Welcome to day 1 of PSYJuly!

I thought a good place to start would be to ask the question:

Why Psychedelics?

My first psychedelic experiences totally blew me away. They blew my mind in the most awesome and extraordinary way. It was the most fascinating thing, the most incredible experience. I thought: “How is not everyone talking about this?!! Like, all the time? How is this a fringe thing, underground? How is it not the headline on all the newspapers?”. It certainly became the headline of my own personal paper.

I wondered about the experience so much in the weeks and months after, fascinated and curious, devouring information online about it day and night.

If the human brain was a computer, it felt like the processing power was increased 100x on psychedelics. Even in the afterglow of my first experiences, I felt like the operating system of my mind was working much more smoothly and cleanly. I felt like I’d gained IQ points and even remember even saying to a friend that LSD was like a fertiliser for the mind.

Since that fateful day in late 2011 when I had my first LSD and MDMA experience, psychedelics have been one of my foremost interests, greatest passions, and my favourite and most rewarding practice/hobby/activity/enhancer (I struggle to find a single word as the applications are so wide reaching).

Even after years of exploration and countless experiences, the psychedelic experience remains as fresh as ever. I continue to be surprised and amazed at what these incredible substances can offer. The range of experience that is possible continues to blow me away.

They have given me gifts of creativity, inspiration, awe, wonder, healing of the heart, courage and insight.

Psychedelics have encouraged me to explore, out to the reaches of the Mexican mountains of Oaxaca, where I sought mushrooms in 2016

Those gifts have spread to all aspects of my life and have helped me tremendously on my journey and path of growth.

Through my own experience, reading others’, speaking to others, seeing and engaging with the movement, and finding out more about their influence on some of the most influential figures in human history, I continually come back to the same conclusion:

Psychedelics are the single most powerful tool for individual transformation.

They are the change agent. Perhaps catalyst is a better word; as it has been said, they don’t make the change for you, but they do make it easier. Still, their power is undeniable.

As the collective Team Human, we are made up of individuals. Putting this all together, psychedelics are an absolute force to be reckoned with, a technology to be used wisely, and judiciously, for collective transformation.

At this mind bending, oft confusing, post meaning crisis moment in human history, we are facing many problems: continuing warfare, racism, greed, tremendous and increasing wealth inequality. And the one that no one, no matter how rich or seemingly protected they are, can escape from, the big timer counting down to our species extinction: environmental destruction.

We are at the 11th hour and 59th minute with a need for a total and complete breakdown and reformation of the political and financial systems that govern the world and keep us locked on our course for suicide. We need some big answers and ingenious solutions. And quickly.

And this comes to my why of focusing my energy on psychedelics. Because to heal the world, to face our shadow, our collective destruction, we need to heal as individuals, as families, communities, societies, cultures, as a species, and as the biosphere.

Our increases in outer tech; computers, nanotech, space tech etc. are not solving those problems, because ultimately our problems stem from the human heart; our fears, our separation.

As Jack Kornfield has said:

“What’s needed to match this extraordinary outer development is a transformation of consciousness, individually and collectively.”

I also believe that with healed hearts, psychedelics can help us with creative problem solving, to find solutions for the epic problems we are faced with.

I believe that placing my focus on psychedelics is how I can have the greatest positive impact that I can on the world.

Why Write About Psychedelics?

There are many ways to get involved with and work in the psychedelic movement, why not another?

Last year I lead a small team to launch the retreat project New Moon Psychedelic Retreats. A key aim was to make the psychedelic experience accessible to more people. I thought of people who could benefit from the psychedelic experience but who would never do a thing like drink ayahuasca with a shaman and are put off by any overly spiritual or ‘woo’ terms; things that don’t fit with our logical, rational tendency (or better said, bias) in the modern Western world. I imagined people like family members and co-workers,  and there was an aim to modern western people. I wanted to bring psychedelics to Europe, in a framework that suited Europeans.

However, whilst the project has been extremely rewarding in the sense of creating and being with people in spaces for deep self exploration, it has dawned on me that its reach is limited. The amount of work required to manage and run the project currently means that we can likely only get about 8 people through every 2-3 months. 

Considering the ocean of our global crisis, this is a rather small drop.

And then, Corona hit, forcing us to postpone the two retreats we had booked, the number of people we could help through their process went to down to 0.

Even when we resume retreats later this year, the cost of running it means that its access is limited to people’s with certain financial means. And that is even before we’ve made the price increases we will need to to make it a sustainable project.

And so, I’ve turned my focus back to what spawned the project, to my labour of love, to Maps of the Mind. Back to providing information to people through the internet. Using this means I can increase my reach and the number of people I can influence.

