Guides, Microdosing, Most Popular, Psilocybin, Psychedelics

Explorer’s Guide: Microdosing Psilocybin Magic Truffles

Interested in microdosing with psilocybin truffles? Want to know more about it? This is a guide covering all the basics you need to begin your exploration.

What is A Microdose?

A microdose is a sub perceptual amount of a psychedelic substance. This means that the effects are very subtle and barely noticeable, if at all. Generally a microdose is approximately 1/10 – 1/20th of a medium dose, so you won’t see any walls melting.

Benefits Of Microdosing

As well as a generally improved sense of wellbeing, there are many reasons why people are microdosing psychedelics and, despite my concerns on the trend, the list of benefits people are reporting is impressive and includes:

Improved mood, alleviation of anxiety and depression, enhanced creativity, productivity, problem solving, improved energy levels, quitting nicotine and other addictions.

Negative Effects

There is the other side of the coin too, and negative effects reported include: increased anxiety, impaired focus, and cognitive interference.

Below is an image from a survey study by The Conversation which asked microdosers about their main benefits and challenges that gives a good general overview at a glance. Visit their summary article on the study here.

Note: If you drink coffee and experience anxiety, try stopping or at least reducing your coffee intake. Combining coffee with microdosing seems to increase chances of anxiety.

Short & Long Term Effects

The benefits of microdosing are reported over two time spans: short and long term. Short term is seeing an improvement or benefit directly and immediately; on the days one microdoses and maybe a residual effect on the day after. Long term is seeing a general improvement over time, a cumulative effect after weeks and months of regular dosing.

Psilocybin vs. LSD

A survey study found that people microdosing psilocybin (magic mushrooms or truffles) were less likely to report anxiety and other unwanted side effects than those on LSD. The same study found that those who microdosed LSD were much more likely to report cognitive enhancement and effects such as focus and creativity.

You can see a presentation of the study on youtube here.

Microdosing Psilocybin

Psilocybin truffles, AKA magic truffles, are legal in the Netherlands and you can walk into a store and buy a pack or order them online. There are now even special packs with pre-measured microdoses.

psychedelic microdosing pack psilocybin magic truffles

Smartshop Zamnesia sell a ‘psychedelic microdosing pack’ with pre-measured doses. Click on picture to visit their site.

For more info on psilocybin truffles:
Explorers Guide: Taking Magic Truffles in Amsterdam

How Much Is A Microdose?

Generally, a microdose of magic truffles will be:
0.5 -1.5 gram fresh truffles
0.1- 0.5 gram dried

Finding Your Sweet Spot

As everyone is different, I’d recommend trying different amounts over a trial period to find your personal sweet spot.

For example, trying doses at various weights within the scale, for example:

0.5, 0.7, 0.9, 1.1, 1.3, 1.5 grams.

It’s probably wise to try higher microdoses on days when you have no professional obligations or can work from home.

Compliment With a Journaling Practice

Keeping a simple journal during this period will help to track the effects and find your personal sweet spot. It will also enable you to compare microdose days with non microdose days.

Take 5-10 minutes each day to check in with yourself, writing down, without judgement, feelings and thoughts (rather than simply what you’ve done each day). Similarly to meditation, this practice can be of great help in increasing awareness of your internal state. Its not exclusive, and can be an excellent companion to a meditation practice alongside your microdosing protocol.

You could do this 1-3 hours after taking the microdose, or if easier, as an end of day review.

You could also include some simple data collection, depending on how much you’d like to track. Some ideas for simple measures you could give a 1-5 score on are: mood, tranquility, focus, creativity, presence. If you are hoping to quit something, such as nicotine or sugar, you could also rate the strength of your cravings, or if starting a new habit, the level of ease in which you were able to do it e.g. sit down to meditate. These will make it easier to review the effects at a glance. Keep it simple so it doesn’t become a chore.

If you’d like to take part in a self blinding microdose study, read more at the bottom of this post or visit the site here

What Is A Good Microdose Schedule To Follow?

There are differing opinions on this so I’ll share a few.

Fadiman Protocol: 1 Day On, 2 Days Off

James Fadiman, the current grandaddy of microdosing and author of The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide (which includes a chapter on microdosing), recommends a schedule of one day on, two days off. Something like this:

fadiman microdosing magic psilocybin truffles

The following week would then begin with 2 days off.

