Some psychonauts even have some level of pride around taking big doses. And while I certainly appreciate the benefits of a high-dose session, they are not the be-all and end-all of psychedelics.

Micro, mini and low doses-tiny to small amounts of psychedelics-can also bring a lot of value and benefit to our lives. It’s an area of psychedelics I’ve come to appreciate more over the last couple of years as I’ve expanded my repertoire beyond classic high-dose journeys.

Whilst high doses plunge us into deep journeys where it’s best to just lay back and take the ride, mini doses offer us the chance to explore activities and have other types of experiences.

Whether it’s psilocybin shrooms or LSD, in this mode, psychedelics can act as an enhancer, enriching and deepening our experience of other activities.

What type of activities? I’m glad you asked.

In this blog post, I will offer 6 types of activities that you may like to try with microdoses or mini-doses. We’ll look at nature connections, creative experiments, mindfulness, physical activities, learning, and social experiments. I’ll dive into each and offer you some ideas to help you get started. Then I’ll end with a couple of key considerations for your explorations.

And yes, I’ve tried them all!

As ever, I hope that this will help you to have more fruitful and beneficial psychedelic experiences.

Let’s get started…

1. Nature Connection

Time in nature has been shown to have many benefits on mental and emotional well-being. Adding a pinch of psychedelic to nature time is a classic combination for good reason: the benefits and enjoyment can be increased with a small dose.

The expanded awareness from a small dose can help us tune in more fully to our natural surroundings and deepen our appreciation of them. Connecting with fresh air and greenery can be rejuvenating and restorative. And something about nature can help us tune into the majesty of the natural world, the wonder of the universe, and the mystery of life. That sense of awe can be a key catalyst in positive psychedelic experiences.

The grandness and scale of nature can also help us to get a perspective on things. And, if we’re struggling with something about ourselves, in its unwavering presence, we can always rely on nature to fully accept us as we are.

You might explore parks, nature trails, national parks, or botanical gardens. If you’re heading out for the day, be sure to take the basic necessary precautions.

2. Creative Experiments

Engaging in creative endeavours or experiments can be an enjoyable activity whilst in a different state of awareness.

If you’re painting or working with crayons, you might have a deeper appreciation or joy at seeing how the colors fall onto the page, or how they mix together. I have loved seeing the ink spill from a pen and onto paper, seeing the lines appear before my eyes, like magic, to form an image.

If you’re a musician, you might like to experiment with your instrument.

Lower doses can be great for ideation, too. You might have new perspectives and insights bubbling up for your creative work. If you have a topic or project you’d like to expand your thinking or ideas on, take a pad and paper, and invite in any and all ideas. I’d recommend not to put a limit in this ideation stage: don’t judge your ideas, or put limits on them with voices like ‘that’s unrealistic’. Just allow your mind to explore.

You might try brainstorming under these loose topics:

Way to improve your social life/finances/health
Ideas for your next – song/poem/performance/drawing/piece of art/birthday gift

Your level of dose will affect the level of your ability to use specific tools, so take this into account. If writing is hard, you might dictate or speak directly to ChatGPT and ask it to summarize your thoughts for you.

If using paints or colours, just remember to take care of your setting so you don’t make too much of a mess.

3. Mindfulness Meditation

Why not combine psychedelics with another consciousness-expanding technology? I’m talking about meditation or breathwork.

A mini-dose can help us start at a slightly more expanded state to begin our meditation and may help to experience something deeper in our sit.

One study done in Switzerland, and documented in the great film Descending The Mountain, had long-term meditators take a dose of psilocybin and meditate in their monastery in the mountains. Their rates for peak experience were higher than in any other study! Though this study was done with high doses, I think it illustrates the potential of combining psychedelics with meditation.

Lower doses can also help us go deeper into other meditative practices like loving-kindness, tonglen, RAIN, or self-inquiry.

Breathwork can be used to intensify an experience, and has the added safety measure that you stop doing it if it’s getting too intense for you, and allow your experience to calm down again.

Take into account that it may be difficult to retain your focus whilst on a dose, so don’t be hard on yourself if you find it extremely hard and your mind keeps walking off.

4. Physical Activities

Of course, this comes with the usual caveat of being careful. But some physical activity with psychedelics can be a wonderful combo.

Yoga, much like meditation, is traditionally a spiritual discipline that can be paired with psychedelics. I once went to a yoga class on a mini-dose of LSD and it was a truly beautiful experience. I was incredibly present throughout the class with a great awareness of all my movements and breath. Even a few sun salutations can help to ground and become present.

You might also try tai chi. The wonderful flowing movements can help to loosen up, move energy, and find a greater sense of ease and peace. They can also help to tune into our bodies and breathing and enter a greater state of presence.

Depending on the person and the dose, psychedelics can also bring about increased levels of energy. Last year, I got quite into mini-dose runs. I take the dose and after 30-60 minutes, when I feel that surge of energy as it’s coming on, I lace up, put my headphones on, and head out. I’ve done 10-mile runs on LSD, feeling very present with running movements and flow of my breath. After a post-run bath and a lie-down, I’ve felt blissful in my body.

A mini-dose can increase awareness of the body and breath, and this can be utilized when considering any physical activity. Just remember that more complex movements may bring their own set of coordination challenges!

5. Learning and Study

Beyond using our bodies, what about our minds?

Reading philosophical or thought-provoking literature can be a great exercise on mild journeys. When exploring intellectual ideas, we may get new perspectives, a deeper understanding, or an enhanced contemplation of them. We may be open to a wider range of interpretations, seeing many ways to read the words. We might consider meanings on different levels; macro-micro, global-local, and societal-personal.