I want to provide information but also to empower people to make their own retreats, their own ceremonies and sessions, to devise their own protocols and psychedelic practices. I want to hand over the tools to the masses. I want to pass on the knowledge that has been passed on to me. I want to share what I’ve learned from my experience. I want to play my part in a global transformation of consciousness. Then, when I lie at the end of it all, when I breathe my final breath, whatever the outcome of our universal fate, I can rest in peace, knowing I did my part.

The post Why Psychedelics? appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

A Broader Perspective

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
Mark Twain

Experiencing different ways of life will only widen your perspective and meeting new people from different backgrounds and with totally different experiences of life hones your empathy and ability to understand others. Real world travel offers insights that go beyond historical facts you could learn in a book and you’ll probably even see your home country in a new light. ‘Travel broadens the mind’ – yes it’s a cliché, but like most there’s a truth there, and if you travel with an open mind and make an effort to put yourself out there, you can’t fail to see things in ways you’d never seen before.

Healthy Discomfort

Leaving your country and getting out of your bubble of familiarity will stretch you. Depending on where you go, you’ll be pushed in one way or another – maybe you won’t know how to speak or read, how to greet someone, or you won’t have a clue how to catch local transport. The point is that wherever you go there’ll be something unfamiliar to you in an honestly inconvenient way. And while this might not be the funnest aspect of travel, it will force you to be open to your new environment and use your mind to figure things out. Being adaptable to new situations and practising patience becomes second nature; two precious skills that serve beyond life on the road.

Inspiration

The world is an inspiring place but it can be incredibly hard to recognize that truth when you’re stuck in a rut or a predictable routine in what has become a banal and mundane environment. When you travel you’re getting out there, discovering new and previously unseen worlds. Travel will open you up to all kinds of new things – languages, lifestyles, social conventions – and these new experiences lead to new ideas and connections, capable of inspiring in many ways. Here are a couple…

On How To Live

Travel can inspire us to change things in our own lives that we weren’t previously aware were even an option. Through meeting people living alternatives, travel enabled me to see beyond norms and accepted truths of the culture I grew up in – like working 45 weeks a year until retirement, or needing to earn and spend lots of money to lead a fulfilling life – and inspired me to find and create a more appealing lifestyle that suited me.

If you feel like your life is becoming flat and dull, travel can open you up to countless possibilities for change – different jobs and career paths, places to live, how to structure your life, lifestyle philosophies, other ways that you can offer your gifts to the world. There really are innumerable paths, and in this way travel can show you how many options you really have.

Creativity

There’s something in the mental stimulation of new experiences that inspires and feeds creativity and the urge to do something creative. Exploring other cultures offers whole new schools of styles to spark your imagination. If you’re a musician, you’ll hear new rhythms and instruments; an artist, new styles and schools; a cook; new foods and flavours; photographers; new landscapes and architectures. Whatever your creative outlet, you won’t be pressed to find inspiration.

Know Yourself

Self discovery – yes another cliché but there’s truth in them! Coming out of the grooves of your normal life is a surefire way to learn more about yourself. The mix of continually being in new situations and spending a lot of time alone allows a traveler to see new sides of themselves. On the road you’ll see what aspects of your character naturally stick and which ones fall away, which ones are integral to your being and which were simply circumstantial to the life you were living. Maybe there are some things you discover about yourself that you’d like to change. Great, because now you are in the perfect situation to…

Reinvent Yourself

The change travel brings represents an opportunity to start over and reinvent yourself. This is why we say we’re ‘making a fresh start’ when we move to a new city or country or make any big life change in which we’re leaving familiarity behind. By breaking old connections and making new ones, a traveler finds opportunity for growth, and for moving forward consciously.

If you recognize traits in yourself that you’d like to drop or have new habits you’d like to adopt, travel is a great opportunity to do this. People you meet won’t have the same pre-existing expectations of you and how you’ll behave and this liberates you from past versions of yourself, from detrimental habits or ways of thinking that you’d like to leave behind. Change brings change, and with travel you are literally moving forward, not remaining stagnant, and this can be reflected in your character too.

Find The Others (& Connection)

Modern western society has enabled us as individuals to be more independent than ever, liberating us from reliance on neighbours and the local community. Whilst this independence is beneficial in many ways, the greater sense of individualism that comes with it can leave us with a sense of disconnection and lack of belonging, often making the world seem like a lonely place.

Naturally, it’s easier to connect with people you share a passion with. The problem is finding them. When you travel you can’t help but meet other travellers, and in this way those of us with an adventurous spirit or curiosity of the world are naturally drawn to each other. With like-minded people conversations more readily go beyond the superficial and onto deeper and more thought-provoking topics. This gives us a deeper appreciation of the world we live in by making those connections that we as humans crave. If you feel alone in your sense of adventure, surrounded by people who are uninspiring, unadventurous, being steamrolled by and into a life of drudgery and monotony, get out, hit the road, find the others!