You can see Fadiman and his colleague Sophia Korb’s talk on youtube: Microdosing – The Phenomenon, Research Results & Startling Surprises

Stamets Stack: 5 Days On, 2 Days Off

Mushroom maestro Paul Stamets has spoke of a heavier approach; 5 days on a 2 days off. However, the microdose of psilocybin he recommends has a lower bottom dose (something equivalent to 0.03g fresh truffles) and his protocol isn’t exclusively with psilocybin; it also includes lion’s mane mushroom and niacin.

paul stamets psilocybin nootropic vitamin stack

Stamets calls it a nootropic vitamin complex

You can watch a video from James Jesso about his experience on this protocol here: My Experience On The Paul Stamets Microdosing Nootropic Stack

Alternate Days: 1 Day On, 1 Day Off

There are also many people microdosing one day on, one day off.

Initially I would recommend to try microdosing one or two days a week with days off in between so you can track your progress and compare how dose days compare with normal days. It is generally recommended to try a microdose schedule for a period of a few months and then taking a break.

Tolerance Buildup?

Generally with the ingestion of psilocybin there is a tolerance buildup on consecutive use within a two week period. This means that taking it on consecutive days will give you less effect from the same amount. However, it seems to be the case that tolerance buildup is more pronounced with larger doses. With microdoses, there isn’t really much, if any, tolerance buildup. When using psilocybin as a supplement with an eye on long term wellbeing benefits rather than psychedelic effects, tolerance buildup seems less relevant.

When & How?

I’d recommend to microdose first thing in the morning or with your breakfast. Chewing will mean you digest them more easily. Or you can weigh them out beforehand and even encapsulate them. One option would be to pre-weigh them and put them in a capsule box. Then you can chuck them down with your morning coffee like you would any other supplement.

Drying & Storing Truffles

If you have a box of truffles but are microdosing them over a long period, its a good idea to dry them for storage. You can find out how here.
Bonus tip: Place packs of silica gel near to your drying truffles to help speed up the process.

Self Blinding Study

A great way to prepare and track a microdosing period complete with schedule would be to do a microdosing protocol via the Imperial College Study. Though it takes a little time to set up, once set up, you’ll have a full protocol ready to go, and you’ll be contributing to science whilst getting honest data for yourself.

Find out more by visiting selfblinding-microdose.org

Best wishes on your microdosing explorations! 🙂

07/11/2019/by John Robertson

headphones eye mask psychedelic therapy equipment

6 Music Playlists For Psilocybin Journeys

Music can play a huge role in psychedelic sessions and knowing how to use sound to shape and influence an experience is extremely valuable.

If you’re looking for pre-made music playlists for a therapeutic psilocybin journey geared towards introspection and personal growth, welcome, you’re in the right place.

Two key pieces of equipment for a standard therapeutic journey

This post has links to six playlists that have been made specifically for use with psilocybin (magic truffles or magic mushrooms) with a little info on each of them and their creators.

Playlists:

1. Psychedelic Therapy Playlist 1 – Mendel Kaelen
2. Psychedelic Therapy Playlist 2 – Mendel Kaelen
3. Sacred Knowledge – Bill Richards
4. A Playlist For Psilocybin – Kelan Thomas
5. Psilocybin2 – Kelan Thomas
6. A Playlist For Psilocybin – Matthew Baldwin

About These Playlists

Phases

These playlists are specially designed so that the lengths are matched to that of a psilocybin journey and take into account the various stages of a trip such as: onset, ascent, peak, return. There are variations on this depending on the creator of the playlist.

The phases of a psychedelic trip according to Bonny & Pahnke, the length of LSD is compressed 33% for psilocybin

Playlists are extremely useful in that you can press play after eating/drinking/ingesting your magical fungi and then not have to think about selecting music for the rest of the session – you just let it play out and ride the journey.

Although exploring different types of music intuitively and in the moment can be great on psychedelics, having to get up and try to find suitable music can be very difficult on higher doses and detract from the experience.

Read more: How To Set Up Music for Psychedelic Sessions (+ 6 More Playlists)

Language

These playlists all contain music without words in English (bar a couple of reasoned exceptions); this is the general standard in psychedelic therapeutic work to avoid ‘hermeneutic contamination’, to use Matthew Baldwin’s phrase; ‘to discourage the rational mind from following the content of the words’, as Bill Richards puts it.

There seems to be a general consensus in the field that understandable lyrics can be distracting and limit the experience.

Without further ado, let’s get into them.

Mendel Kaelen

Psychedelic Therapy Playlist 1: Spotify | Mixcloud
Psychedelic Therapy Playlist 2 : Spotify

Mendel Kaelen is probably the biggest name in the world when it comes to created playlists for psychedelic work (admittedly not the largest field, but still). A neuroscientist and music nerd, Kaelen created these playlists, which contain ambient and neo-classical music, for the groundbreaking psilocybin for depression study at Imperial College London.