You might not read a whole treatise on ethics or society but just start with some great quotes. You can find some from your favourite philosophers or schools of thought. For example, the Buddha, Kierkegaard, or any intellectual you like.

You can also revisit some of your old favourite quotes. Reading and saying them out loud in an altered state of consciousness can help them enter your psyche more deeply.

Another way of taking in intellectual information is listening to podcasts. I sometimes like to combine a few of the ideas from this article and go for a long walk in a park with a good podcast. Podcasts you may enjoy could be around any topic. They could be dharma talks or interviews with spiritual teachers, conversations on creativity, personal growth, or any topic you’d like to explore more deeply.

6. Social Interaction

As humans, we are social creatures. Social interactions then, can also be worthy of experimentation.

Micro and mini-doses can help us to feel more connected to the people around us. This deepened connection can then act as something of a bridge to other people’s islands, enhancing our perspective-taking abilities, and helping us to see things from their vantage point.

You might try engaging in meaningful conversations with friends or loved ones. Conversations can become more than words. With the right dose and setting, they can even evolve into what feels more like a dance of souls, words penetrating a deeper level of interaction.

The psychedelic effects can help to heighten empathy and understanding during interactions. It can help to tune into and speak from the heart. This can help to deepen understanding and acceptance, and ultimately strengthen relationships and deepen bonds.

If you feel like trying something different and your company is into it, you might also try role-playing. You can play out imagined scenarios of certain interactions that one of you is nervous about, like a job interview or a difficult conversation that needs to be had. You might even try taking on the role of the person who will be opposite to you, to get insight into their headspace. I’ve done this a few times with a friend, and it’s been an enlightening (and fun!) experience every time.

Remember that when doing exploring social interactions on psychedelics, finding your own personalized and appropriate dose is important. As for some people, certain low doses may make them feel more agitated or irritated. Clearly, this won’t help to have an empathetic conversation!

If exploring this option in a one-sided format – with one person on a psychedelic and the other not – I’d suggest not doing it on the sly, but letting the other person know that you are on a psychedelic! That can help to keep a space open for understanding if the conversation becomes more challenging than anticipated, and the allowance of stepping away and taking a break.

With this in mind, it’s important to remember to be mindful of people’s boundaries and allow space when needed. Having a quiet room, or some agreements around the session can be helpful to create a safe space.

Considerations for Micro and Low-Dose Experiments

When considering your adventures in small doses, remember the importance of a safe and comfortable setting for you and any company you may have. This will vary for different people, so be honest with yourself and your company about what you are comfortable with and capable of. Some people may feel fine in public parks, for example, whereas others may find this setting to be uncomfortable. Some people may find talking to be easy, whereas others may find it very challenging.

If at home, create a conducive space for your experience. Try to create a clean environment and have any supplies you may need ready, like pens, colours, or instruments,

After your experiences, taking some time to reflect on them can be useful. You can highlight for yourself any key lessons or insights and make a plan to incorporate them into your daily life moving forward.

Final Thoughts

Exploring the realm of micro and mini doses of psychedelics can truly enrich our lives. Compared to higher doses, these smaller amounts have their own unique benefits. When used in this mode, they can enhance and enrich our experiences.

They can take our ordinary activities to new heights, deepening the connection we feel and intensifying the overall experience. They can help deepen our appreciation of nature, increase mindfulness, improve our relationships, and enhance our efforts to learn, create, and be present in our bodies.

Working with lower doses can also help to develop a healthy relationship with psychedelics, building the confidence to work with progressively higher doses – if that’s something you wish to explore.

Overall, I think it’s good to balance micro, mini, and larger doses. Working with psychedelics at the levels and in a rhythm that best suits you. If exploring psychedelics at the lower levels, then why not consider combining your dose with one of these activities?

If you already dose in this range, what are your favourite activities to explore with psychedelics? How do you spend those lightly bathed experiences? Did I miss something? Let me know.

Wishing you safe and wonderful experiences!

The post 6 Activities to Try on Micro to Low Doses of Psychedelics appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

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Combining LSD (enhanced creativity and imaginal powers) and MDMA (radical love and emotional safety) to heal complex trauma (#cPTSD) ft. Ideal Parent Figure Protocol

Understanding Complex Trauma: More Than Just Events

You know how we have these negative incident traumas that cause us to develop fear-based emotional learnings?

These events are tangible and specific, making them relatively straightforward to process and resolve. But then there’s complex trauma. It’s not about a single big incident or even a few big incidents, but rather the accumulation of a series of incidents over many years. 

Often, it’s not even about something that happened, but things that did not happen, like emotional neglect. Something like your mother not being attuned to your needs or not getting enough physical touch/affection in your early years or your father not being as present. Such psychological malnourishment stunts our development in many tangible and intangible ways, and since none of us had perfect parenting, we are all affected by these issues of lack, to varying degrees.

Ideal Parent Figure Protocol: Tapping Into Innate Reservoirs of Love

Before I delve into my candyflipping experience, let me introduce the Ideal Parent Figure (IPF) protocol which unexpectedly shaped my experience in a beautiful way.

This protocol involves imagining an ideal set of parents that are perfectly suited for you — deeply attuned, present, caring, affectionate, etc.

The Ideal Parent Figure protocol is more than just an exercise in imagination; it can be a beautiful journey into the depths of our own innate capacity for love. This practice enables us to tap into our existing, perhaps untapped, reservoirs of love and affection. 

By envisioning the perfect parental figures, we don’t just create a fantasy; we awaken and mobilize the deep-seated love and nurturing instincts that reside within us. Through this process, we can channel this awakened love towards the parts of us that have long yearned for it — the neglected, the unseen, the unacknowledged. It’s like directing a healing stream of compassion and understanding to the corners of our psyche that were left barren in our formative years. This internal flow of love helps in filling the voids left by what we lacked and forming a new, healthy internal working model of secure attachment. 

