.
Facilitators listen not only to verbal feedback but to the body itself. Shallow breathing, restlessness, or withdrawal may signal sensory overload. Subtle cues such as hand gestures can guide skipping or pausing a track.
Phase-Based Structure in Practice
A six-hour playlist for psilocybin might loosely follow this contour:
Arrival and Grounding (0:00–0:45) – Ambient or acoustic music, low rhythmic content, mellow volume.
Onset (0:45–1:30) – Gently rhythmic or pulsing tones that invite movement. Slight increase in tempo and harmonic complexity.
Ascent (1:30–2:30) – Expanding textures, non-lyrical vocals, or harmonic swells that suggest opening or emergence.
Peak (2:30–3:45) – Deeply emotional or cinematic works. Strings, synthesizers, and ambient pieces that support surrender or confrontation, including mild dissonance.
Release and Descent (3:45–5:00) – Softer tones, fluid transitions, and silence between some tracks to support reflection.
Return and Integration (5:00–6:00) – Music with organic warmth: piano, voice, heartbeat rhythms, or environmental sounds.
This outline is not prescriptive but serves as a scaffold informed by clinical and research programs such as the Copenhagen Music Program (Messell, Summer, et al., 2022). Every participant will move through their own timing, and neurodivergent rhythms often differ from neurotypical pacing. Facilitators can prepare alternate tracks at varying intensity levels and maintain a “safety list” of grounding pieces to meet individual needs in real-time.
Silence as Sound
Silence is not absence; it is another texture in the field, composed of the ambient tones of the room, outside the room, and the participant’s own breathing. For some, moments without music allow grounding and reflection; for others, silence can feel like disconnection. Facilitators can use silence intentionally, such as between tracks, after intensity peaks, or during re-entry. What matters is that the quiet feels held. A soft tonal piece or field recording can act as a bridge between silence and sound.
Co-Creating the Arc
Mapping a playlist by phase is less about control than accompaniment. The best playlists breathe. They respond to the person’s unfolding process, make room for unpredictability (and the magic of the medicine), and help the client return to a state of grounding. Neurodivergent inclusion deepens this art of listening: facilitators learn to sense across thresholds, attuning to the music and the nervous system moving within it.
Next: Part Three: Texture, Tone, and Technology — Tools for Ethical and Inclusive Soundscapes examines how sound’s texture, tone, and the technologies used to work with it shape the emotional and sensory experience of a session. It explores practical ways to choose and organize music, balance complexity and simplicity, and ensure accessibility for neurodivergent listeners, all while maintaining ethical and artistic integrity at the center.
Reference
Messell, C., Summer, L., Bonde, L. O., Beck, B. D., & Stenbæk, D. S. (2022). Music programming for psilocybin-assisted therapy: Guided imagery and music-informed perspectives. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.873455