Kaelen presented at Psychedelic Science

Though they were created for the depression study, they can also work magic for non-depressed people too; I and many I know have journeyed to these amazing playlists, powerful stuff. The second one is an excellent playlist and would be my first recommendation.

You can read more about how he created these playlists in an article on Vice here.

Psychedelic Therapy Playlist 1 – Mendel Kaelen

Psychedelic Therapy Playlist 2 – Mendel Kaelen

Mendel is now working on Wavepaths, a person-centered music solution for psychedelic therapy. As a member of their community, I’ve attended a number of their deep listening sessions and find them to be a useful tool to go inside and develop a mindful listening practice.

Bill Richards

Psilocybin Research: Sacred Knowledge : Spotify | Apple Music

Bill Richards is a founding member of the Johns Hopkins psychedelic research team in the US and one of the most prominent names in the world when it comes to psilocybin research. His psychedelic psychotherapy research is wide ranging, from treating addiction to inducing mystical experiences, and Richards values music as a way to support a person’s experience.

“I make the best musical choices I can, trying to separate the ‘very good’ and the ‘excellent’ on the basis of years of experience with many different people”
Richards on compiling the playlist

There’s a lot of classical music in this playlist (Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, Brahms) and a few tracks that I have to say are just inspired choices towards the end.

You can read more about Richard’s choices and how he compiled the playlist here.

Kelan Thomas

A Playlist For Psilocybin : Spotify | Youtube (make sure there are no ads if listening through youtube)
Psilocybin2 : Spotify

I first heard of Kelan Thomas in an article about his first playlist and was excited to see Mogwai (awesome Scottish post rock) and Dirty Three (violin, guitar and drums together in rumbling, flowing rock) on there – familiar names I didn’t expect to see, as well as some other stuff that falls somewhere between ambient and post rock; one of my all time favourite genres that I’ve long wanted to make a psychedelic playlist to, feeling its epic and instrumental style would lend itself perfectly to cosmic journeys.

I tried the first playlist to a classic therapeutic style journey (setting intention beforehand, using eye mask and headphones, with a sitter) and had a beautiful journey, finding peace, contentment and joy on the journey and in the musical choices. I was moved in that I wanted to thank all the musicians who made the music on that playlist, and to Kelan himself for creating the playlist.

As it happened, a couple months later, whilst setting up a room at Insight conference in Berlin, I noticed the name tag on an early comer in the room – it was Kelan Thomas! I told him I’d used his playlist and was able to thank him personally for putting it together before chatting a little about it and his choices; interestingly he described it as a ‘decolonising’ playlist in the world of psychedelic therapy.

He also told me he had made a second playlist which I could find on his spotify. I tried it recently and had one of my most beautifully expressive journeys to date.

A Playlist For Psilocybin

Psilocybin 2

Matthew Baldwin

Matthew was a fellow student of Kelan Thomas in the Certificate in Psychedelic Therapies and Research Program at CIIS in San Francisco, and is clearly a scholar on the topic. He presented one of the talks I found most interesting at Beyond Psychedelics last year which you can watch here:
The Art Of Creating Musical Playlists For Psychedelic Work

Matthew presenting at Beyond Psychedelics 2018

Myself and co-retreat maker Tuk tried this playlist out during research for our retreats with New Moon and I was very surprised by a lot of the choices, this is certainly the most divergent of the playlist here on this list. This playlist emphasizes organic (instead of sequenced electronic) types of music.

Safe And Wondrous Journeys!

The relationship between music and how it affects consciousness and mood is something I find super interesting and consider creating playlists to be an art. Do you have any tips? Personal preferences? Favourite music to use for a session? Would love to hear others thoughts on this. If you know of any playlists I’ve missed or have your own to contribute, leave a comment below.

Read more: How To Set Up Music for Psychedelic Sessions (+ 6 More Playlists)

30/10/2019/by John Robertson

Eastern Philosophy, Inspiration, Most Popular

9 Life Lessons From The Tao Te Ching

This guest post is from Regan Jacklin, a fellow traveler and blogger I met in Mexico late last year.

The Tao Te Ching is one of the most revered spiritual texts of all time. It is the basis of the “religion” of Taoism.

The purpose of Taoism is to create a life abundant in peace and joy through effortless living. Many of the lessons will contradict the lessons of the outside world. It is composed almost entirely of paradox. For this reason, the teachings require study, meditation, and daily application for their true power to take effect.