Candyflipping: Magical Synergies

In my personal healing journey, I’ve been delving into the potential of altered states to facilitate the healing of complex trauma.

Particularly intriguing to me is the exploration of synergistic combinations of substances or modalities that might work in harmony to unlock deeper healing. Having processed the explicit, more accessible memories of hurt, I recognize that the journey is far from complete. There are subtle rigidities and tensions that linger in my being, manifesting not just physically but also in my relationships. These subtleties hint at unresolved, deeper aspects of trauma, possibly rooted in the implicit and non-verbal realms of the psyche.

Consequently, I turned to a combination of LSD and MDMA, a pairing often referred to as ‘candyflipping.’ This combination is reputed to be safe and synergistic, potentially offering a unique therapeutic landscape. I could imagine the magic of combining LSD’s boundless creativity with MDMA’s heart-opening warmth for an exercise like the Ideal Parent Figure (IPF) protocol. It felt like having the perfect tools at my fingertips for some serious emotional alchemy.

Trip Report: Nourishing Emotional Landscapes

I went into my session without any specific intentions or plans. I started with 100ug of LSD, intending to take 150mg of MDMA after two hours to align their peaks. The initial part of my LSD trip felt random and chaotic. But when MDMA entered my system, the chaos subsided, and the experience became grounded and centered, like a deeply attuned teacher calming a rowdy classroom with love and gentleness.

My mind spontaneously initiated the Ideal Parent Figure process. I started reliving my childhood, intuitively filling up the holes in the parenting I received. It almost felt like it was happening to me, not something I was consciously doing. LSD opened up my mind’s creative floodgates, making the imagined ideal parents in the IPF exercise come alive in vivid, almost tangible detail. It was like painting with an expanded palette of emotional and imaginative colors. Then, enter MDMA, the perfect dance partner for LSD in this journey. MDMA really turned up the volume on feelings of love. It’s like it opened a door in my heart to let in big, warm waves of unconditional love that just kept flowing. More importantly, it allowed me to attune to the needs of my neglected parts and then be with them in ways they needed someone to be. 

For me, the dominant feeling during the trip was that of security and stability. I felt radically safe, protected, and seen, which led to a lot of somatic release. As I felt safer, I could relax and let go of body tension I didn’t even know I had. The imaginal work wasn’t just a mental exercise; it was actively transforming my emotional and physical responses. It was as if each release was a physical manifestation of a psychological burden being lifted, a sign that the parts of me that had been holding onto these tensions, perhaps as a response to past traumas or unmet needs, were now able to let go. This process was not just about imagining a safer, more loving environment but actually experiencing it in a way that my body recognized and responded to. It reflected the profound interconnectedness of mind and body, and how imaginal work can bridge the two to facilitate deep healing.

Elaborating on the Ideal Parent Figure Protocol

I believe having role models of what healthy parenting looks like is valuable in the Ideal Parent Figure (IPF) protocol. For me, books, stories, and movies were invaluable resources in this quest. These mediums often present diverse portrayals of parental figures, offering a rich array of examples of loving, supportive, and nurturing parents. As you explore these stories, you may find certain portrayals of mothers or fathers that resonate deeply with you, almost as if they’re filling in the gaps left by your own experiences.

Moreover, engaging with these stories does more than just provide examples; it also helps you develop a heightened sensitivity to your own needs. As you empathize with characters and their relationships, you begin to better understand your own emotional landscape. You start to identify what kind of support, affection, and guidance you needed but didn’t receive. This understanding is key in the IPF protocol, as it guides you in imagining ideal parents who can meet these specific, previously unmet needs.

I find it important to clarify that the Ideal Parent Figure (IPF) protocol isn’t about replacing, competing with, or correcting your actual parents. It’s a thoughtful imaginal exercise that also helps you develop a deeper empathy for your real parents, understanding their limitations and strengths. The experience not only allowed me to experience ideal parenting but also helped me connect more deeply with my actual parents, especially my father. It gave me a deeper understanding of our relationship. I could also allow myself to feel and cherish the gifts and love I have inherited from him.

In a way, the IPF protocol serves as a bridge to access the love you did experience from your parents and others in your life, even if it was imperfect or sporadic. And then redirecting that love, focusing that energy in a more attuned and intentional way towards parts of yourself that missed out on it.

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Find more from Theo at his website Untangling Self or on Twitter.

The post Combining LSD & MDMA: Candyflipping to Heal Complex Trauma appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

In his book LSD and the Mind of the Universe, Christopher Bache follows Stan Grof in using three categories to distinguish different states of consciousness that are accessed in psychedelic and holotropic breathwork sessions. Bache calls these “platforms of experience”. The book is a treasure trove of theory for psychedelic explorers, and this post will be the third in what has unwittingly turned out to be a series of blog posts based on concepts drawn from it. 

In this post, I will give a little background on these terms and then outline the three levels based on Bache’s explanation. Bache distinguishes between three “platforms”, which he terms  psychic, subtle and causal.

The terms

The terms psychic, subtle, and causal were first coined by Ken Wilber in his 1980 book, The Atman Project. Wilber drew from Hindu and Buddhist sources and used them to label the evolutionary stepping stones on the psycho-spiritual journey. Wilber’s model, which also included non-duality, had four stages and culminated in non-dual spiritual enlightenment. In his outline, Bache does not include non-dual as a separate state as he found it to be an inherent feature of causal consciousness. 

