Same Team Learning Sheet
Music is not background sound during a session. It is part of the therapeutic container — shaping the emotional environment, supporting the nervous system, and helping the experience unfold.
The Big Idea
There is no universally “right” playlist. The best choice is one that feels safe, coherent, and personally tolerable — appropriate to the clinical setting and to you.
Talk to your coach or clinician about what you are considering. They can help you choose music that supports both your intention and your treatment.
You are choosing an emotional container, not engineering a specific outcome. Choose music that feels safe enough to let go into — instrumental or wordless vocals over lyrics, smooth transitions over abrupt changes, and long enough to cover the full session plus recovery. Avoid heavily lyrical or distracting music when inward focus is desired.
Your intention can guide you toward one of these broad containers:
Slow, steady, predictable. Warm tones, gentle repetition, minimal surprises. Soft ambient pads, simple piano, nature textures.
Wide, airy, unhurried. Long sustained notes, open reverb, gradual evolution. Music that feels like a vast landscape.
Melodic, with gentle rises and falls. Minor keys that shift to major. Music that gives permission to feel without forcing it.
Warm, human, tender. Cello, soft strings, wordless voices. Music that feels like being held.
Simple, grounding, familiar. Soft acoustic instruments, clear melodies. Music that says: welcome back.
These are starting points, not prescriptions. What works for one person may not work for another. Keep a gentler backup playlist available in case something feels wrong.
Key Same Team Habit
Preview your music sober. Match it to your intention.
Preview the full playlist sober, in a quiet environment — while you are working, reading, or hanging out. Notice how it makes you feel. Does it create the container you need? Does anything feel jarring, triggering, or distracting? Adjust before you arrive.
A Note on “Healing Frequencies”
Some playlists incorporate Solfeggio frequencies (e.g., 528 Hz), binaural beats, or Schumann resonance (7.83 Hz). Many people find these calming or meaningful, and they can serve as effective grounding tools. However, specific frequencies have not been proven to produce clinical healing effects with ketamine or psychedelics. Think of them as one texture in your musical container — not a treatment in themselves.
The Science
How Music Works in the Brain During Psychedelics
Psychedelics increase connectivity between the auditory cortex and emotion-processing regions like the amygdala, which is why music can feel profoundly moving during a session. Under psilocybin, the parahippocampal cortex becomes more connected to visual centers, driving the vivid imagery and autobiographical memories that music can evoke. Ketamine, while pharmacologically distinct, also alters sensory processing and can deepen emotional engagement with sound. Music provides what researchers call a 'non-verbal support system' — a structure that gives the mind something to follow when ordinary self-referential thinking (the Default Mode Network) is disrupted. The right music provides a kind of guardrail: present enough to feel safe, open enough to let the experience unfold.
A note on cross-modality evidence: Ketamine is pharmacologically distinct from serotonergic psychedelics like psilocybin or LSD. Insights from classic psychedelic research are valuable but may not translate directly. Treat them as informed guidance, not established ketamine protocols.
Barrett et al. (2017). "Emotions and brain function are altered up to one month after a single high dose of psilocybin." Psychopharmacology.
Kaelen et al. (2018). "The hidden therapist: Evidence for a central role of music in psychedelic therapy." Psychopharmacology.
Kuzenko et al. (2024). "Impact of listening to music on blood pressure during esketamine administration." Frontiers in Psychiatry.
Greenway et al. (2021). "Comparison of Overtone-based and Classical Playlists in Psilocybin Sessions." ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science.
Richards, W.A. (2015). Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences. Columbia University Press.
Barrett, Preller & Kaelen (2023). "Psychedelics and music: neuroscience and therapeutic implications." International Review of Psychiatry.
Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research. Music and psilocybin therapy protocols.