When this power is realized and acted upon, the Tao Te Ching is capable of bringing us back to our roots where the problems of the world do not affect us.

The following is a list of some of the most powerful teachings and ideas from this text. I urge you to read this list with an open mind and see if even a single one of these lessons doesn’t improve your well-being.

“That which is well planted in the Tao cannot be uprooted.” – v.54

1. The Three Traits Of The Sage

Many times throughout the Tao Te Ching we see The Sage being referenced. The Sage is simply a person of elevated wisdom. Most likely, they have reached enlightenment and understand the true meaning of life.

By understanding the meaning of life, the Sage lives a life that is free of emotional resistance. Instead, they soak in the beauty of life, experiencing a heaven on earth.

The Tao Te Ching is ultimately a passing down of this soul-freeing wisdom. It states that the sage values three virtues above all else: humility, moderation, and compassion.

Humility

Today, humility is thought to be a weak trait. In reality, humility is a key to true power.

The humble person admits they are far from perfect. This is where their true power comes from – their weakness.

The humble recognize they don’t know everything. They search for answers and they always get them. These answers allow them to live a more fulfilling life. Furthermore, they aren’t afraid to ask for help and, in return, they receive more assistance than anyone else.

The humble person doesn’t elevate himself or his needs above anyone else. As a result, his relationships are deep, genuine, intensely rewarding, and abundant.

There is an assumption that being humble means you can’t have confidence. However, the opposite is true. Being humble means you have confidence yet you don’t need to impose it on anyone. It comes from within and stays there.

The humble person is rooted on the ground while their quality of life soars past the stars.

“All streams flow to the sea because it lies below them. Humility gives the sea its power.” – v.66

Moderation

Everything in excess becomes harmful. We aren’t just talking about the typical drugs, fast food, and sex either.

Even things we perceive as good become harmful when we overindulge. When we make any good thing a Godly thing, we set ourselves up for disaster.

Life is characterized by change. What we place our identity and happiness in today may not be around tomorrow. Therefore, the Sage stays rooted in the Tao – the one true constant.

The Sage moderates his emotions. He never allows himself to go too high or too low. Instead, he stays rooted in his calm center preserving his energy for important tasks. His emotions come from his center, therefore, external conditions never tip him too far off balance.

Compassion

The Sage recognizes that life owes him nothing. Instead, he owes life everything. With this fact, he lives to give back, not to acquire or steal.

The Sage lives from a position of Universal Oneness. He lives in an attempt to nourish all of creation taking no favorites and turning his back to no person or creature in need.

As a result of the Sage’s compassion, his life is naturally filled with purpose, great relationships, and lasting reward. By giving everything he has, he receives more than he could ever wish for in return.

2. Dont Value What Others Have

“The Great Way is smooth and easy, yet people prefer the devious side paths.” – v.53

A better way of life has been around for thousands of years. The secrets to lasting peace and happiness really aren’t a secret, they are just ignored.

Today, people think lasting happiness can be bought, drank, or eaten.

Everyone lives by their ego, thinking timeless wisdom is a set of rules rather than the guidelines to a smoother life that it truly is. In their disregard, people aimlessly try to do life better their way and find themselves depressed, stressed, and run down in time.

In reality, we are ignoring and smothering the cries of our souls. Our outward depression is a result of feeding our bodies and mind the wrong values and input.

The fix is simple:

Value your inner peace over possessions. Value relationships over money. Value discipline over immediate gratification. And gather wisdom instead of catching up on the news..

Don’t be a sheep following the crowd and feeding off low hanging fruit. Everything the sheep chase will fall into your lap as you live a life of virtue, wisdom, and discipline.

Feed your spirit and you will walk a path of bliss known only to few… This is the Great Way.

“If I have any sense, I should walk the Great Way, and my only fear would be straying from it.” – v.53

3. Look Inside For Life’s Answers

“Man was made to sit quietly and find the truth within.” – v.5

There are inherent truths to the meaning of life that the Universe rests on and that can be found by looking within oneself. God or the Universe preinstalled them within our operating system.

When these answers are known, understood, and followed, life becomes an effortless experience of joy and wonder.

Unfortunately, the outside world has one-thousand easy distractions. We no longer look at the compass within. Instead, we look at everything but the compass and then we wonder how and why we ended up so far off course in our life.

4. What You Will Resist Will Persist

“When two great forces oppose each other, victory will go to the one that knows how to yield.” – v. 69

Brazilian jiu-jitsu has become extremely popular in recent years.