Stan Grof’s description was phenomenological rather than hierarchical. He didn’t use the terms to describe an ordered sequence of  levels on a path as Wilber did, but rather to distinguish coexisting dimensions of consciousness, each with its own characteristics. 

Consciousness = Reality

These different levels of consciousness allow one to experience the corresponding aspects of reality. For example, a psychic level of consciousness allows one to explore psychic levels of reality; subtle level consciousness grants one access to subtle levels of reality; and causal, likewise. The value of entering these states is that they allow us to explore different levels of non-physical reality. As the late great Boston psychonaut Kilindi Iyi said of psilocybin, ‘it is, in its first and foremost principle, a tool of exploration’. 

Before beginning, it should be noted that Bache’s explanations accept the premise of reincarnation. I am not presenting this as truth, but write here to share ideas. 

Psychic level

At the psychic level one leaves physical reality and enters a spiritual realm. There remains, however, the sense of a separate self, as one’s conditioning from space time carries over. The experience is therefore that of being a separate spiritual entity amongst other discarnate entities. Our experience is still that of ourselves, but without our body. I would still be me, John, but disembodied, my ‘discarnate self’. Psychic level experience has a soul-centric quality to it, meaning that one will experience the soul, or ‘psyche’ of their current life.

Subtle level

At the subtle level one perceives the larger realities and more fundamental building blocks that make up life. One still has an experience of separateness, but the separate parts are larger and more basic than at the psychic level. If our separate selves are the individual rooms of a skyscraper, the parts we experience in subtle consciousness are like the steel girders of the building. We can begin to see the deeper architecture of what we call existence.

One may experience the collective consciousness of our species, or even of other species, and the archetypical forces that make up space time. Going deeper than the individual self, one may open to an experience of the spiritual self that reincarnates as many different forms through different lifetimes.

Here is a line from Bache that made me laugh:

“I’ve always thought that “subtle” was a strange name for this level of consciousness because there is really nothing subtle about it at all. Quite the opposite, in fact”.

Causal level

The first signature of causal consciousness is Oneness. Though Oneness may show up in one way or another at the other levels, as it is a fundamental truth of existence, oneness takes on another quality at the causal level. There is an experience of the universe moving as a single entity. There is no way of perceiving this Oneness from outside of it as it is the whole thing. Experience of Oneness at this level is the totality of existence perceiving itself, so any sense of separation is gone. Light, as with Oneness, may also show up in other levels, but is more refined at the casual level. 

Maps of experience

These platforms of experience form just one cosmological map and there may be many other ways of mapping spiritual (non-physical) experience. The Psychedelic Experience, a manual by Leary et al. based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead was another map of consciousness, and I I have also heard that the Bhagavad Gita can be used.

Ultimately though, the map is not the territory. I believe Bache said it perfectly:

“In the end, all these categories are only labels of approximation and convenience. One may divide the spectrum of spiritual reality in many ways […] it would be foolish to think we could do justice to the vast expanse of spiritual reality by using just three or six categories”.

Final Thoughts

Without any kind of frame for understanding, the new and at times intensely unfamiliar and alien realities we can visit in sessions can be disorienting, even once we have returned to normal consciousness. We may not know what to do with these experiences, and without sufficient context or points of reference and this can lead to feelings of bemusement or confusion.

This was certainly the case for me after my first DMT experience, and to a degree, my first LSD experiences. With no real place for these types of spiritual experiences in a culture where reductive materialism is a prevailing worldview, I found solace in Buddhist texts, which helped me to integrate these non-ordinary experiences and offered instructions on how to navigate them.

For explorers heading into new territories, having some kind of map or frame can be of great use. With this in mind, I encourage psychonauts to mentally try ideas like these on for size when embarking on a path of deep exploration. 

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Psychedelic exploration, as Bache calls this new protocol, is distinct from the two therapeutic modalities currently used widely in the West today: psycholytic therapy, and psychedelic therapy.

Before talking about psychedelic exploration I will give an outline of these first terms.

Psycholytic Therapy

• Low dose (75–300 mcg LSD, typically 200 mcg)
• Sessions typically at one-week or two-week intervals
• 15–100 sessions in a course (on average ~40 sessions)

Therapeutic processes, such as emotional abreaction and catharsis, are intensified in a psycholytic therapy session. This calls for a flexible and dynamic relationship between the therapist and the patient. The lower dose, as compared to psychedelic therapy, allows for a more gentle opening of the psyche allowing the work to be done in layers and gradually over a longer time frame.

Psychedelic Therapy

• High dose (300–500 mcg LSD)
• Sessions typically at one-week or two-week intervals
• 1–3 sessions in a course
• Sometimes known as the “single overwhelming dose” approach

Awareness is much more powerfully magnified than in psycholytic therapy. The high dose is intended to blast the journeyer straight past the psychodynamic level of consciousness to a spiritual experience of ego dissolution. This gives them a new viewpoint, and therefore a novel perspective on their personal problems. 

There is little to no verbal interaction between the patient and therapist (or sitter/guide). The patient typically wears an eye shade and headphones, and their focus is on looking inside, connecting to their inner healing wisdom. This is the standard in psychedelic research today, and its fast track means that it could be thought of as something like ‘the lightning path’ of psychedelics.

Psychedelic Exploration

• High dose (500–600 mcg LSD)
• Extended series of sessions over many years

“This is what happens if you push psychedelic therapy as far as you can take it”

When he set out on his journey, Bache intended to do an extended course of psychedelic therapy. His approach thus incorporated practices and procedures of psychedelic therapy such as physical isolation, minimal verbal interaction, and intensely evocative music.