Jiu-jitsu is a form of submission wrestling that uses the opponent’s weight against them. A well-trained athlete can overcome someone dramatically bigger than himself by using his opponent’s weight to his own disadvantage. At this point, strength and size become irrelevant.

To bring this back to the Tao, when life throws you an enormous problem, just step out of its way. Rather than fight with something bigger than you, use its own weight against it and watch it collapse on itself.

In reality, it isn’t usually our problems that cause us our grief. It is our resistance to the problem, our kicking and screaming as we try to rush the problem out of our life.

What if we made the decision to be content in any of life’s circumstances?

If we are doing everything we can, then all that’s left for us to do is to trust the powers that be and keep on keepin on. Resisting life’s flow will only ever cause you further depression, anxiety, and health problems.

Follow Life’s Lead And React Accordingly

“A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind.” – v.76

Life is a powerful force. To fight it would be as wise as showing up to a shootout with a nerf gun. Life has its own perfect and pleasing timeline. Although the problems life has given you may not make sense at the moment, the dots will always connect in the future.

The Tao suggests that the trajectory of your life is geared toward perfection if you would simply submit and go with the flow. Therefore, there is never anything worth resisting or worrying about.

When you try to control life, you are trying to take the place of God. Surely you will find yourself in over your head, drowning in worry and mistakes.

5. Universal Oneness

“One who sees himself as everything is fit to be guardian of the world” – v.13

This quote can be wildly misinterpreted. It isn’t the widespread call to ego that it appears to be. In fact, it is the complete opposite.

Through the infinite and eternal source of the Tao, every being is connected as one far greater whole. Seeing yourself as everything is believing you are part of that greater whole.

When meditated upon, this inherent oneness will alter the way we live our lives. When you live with belief of this inherent oneness, you will begin to live in accordance with your true nature. You can then assume your role as a guardian of the world – nourishing and showing compassion to all living things.

Then, you no longer need to spend your whole life in competition. We don’t need to drag others down so we can get ahead and achieve our goals.

Instead, the Sage finds happiness through helping all of creation. And the more people he treats with compassion and unity, the more whole and secure he finds himself.

6. Inherent Goodness

“It isn’t our true nature that causes us to act in destructive ways. It’s IGNORANCE of our true nature that is responsible.” – Rory Mackay

Who is more likely to do bad: someone who believes they are a bad person or someone who knows they are good?

Believe you are a bad person and you will never feel shame in doing bad things. Over time, these destructive behaviors manifest as unfortunate circumstances.

However, believe you are good and doing wrong will cause you internal distress. This distress would urge you to correct course with good actions and, eventually, those good actions would yield reward and progress your life.

Your reality is first created in your mind.

Connect with the teachings of the Tao and you will surely come to the realization that you are inherently good. You may be misguided by the world, but you are not a bad person. You might have made mistakes, but so has every last person on this planet.

The Tao Te Ching teaches that the infinitely good and eternal source of creation lies within you. And it begins to correct your course the second you let it.

You don’t have to try to be a good person, you are.

7. Less Is More

“It is easier to carry an empty cup than one that is filled to the brim” – v.9

The Tao Te Ching states that the less we have, the happier we will be… doesn’t society teach us the exact opposite?

Society teaches us that we need a big house, prestigious career, fancy car, and accessories to match our elegant lifestyle. The more we have and the wealthier we appear, the happier we will be.

In verse 9 of the Tao, Lao Tzu emphasizes that having more only sets us up with the stress of maintaining it.

Let’s use the example of a CEO as an illustration to prove this:

Jane finds her identity in her career. She spends 10 hours a day for six days per week trying to move up the company ladder. Her hard work ethic ensures she moves up the ranks quickly and she sees many pay rises along her path.

But, she is never fulfilled and tells herself she’ll be happy once she reaches the status of CEO. Well, one day she does reach the coveted position of CEO. Over the course of the next few months, she hardly sees her friends. Her health deteriorates rapidly from high stress and long hours. To boot, she can’t even enjoy her money because she is spending all her time at work.

Three years down the road, she is on antidepressants and highly overworked. She can’t remember the last time she saw a beach or had dinner with family, yet she wonders why she isn’t enjoying life anymore. After all, she’s living the dream.

Now, let’s look at Joe who, in contrast, lives a modest life.

Joe works four days per week because money doesn’t constitute his happiness. While he does work hard, he values free time more than money.

Joe settles with an average car, average house, and modest clothing but he’s happy with that. He doesn’t compete in the rat race of “more” and, therefore, he can work less and take the time to experience his journey through life.