However, when he looked back on his path, he realised that the high number of sessions made it quite distinct from psychedelic therapy. An extended course like this brings with it different experiential opportunities as well as unique challenges that go beyond those encountered in a single or shorter run of sessions. Each session becomes a chapter in its own right of a larger psychedelic journey, as opposed to the chapters being sections of a single session (or trilogy of).

Bache’s course was 73 sessions over 20 years, and he describes it as more of an intense cosmic exploration than a therapeutic enterprise. Rather than a single experience of transcendence, psychedelic exploration is, as he puts it, “an ever-deepening spiral of initiation into the universe.” 

Words of caution

Bache gives his words of warning, saying that anyone considering embarking on a path of psychedelic exploration should think long and hard before doing so. He advises that additional precautions should be taken and that one’s life circumstances and support systems must be stable and strong enough to undertake such a journey.

He shares his challenges in the book, and it is essential reading for anyone considering this route.

The future of psychedelic exploration

I imagine psychedelic research centers like those of Imperial and Johns Hopkins will incorporate this type of work into their research when the time is right. Though there have been a few studies to date exploring the spiritual experience of psychedelics, such as the Marsh Chapel experiment, at present, research is mostly focused on clinical use and therapeutic application. I understand this to be a good entry point for psychedelics into the mainstream, and perhaps a strategic one by some forces in the movement, but I am very excited to see the scope of work broadened to the areas of philosophy and spirituality. Opening up research to these areas will deepen our understanding of these substances and their applications. 

Final Thoughts

The experiences shared by Bache and the frontiers he has crossed both fascinate and excite the adventurer inside me. I believe psychedelic exploration will be adopted by more and more people over the coming decades, and those explorers will be at the forefront of cosmic exploration. Rather than space travel, this is where the far more interesting investigation into the frontiers of exploration and discovery lie for humanity.

This is the path for the true cosmonauts of tomorrow. The information they bring back will greatly add to our understanding of humanity, and beyond that, consciousness and spiritual reality. If those travellers bring back maps of the terrain, and share their findings as systematically and comprehensively as Bache has done, they will greatly contribute to the sum of knowledge, ushering humanity into a new era and the next stage of our evolution.

I wonder what lies beyond humanity. We were not always humans and we won’t always be. On our journey to becoming human we have descended from nothingness to pass through existence as stardust, bacteria, and apes. What is next? I believe psychedelic exploration is a essential catalyst in our journey of learning and evolution.

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I am tweeting my highlights from the book in a thread on twitter here, which includes quotes on the psychedelic ego and spiritual bypassing.

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The post What is “Psychedelic Exploration”? appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

If your aim is to feel good during the session itself, then I would agree: wait until you’re in a better place. But when taking psychedelics for reasons of personal growth or learning, this maxim may be trumped by deeper considerations. 

Trippers With Severe Depression & Anxiety

Two groundbreaking studies have helped bring credibility and prominence to mainstream psychedelics based on the psychedelic experiences of people who would not be considered to be feeling good. At Imperial College London, their landmark study explored using  psilocybin to help  those with treatment-resistant depression, in other words, a persistent depression that many treatments have failed to ameliorate. In another landmark study at Johns Hopkins, psilocybin was shown to alleviate end of life anxiety in terminally ill cancer patients. In both these cases, participants clearly faced challenges in their emotional state.

The ‘set’ of the psychedelic tenet of set and setting generally refers to the mindset of the tripper and is broadly understood as the psychonaut’s internal state. This can include their outlook, how they’re feeling, and their mood.

However, when it comes to having a beneficial session, I would say that mindset is a far broader concept than mood, feelings, or emotional state.

Mindset Beyond Emotional State

As well as feelings and emotions, mindset includes how the experience is framed. How we frame something shapes how we see it: it is our perspective on what we are doing. Is the session billed as a time to have fun? Or is it understood as a rare and precious opportunity for learning? These intentions determine how we approach the session. Is it approached with respect? Is it approached with trust in how the experience may unfold?

Those taking part in the studies I’ve mentioned were prepared accordingly in matters of mindset; you see the psilocybin flight instructions here. Their sessions were not approached as a fun time with friends, but with a formality more akin to that of a ceremony or sesshin. Accordingly, participants were directed to be open to whatever arises, to trust in the experience, and to let go of any preconceived ideas about how the session ‘should’ go.

If the mindset is right, the person adequately prepared, in a safe setting and sufficiently supported during the experience, and with support systems in place for afterwards, and  then I would say that tripping when you’re feeling low can be one of the most useful and dare I say obvious times to trip.

My Experiences

I have personally taken psychedelics in a session format in some of the more rocky emotional patches of my life. 

One example is the time my parents were separating and I was coming to terms with the fact I would be seeing the home I’d always known being put up for sale. My mood and emotional state at the time was not what would be described as good; I was crying on the train up to do my session. However, I approached the occasion with great respect and formality. The resulting experience provided me with enormous relief and understanding, and I now see it as one of the landmark healing experiences of my life.

I have used psychedelics at various other times when going through bumpy patches and difficult chapters – at times when it might be considered ‘not the best time to trip’.

On these occasions, psychedelics have allowed me to see what was beneath, to really be in touch with my deeper, hidden, often repressed and unconscious thoughts and feelings, and given me a chance to process them.

I have seen shadow parts of myself, parts of myself that I was ashamed of. Some examples include a desire to earn more money, a desire to have more creative control on a project, and a sadness that was hidden. I avoided them because of various unconscious beliefs I held around them: that wanting more money means I’m greedy; that wanting more control means I’m power hungry; and that I shouldn’t feel sad about a certain event because I didn’t do anything wrong. 

The experiences I’m describing helped me to see all of these things and better understand myself. This was the first step towards acknowledging these hidden thoughts and as such, accepting them. Psychedelics have been such honest allies, revealing things inside me that I’ve found hard to accept. 

In every one of these sessions I had rough journeys and difficult experiences, and each time, I have felt so grateful for the opportunity.

These are tools which have helped me tremendously, through good times, but also especially through the bad times. 

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The post Taking Psychedelics When You’re Not Feeling Good appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

Set refers to mindset; the persons inner state when they take the drug; their frame of mind, attitude and mood.

Setting refers to the physical environment of the experience. This includes for example; the location or room, the company or trip sitter, and the music.

Setting: The Environment for a Psychedelic Experience

This post will look at setting and why it should be considered carefully when planning a psychedelic experience.

Setting is part of the experience

The environment for any experience is the vehicle in which it is received and can actually be considered a part of the experience itself.  As such, it should not be underestimated in terms of how much influence it can have.

Consider how a frame is used to change the experience of viewing a piece of art. Does it change the piece of art itself? Whether it has a frame around it or not, it is the same piece of visual information hanging on the wall. However, it changes how it is viewed and received. It is part of the experience.

Consider some other experiences and how much the environment or method of delivery influences the experience as a whole:

• The experience of being in a fancy fine dining restaurant vs. eating in as fast food joint. Consider how the experience is different before you’ve even eaten any food.
• Seeing a band play at a huge festival with thousands of people singing along, dancing and enjoying themselves vs. seeing a band play in a small half-empty room with a handful of disinterested people
• Taking a drink from a nice glass vs. from a cheap plastic bottle

Setting changes set

Setting can also influence the internal state of someone and their ability to do certain things. Imagine you have some work to do that requires your full focus and concentration.

Now imagine trying to do that work in a hot, noisy and crowded environment. Imagine trying to do it outside on a busy street on a hot day with direct sunlight pounding down on you.

Now imagine doing that work in a cool, quiet, and distraction-free room. Imagine being at home with an air fan to keep you cool, some noise-cancelling headphones playing brain.fm, and an accountability partner to check in with at the end of an hour of work.

Do you think you would have the same level of focus in each scenario? Would the results of the work be the same?

In the scenario of a psychedelic session, the setting can be considered to help one navigate their journey more successfully. It is like the difference between trying to steer a ship alone and being heavily distracted vs. trying to navigate a ship in peace with someone by your side to support you. Which is more likely to get you to your destination?

Setting & Mood

Setting can have a big influence on how one feels. Taking a psychedelic in a club surrounded by many strangers with loud music and flashing lights is going to be a very different experience to being in a room with soft soothing music, low lighting, a comfortable place to lay down, and a trusted friend. The second one will promote feelings of relaxation. In the context of a high-dose psychedelic experience, this can be very beneficial to help someone let go more fully.

Creating the setting can be considered as creating the atmosphere or the ambience for a session.

Factors to consider when creating a setting

• Sound
• Music
• Lighting
• Art
• Items/Decoration
• Altar
• Clothes
• Comfort
• Heat
• Airflow
• Smell
• Company
• Tripsitter

Themes to consider

• Comfort
• Privacy
• Peace
• Security
• Safety
• Simplicity
• Space

Cultural Context

The setting can also include the city or country in which you have your psychedelic experience. Factors include the legal status; could you go to prison or worse for taking a psychedelic substance, or is it totally legal? Also, what is the cultural context; the public opinion and media representation of psychedelics? An experience in New York will be very different to that of one in Peru and again likewise different to that of one in Amsterdam.

When planning a psychedelic experience consider not just the substance and dose but also think carefully about the setting. It is possible to have a meaningful experience on a lower dose if the set and setting are prepared accordingly and the experience infused with a kind of meaning. The effect of setting on an experience is magnified on psychedelics, and as such is worth careful consideration.

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Psychedelics are not an integrated part of our culture in the West and as such they can be difficult to talk about. There is still social stigma attached to the topic, and even though they are increasingly gaining credibility and acceptance, they are still in many ways taboo.

How easily and openly you can talk about psychedelics of course depends on who you are talking to. If you have a very open minded friend then perhaps it is no problem to speak with them about your interest or experience with psychedelics. However, if you come from a conservative background then it may be very difficult to speak about with family members and even bringing up the topic might start ringing alarm bells.

Selective Sharing For Integration

When it comes to a successful integration of your experience, selective sharing is an important point. Just as you have certain friends that you might speak to about certain things like music or philosophy, in the same way you probably have friends that would be more open and receptive to the topic of psychedelics.

Choose carefully who you will share your experience with and how much you will share. The experience can lose some of its magic if not held properly by the listener. A highly skeptical or even mocking response can really dampen what was a very personally meaningful experience and detract from it’s power to catalyze positive change in your life. In some cases it may even cause you to doubt what you experienced and and be encouraged to brush it off as nothing more than a weird drug experience.

Know Your Crowd

Selective sharing should also take into account which aspects of your experience you choose to talk about. If you had a spiritual experience and you have a friend who is very firm in their material mechanistic worldview, then it may not be worth speaking to them about the spiritual aspects of your experience or connecting with the divine. Most likely it will be written off and rationalised by someone who at the end of the day did not experience what you experienced. However, you may be able to speak to that same friend about some of the positive changes you have felt since the experience. You could talk about how you feel or think differently and can even reference some of the science which has shown the changes that happen in the brain. Referencing some of the scientific research that has been done may provide a perspective on the experience that your friend will more readily trust.

With this in mind it may not be that with some friends you can speak about psychedelics with and others not. It is more a case of choosing how you speak about psychedelics with each individual.