Joe gets to spend the evenings with his wife and two daughters and always has time for friends. He is a regular at the local golf course and always has a tan from all the time he spends outside hiking and biking.

Jane is always striving and never arriving. Her lifestyle of more leads her down the rabbit hole of depression with an escape becoming increasingly impossible.

Joe is happy with what he has every single day. As a result, good experiences and relationships give him a fulfilling life beyond what a pay rise ever could. His health – the only thing that we really want more of – flourishes as a product of his peaceful life.

“Be content with what you have; realize that nothing is lacking. If you know when to stop, the whole world belongs to you.” – v.44

8. Let The Inner Child Out

“The child is one with the Tao, living within harmony and grace. This is why the child finds eternity within a single day.” – v.55

The Sage can learn as much from a child as a child can learn from their parents.

The innocent mind of a child is protected from the lies of the world. The child is aware of the true nature of existence without even trying to grasp it.

Depression in children is all but unheard of. It isn’t until we get older and our consciousness becomes distracted that we lose touch with what it means to really live and be happy.

A child loves unconditionally, plays joyfully, and lives freely. They invest their heart so fully into everything they do that they cannot possibly be concerned with yesterday or tomorrow. A child goes with the flow and forces nothing in life and yet they are always taken care of.

No wonder they sleep so well at night.

9. The Journey Of A Thousand Miles

“The great pine tree grows from a tiny seedling; a tower starts with a single brick. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – v.64

Many people’s misery is in-part due to dreams that were never acted on. These dreams were likely highly realistic, however, due to their size, they were forfeited.

What stopped you from pursuing your dreams? Were you overwhelmed as you stared at the peak of your glacier-capped mountain from the base? Perhaps someone else told you that your dream was impossible and you chose to believe them?

journey

Once again, we see a powerful paradox come from the Tao:

The giant dreams we deem undoable are accomplished by taking small steps. When attacked daily, these dreams slowly unwind like the strands of a cable. Inside, we see the big dream consists of many smaller disciplines intertwined.

The same is true of your grandiose dreams. A few weeks, perhaps months, of daily discipline and your dreams will look less like dreams and more like reality.

If you previously let a dream slip you by, take that first step towards it today! When tomorrow comes, take one more.

This verse can also be applied to overcoming any problem that has been ruling your life. Start today by adding one small discipline that sets you on the path to triumph.

12/07/2018/by Maps Of The Mind

awesome psychedelic how to have a good trip

Good Trip 101: Beginner’s Guide To Psychedelic Experience

So, you’re taking a psychedelic trip? Great, I’m sure you’ll have a blast. Here are the basics to a successful flight and how to avoid a bad trip, whether it’s with LSD, magic mushrooms, or San Pedro. Follow these and you’re onto a winner.

Respect The Trip

Sorry to start with a boring one but it needs to be said. Know that psychedelics are powerful substances and be prepared for a strong experience. It can be tough finding yourself in a trip that is more intense than you expected but if you’re prepared for a big experience then you’ll be ready to handle it. Psychedelics are different to other types of drugs so if you think it’ll be like weed or MDMA, think again. Consider your dose carefully.

Clear Your Schedule

Free yourself of obligations and unwanted distractions. Let go of to-do lists. Nagging thoughts of jobs or chores won’t help. Give yourself the whole day free and ideally the next day too. Switch your phone off – I was once with a friend who got a call from an upset girlfriend right as we were coming up and it marred the start of the trip. It was nothing that couldn’t have waited until the next day.

Choose Your Company Carefully

Be with people you trust and like. You’ll feel good in their company and it’ll be reassuring if things start to go south. Avoid abrasive friends, large crowds and others who aren’t also tripping, with the exception of a sitter. If you’re planning to fly solo, do your homework – see links at the bottom of this page.

Be Positive

Psychedelics can be fun! Go in with a smile on your face and a positive frame of mind. See it as an exciting adventure and an opportunity to learn. Not to say that there won’t be any difficult moments but this will push you in the right direction. If you find yourself in a tough spot just remember that the experience is temporary. You also may have more control and ability to change the direction of the trip than you think. It normally just takes a deep breath and a smile to bring you back to a positive place.

Comfort!

Wear your most comfortable clothes, think loose, soft and warm. Being physically comfortable will help to relax you. If you’re going out, a blanket or something to lie on is nice. If you’re staying in, have a space where you can lie down and stretch out.

Don’t Fight It

You decided to take the substance, you took it, and now you’re having the experience. So don’t now decide that you don’t want it and try to resist, you’ll only struggle and make things worse. Open yourself to the experience and explore! As a wise man once said: Buy the ticket, take the ride.