Opening a Conversation

A good entry to a conversation about psychedelics is to ask a question. Rather than opening up with “I had an amazing experience last weekend on LSD“ you could open up with:

• “did you ever try LSD?“
• “did you have any experience with psychedelic drugs?“
• “do you know anything about psychedelic drugs?“

Entering into a conversation this way is a good way of putting the feelers out. You can get a gauge on persons perspective without commiting yourself to anything and can proceed accordingly in the conversation. If it seems like you do not want to go any further you can say “oh I just read something interesting about it the other day and it got me quite interested.”

Choosing a time to share

If there is someone who you would really like to speak to but are afraid of their response, try to choose a time when they are in a more open and less judgemental state. Generally if someone opens up or shows a vulnerability to you then they will be in a more open frame of mind. Another good sign is when they are really listening to you and asking questions that come from a place of curiosity rather than challenge.

Shifting the landscape through conversation

Talking about psychedelics is an important part of shifting the cultural conversation around the topic and moving the psychedelic movement forwards. With that in mind I would like to share a quote from my friend and Altered founder Dax DeFranco from an interview I did with him back in 2017:

“I think the most important thing is to use and talk about them in an honest way. There’s a lot of talk about ‘coming out of the psychedelic closet’ – like I mentioned before, when you’re the only person who’s experimented with x, it’s hard to talk about it or make it a part of your identity, but the more people that do, the less pressure and fear others feel to identify that way. I think the simple act of being a psychedelic person who’s honest about being a psychedelic person is extremely powerful.”

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What is an LSD experience like? This is a question I often get asked by people who are curious about the psychedelic experience and who just want to know: what is it actually like?

One word that is often used when trying to describe the experience is ineffable. Which means that it cannot be put into words. However this kind of relegates language and is also, dare I say it, a little lazy. That said, I do understand that it is an extremely difficult experience to describe.

Last year I went to a series of talks put on by the MIND foundation at their Betahaus hub in Berlin. One of these talks was by Katrin Preller on the topic of social cognition and self experience. As part of her presentation Katrin presented the subjective effects of LSD as reported by study participants. This is an excellent summary and I think answers the question very well, with a nice succinct list of aspects of the experience.

Subjective effects of LSD

• Audio-visual synesthesia
• Elemental imagery
• Changed meaning of percepts
• Blissful state
• Complex imagery
• Experience of unity
• Insightfulness
• Disembodiment
• Impaired control and cognition
• Spiritual experience
• Anxiety

The diagram below shows us how strongly each of the effects were felt. As you can see, audio-visual synesthesia scored highest, and anxiety lowest.

The post What is an LSD Experience Like? appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

Finding a place can be a big part of preparing for a psychedelic experience. If you live with flatmates and don’t have your own private apartment or house, it can be the biggest obstacle to making it happen.

If you have flatmates that you don’t feel comfortable sharing your interest in psychedelics with and you’d rather not talk to them about your plans to trip at home, then this post is for you.

This post covers:

• The minimum prep
• Questions to consider before doing a journey at home
  
• Using a cover story for a covert trip, with step by step instructions
• The Midnight Trip
• Bonus Tips

How to trip at home when you have flatmates

Note: I do NOT advise to do a covert trip for your very first psychedelic experience.

If you already have quite some experience, it could be easier than expected. The first time I went for it, after some initial come up anxiety, I was surprised at how comfortable I was and the only real hurdles were the times I had to leave my room. That is why…

Preparation Is Key

Living in a shared space can be complicated. The prospect of interacting with sober flatmates while tripping is not an attractive prospect and could cause complications. The only time this can happen is when you have to leave your room, i.e. to use the bathroom, the kitchen, or get things from else where in the house.

Set yourself up to be able to stay in your room for the duration of the session.

On the most basic level, this means having the following ready:

• Enough food and water
• Enough warm clothes
• A vomit/piss bucket

Yes the piss bucket might seem a step too far, but when you are 4 grams deep and suddenly realise you desperately need a pee, only to head to the bathroom to find that your flatmate is taking a nice long bath, you will be glad you had this ready. I am happy to say that I’ve never had to use it. However, it has given me  peace of mind knowing that I’m covered and could stay in my room if I really needed to.

Tip: When you need to leave your room, move calmly and quickly. If you see a flatmate, keep moving, not stopping for small talk.

Some questions to consider before doing a journey at home

Do flatmates respect your private space?
Do they knock before opening the door?
Do they leave you alone if you don’t answer the knock?
What is the interaction normally like in the corridors? Is it normal to walk past each other without saying anything?

Cover Story

Depending on the relationship you have with your flatmates, a cover story might be a good option.

Say you are doing an at home meditation retreat

Here are the steps to doing this:

1. Become a meditator

It is a good habit anyway and will serve you well in your psychedelic practice.

2. Talk to your flatmates about meditation

and your experience of it. Ask them if they’ve tried it. Invite them to practice with you. Who knows, you might even get a meditation buddy, this will support your practice.

3. Do a ½ day meditation retreat

This is an optional step and works well as a dry run. You can also just skip it but the steps here will still be used.

i) Tell your flatmates your plan to do an at home retreat / long practice. Tell them that for that day, ideally you’d have as much peace as possible and not be disturbed.
ii) Ask them when would be the best time for you to do it. Find out when they will be at work, out for a whole day, or even better, away for a few days.
iii) If there isn’t a time you can get the place to yourself, let them them know that you will be in silence, and therefore, if you see them whilst visiting the toilet, you wont speak with them. You’re not ignoring them, its just the guidelines of the retreat.
iv) Find a date and put it in your calendar.
v) Prepare to be offline for the day, let important people know you will be unavailable. Take care of all emails in advance. Standard clearing practices.
vi) Do your at home meditation retreat.
vii) See how it goes, tell your flatmates about your experience.

There is a ½ day at home retreat as the final part of Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach’s Power Of Awareness Course, which I can absolutely recommend.

4. Tell your flatmates that you’re going to do (another) at home retreat.

Follow steps i to v as above.

5. Trip!

Safe travels!

Bonus Tips:

• I recommend a low – medium dose as I would recommend having a tripsitter for a high dose. If you are thinking that you want to do high dose anyway, consider that you might have a big emotional release, for example through laughter or crying, which could be quite noisy and problematic.
• Use headphones for music if your flatmates will be home. Telling them you’re doing a meditation retreat and then pumping music won’t do. Unless you tell them its an extended sound meditation, I guess. Also, you might wake them up if you go for…

* The Midnight Trip *

Another option is the midnight trip, which sidesteps possible encounters with flatmates by tripping when everyone else is asleep. It is also pretty straightforward and means that you don’t have to do many of the steps listed above.

If you are flexible with work and sleep hours this could be a good option and is one I have used with success.

That’s all for today. Safe practice, be well!

The post How To Trip When You Have Flatmates appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

Finding the right personalised dose can take a lot of trial and error. We are all different and effects can vary substantially between individuals. This is true not just with microdosing but also higher doses and I think that finding the correct dose is an oft underestimated key to using psychedelics.

Consider this:

A medicine can be a poison depending on the dose.

The exact same substance, the same chemical compound, one that could heal you, could also kill you, depending on the dose.

Suffice to say that dose can completely change a drug’s effects.

Though the psychedelics psilocybin and LSD are incredibly non-toxic, meaning that a fatal overdose is basically impossible, one could still consider an experience to be ‘poisonous’ in so much that it has negative effects on a persons psyche or wellbeing.

Dosage is, I venture to say, the number one reason why people have bad trips. Set and setting has been mentioned, say, people at festivals or parties around large groups of people, loud music, a lot of stimulation. But what about if they had taken a much lower dose? Would it have been overwhelming? Mightn’t they have gotten the enhanced party experience or mind opening adventure they were after?

I have had my own too-much experience at a festival, and whilst it was big flashing lights and lack of a quiet space to lie down that could seem to be the problem, I could have had a more pleasant experience by simply being careful with the amount I was taking. Not everyone wants to have a peak mystical experience or deep inner journey, sometimes people just want to enhance their experience of something else they already enjoy. Much in the way coffee would enhance a workday, a mini or museum dose might enhance a party, concert or brainstorming session.

Dosage is More Important than Set and Setting

As has been said by the late, great Boston psychonaut Kilindi Iyi, at very very high doses of magic mushrooms, set and setting doesn’t make any difference whatsoever. So that would mean that dosage is the most important factor in a session.

Though this is on the extreme end, I think it illustrates a good point. Dose is, in my opinion, too often and too easily overlooked when it comes to taking drugs.

Consider for a moment the difference between:

• a shot of vodka vs. bottle of vodka
  
• one tiny puff of weed vs. a huge bong rip
• a bump of ketamine vs. a big line

Very different experiences.

So how to get it right?

Here’s some practical tips when it comes to exploring substances.

Practical Tips on Dosing

Use scales

Invest in a good set of scales and use them carefully. Especially important when using potent psychedelics that are active in very small doses like 2C-B, or those with higher toxicity like MDMA. Eyeballing can be horrendously inaccurate.

Know the dose for specific route of administration

Don’t confuse the intranasal dose with the oral dose, for example. Those can be very different things.

Start out small, increase the next time

Research is good but I’d generally say that its always good to start lower than you’d like and work your way up.

“Those who received a small taster before a higher dose were observed as being even more likely to reap the benefits than those who were only given the higher dose.”

About study participants from John Hopkins’ psilocybin study – Link

The great Czech psychedelic pioneer Stanislav Grof used a step up approach in his psycholytic psychedelic therapy work. After some sessions to build trust between the therapist and patient, he would start patients on 100 micrograms of LSD, and gradually work them up on consecutive sessions until an optimum dose was reached. 

Make use of boosters

You can use a booster. This means adding a second dose on top of the first to boost the effect. The key to getting the booster right is the timing. If you add too early, before the first dose has reached its peak, you risk taking too much. If you time it too late, you miss the chance of adding to the peak of the first dose and just extending the session – or having a second peak that is similar to the first. To counter this, take note of the time when you take your dose. Then consider setting an alarm as a reminder to check in with how you feel and to then make a decision on whether or not to take the booster.

With psilocybin taken on an empty stomach (no food for 2-3 hours before), the region of 60-80 minutes after the original dose is generally a good time to take a booster.

Use volumetric dosing for microdosing LSD

Volumetric dosing enables you to be very accurate and precise with dosage when you have paper tabs of LSD. You can find a guide on how to here.

Keep a drug journal

Logging and tracking have become quite a thing in the self-improvement field and for good reason. By tracking our behaviours we get good solid data that we can assess objectively. Using only a scale and a notebook, you can track and log your ingestions and doses and make notes on the effects, gaining precious personalised data. 

Maybe you’ve heard of a food diary to raise awareness of what you are eating. Or a smoke diary for people trying to quit. Logging and tracking raises awareness of our behaviours, feelings, triggers and patterns.

Keeping a drug diary has to have been one of the most useful things I’ve ever done in regards to learning about my relationship with different substances and what doses work for me. The data has been invaluable for deciding doses and finding my sweet spot for different applications and activities. I know my optimum kratom dose to enhance focus on a work day, my LSD minidose for a day out, and my MDMA dose for a session with friends, including booster and timing.

If you wanna know more about drug journaling, take a look at taking drugs like a nerd.

Don’t underestimate the dose. Better yet, overestimate it.

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