A Little Preparation Goes A Long Way

A little preparation can make the journey so much more seamless and stress free. If you think you might want to write, have a pad and pen ready. Draw? Paper and colours. If you’re planning to go out for a bit, leave a packed bag by the door. Have some snacks ready. The time on the trip should spent enjoying it, not looking around for things or packing bags. Set it up to be that way.

The same applies with music. Make playlists ahead of time so all you need to do is press play and enjoy – you won’t have to continually play DJ. Navigating spotify and the entire history of recorded music whilst tripping balls isn’t that fun. If you’re tripping with a friend, make a playlist together beforehand. Having a ‘chill’ playlist on hand is always good, you can listen to it at the start for a gentle glide in and you can put it on again…

If It Gets Too Much

If possible, first get your self to a quiet or secluded place.

Take a deep breath. Relax. Remember, you’ve taken a drug and the effects are temporary, they will wear off. Focus on your breathing and relax your body.

If that doesn’t help, change something. Change the music or switch it off. If you’re sitting, stand. If you’re watching a video, try drawing. Go to another room or outside. If you’re with others, try spending some time alone – just be sure to tell them where you’re going and not just disappear. You don’t need to struggle through whatever is happening, just make an alteration to your situation.

If it feels like what’s happening will last forever, write down the time, put on a chill track and listen to it, then look again. You’ll see that time is passing and can reassure yourself that this will end. Things will go back to normal. Until then, enjoy the rest of your trip!

Safe Travels!

Have I missed anything? Leave a comment below.

My Breakthrough DMT Trip (And Thoughts On It)

Smoking DMT was one of the single most intense and insane experiences of my life. Going in I figured that it would be bigger than I could possibly imagine and boy was I right. Here I will attempt the impossible: to describe the experience in words.

To summarize, it was:

Overwhelming – Monumental scale
Utterly bizarre – As I said during the trip – ‘just fucking absolutely insane’
Unimaginably complex – Mind. Blown.
Interdimensional travel – I didn’t get ‘high’, ‘fucked up’, or ‘wasted’. It was as if I was zapped through a wormhole to a different universe.

Preparation

I approached the experience with great curiosity and respect. I wanted a full breakthrough experience and did my homework on the technique. I had a friend sit for me in a quiet, empty apartment and spoke with him about my expectations beforehand. I meditated directly before. And I filmed the whole thing, so I could get a sense of timeline, see myself through the experience, and so I could start talking about the experience as soon as possible and have my thoughts captured – it is well known that the experience slips away very quickly and becomes hard to recall, like a dream. It worked, so I’ve written this with the aid of notes and the video footage.

Smoking

I took the first huge hit, things started feeling wobbly. I took the second and my vision started becoming warped and I could tell it was really kicking off. I handed the bong to my friend because I could tell it would be difficult to hold for much longer. McKenna’s advice ran through my mind, that even though it really doesn’t feel like you need anymore, you need to push for the third hit to fully break through. My friend held the bong and lit for the third hit while I inhaled. I lay back and closed my eyes.

Blank

At this point I can’t remember what happened. Total blank. Here there is a period of 3 minutes that are unaccounted for and missing from my memory. The video shows me lying with my eyes closed and still breathing just as if I were asleep. The next thing I became aware of was an uncomfortable sensation. I wasn’t sure what it was or where it came from and it took me an eternity to think of what I needed, and then as I opened my eyes, the word that I was looking for came to me. With much struggle I faintly mumbled the word ‘water’ – my throat was dry as hell. My friend jumped up and handed me a glass of squash, at which point I threw up into my mouth, but I was still on another plane – brilliant streams of luminous colour shot out like lightning as I vomited. My buddy grabbed a bowl and held it in front of me while I spewed. It was quick and I lay back again. It was from this point that I again became aware that I had taken DMT. As I lay back and closed my eyes, I entered another universe.

Weird, Intense, Beyond Comprehension

Completely insane. Utterly alien. Wholly bizarre. So far removed from any other type of experience I’ve ever had. Next level freaky. This was interdimensional travel to a parallel universe, another tunnel of reality. Everything was of colours I’ve never seen before and at an unfathomable level of complexity and detail. I was entirely overwhelmed by the scale of what I was experiencing. It was information overload and then some. This wasn’t a human experience, humans aren’t capable of perceiving this much information.

I’ll try to explain it by way of analogy. Imagine your brain is plugged in to a machine that feeds you every single living person’s experience of the world, at the same time. So you are plugged in to 7 billion pairs of eyes and ears, every thought, emotion and feeling – receiving all that information as it is happening in real time. As well, you get a live feed of every single computer that is running, plus a direct download of the entire contents of the internet- every page, video, photo- every last piece and byte of information. You then make connections between all of this information and how it all relates to build a real time, continually shifting picture of reality in an immersive experience. DMT is on that level in the informational sense, and more bizarre than I can think of a way to describe.

Getting past the initial shock I began to come to terms with the experience and drew long deep breaths. I lay there and admired the DMTverse in awe.

The DMTverse

It was a grand expansive space – dark but shot through with brilliant colours. The fabric of everything was made up of incredible and perfectly mathematical patterns. I had a panoramic view of some kind of organic factory, I saw massive cogs made of an earth-like substance churning. The whole scene was forever subtly shifting, metamorphosing and with absolute synergy between all things – everything moved in accordance with everything else and energy seemed to be flowing symbiotically between all things. Everything was overflowing with life and energy. I saw inscriptions of letters from an alien alphabet that seemed to have been made by intelligent life. And then I was in a…

City Of The Future

Everything was so advanced. I’m not talking flying cars or impressive gadgetry or any technology that we might imagine humanity might ever possess. I’m not even talking how it might be if we were to time travel and show a smartphone to a caveman. The jump in the level of complexity was like the gap between the first formations of atoms in the earliest stages of the formation of the universe, through the birth of stars and the formation of solar systems, to when molecules combined to create living organisms. Entropy over 9 billion years, then. It’s hard to fathom how anyone could even experience this, but that’s the mystery of DMT.

“It may be that DMT makes us able to perceive what physicists call “dark matter” – the 95 per cent of the universe’s mass that is known to exist but that at present remains invisible to our senses and instruments.”
– Graham Hancock

Somehow Sober

What’s interesting is that I maintained a sober cognition and consciousness throughout the experience. It was unique to other drugs in this regard. For example, when I drink alchohol I get inebriated and my cognition gets sloppy, with MDMA I feel euphoria and more loved up, when I smoke weed I get stoned or high and sometimes anxious, with salvia I’ll get confusion. However, with DMT, there was no ‘druggy’ effect, not dazed, confused, fucked up – it was just like I had been zapped through a portal into a parallel universe. Like my consciousness had just been picked up by a cosmic deity and thrown out into a world that was wholly other. Whereas other drugs enhance our existing reality – dulling it, numbing us to certain sensations, or amplifying it, making colours more vivid or lines more wavy – this was just transition to a different reality.

If you’ve ever seen the 90’s movie Contact, that’s a great analogy. You really do go through the wormhole on that inter-dimensional journey that Jodie Foster goes on. In fact I felt so much that that part of the movie was the perfect analogy for the experience that I googled it after to see if anyone else had made the same connection, and sure enough, loads of other people had commented the exact same thing.

Real?

Is the experience real? I don’t think anyone can really answer that question but I can say how it felt. It felt absolutely real. It felt more real than anything else I’ve ever experienced – including my experience of typing this at my computer right now. This is where you start to go down the rabbit hole. I’ve had hallucinations from other drugs, like mind-movies, but this was nothing like that. Like I said before, it was as if I were just in another place. It wasn’t as if I was observing pictures or patterns, but that I was IN another universe, which is actually a deeper level of reality – deeper in the sense that it’s truer than the one we normally inhabit.

Plato’s Allegory Of The Cave

If it really is a deeper level of reality, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is the perfect analogy. The world as we understand it in a normal waking consciousness is the cave, a normal person is the prisoner, and DMT is what drags the prisoner upwards and out of of the cave. I see the part of my trip which is blank in my memory as the part in which the prisoner is blinded by the radiant light of the sun and is unable to see even one of the things now said to be true.

This fits in with the DMT experience being far richer and more detailed than our everyday experience.

No Contact

People often report contact with other entities and beings. To be clear, nothing like that happened to me. Everything seemed to be teeming with life and energy but I didn’t have any communication or contact with beings of any kind.

Ineffable, Unimaginable

DMT is the definition of ineffable. Trying to describe it seems akin to trying to describe colours to a blind person. That’s why I’ve used so many analogies and said things that don’t totally make sense here. That’s DMT for you. There is simply no imagining what it’s like. If you want a peek behind the cosmic curtain you’ll just have to go see for yourself.

Had your DMT trip, but can’t remember shit?
Read more: How to Integrate a Difficult-to-Remember DMT Experience

21/06/2017/by John Robertson