• Read more: My Ultimate Guide To Budget Long-Term Travel

If You Have The Travel Itch, Scratch It! (It Feels Good)

I think most people know deep down if they really want to travel or not. It’s like a longing deep within, an expression of the human urge to discover, relate, and understand. If you feel the call to travel and are currently finding reasons to suppress it, just know that there will never be a perfect time and there will always be reasons not to. So this is my message to you, don’t let circumstance dictate your life – make it happen and go explore!

What have you found in travel? How has it shaped or altered your life? Have you gleaned any insight from your time on the road? Share your experiences in the comments below

The post What Travel Can Offer appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

Photo by Zoe Kerslake

You’ve heard about meditation and have an idea about all the apparent benefits, but you’re not sure exactly how it works and if its really worth doing. I’ve been meditating for a few years now and credit it with lots of positive changes in my mindset and life, so I wanted to share how it might help you too.

Science Backed

Research shows tonnes of benefits to consistent meditators – studies at Harvard have shown that regular meditators grow grey matter in key areas of the brain associated with self-awareness and compassion, and shrink matter in the areas associated with stress. Yes, meditation actually changes the physical structure of the brain. The stereotype that meditation is just for buddhists and hippies is dying and thats why its drawing in people from all sorts of high profile arenas, from professional athletes to workers at google. This is because it can benefit people from all walks of life.

“Suppose you read about a pill that you could take once a day to reduce anxiety and increase your contentment. Would you take it? Suppose further that the pill has a great variety of side effects, all of them good: increased self-esteem, empathy, and trust; it even improves memory. Suppose, finally, that the pill is all natural and costs nothing. Now would you take it?
The pill exists. It’s called meditation.”
Jonathan Haidt – The Happiness Hypothesis

Sounds to good to be true right? Well, here’s the kicker- it requires patience, commitment, time and practice. But so does anything that is truly worthwhile. A crucial foundation when embarking on any new journey of learning or discovery is motivation. With more and more research being done it’s becoming clearer by the study that meditation offers numerous benefits to the consistent practitioner. So here’s a few examples to kickstart that motivation and get you keen to start meditating…

Be More Present

The past is already gone and the future never comes – the truth is that the present moment is all we ever really have. If you spend all your time in thoughts of the past or future you will miss the amazing world we live in. Meditation is the practice of tuning in to the present, leaving thoughts of past and future behind – being aware and in the moment and really alive. This is powerful in many ways, not least of which is how it helps to clear your mind which as well as being rewarding in itself will…

Improve Your Focus and Concentration

Being able to focus your mind is one of the most powerful tools you can have at your disposal. Meditation is a continual practice of retaining your attention and sharpening single pointed concentration. When you meditate you practice being conscious of your thoughts and where your mind is, and when you realise it isn’t where you would like it… you bring it back. A formal practice trains this awareness ‘muscle’ and with it comes a greater capacity for focus and attention.

It improves not only performance but efficiency too. And this can be applied to anything, to whatever it is you want to put your energy into. You will be more precise and able to work with less distraction and greater proficiency. You will upgrade in everything that you do. With increased efficiency you will save time. Less time spent in useless and unproductive thoughts and more time for you to think about what you actually want to think about. Less time spent procrastinating and more time doing what you actually want to do. Less actions through habit and more through conscious will.

Less Stress, Fewer Worries

Meditation triggers what psychologists call the ‘relaxation response’ which lessens stress and hypertension. This is because it trains us to let go by calmly observing our current reality without reaction or resistance. Rather than getting wound up or agitated, meditation helps us to accept the reality of any situation. In meditation we practice accepting things we cannot change and this helps to stop us from worrying unnecessarily.

“If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.”

The Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama is someone whom I suspect has clocked up his fair share of meditation time. Of course we can understand intellectually that worrying is not helpful but we all still have times when we do it. Meditation as a practice helps us to embody this understanding and to accept the unexpected and sometimes undesirable twists and turns as an inevitable part of life, rather than resisting them and creating stress and tension. We observe our thoughts and feelings and learn to let them pass. As we become more conscious of our anxieties and troublesome thoughts we have more ownership of them and are less affected by them. Meditators find it easier to relax, they’re practiced at it.

Gain a Greater Understanding of Yourself

So often we think something and we are that thought. We don’t recognise it as a thought, we just think it before thinking something else and continuing in a series of thoughts. These thoughts grow into opinions and inform our actions. They form the basis of our belief system and define our truths. They shape who we are.

With meditation we learn to observe thoughts and see them from a greater perspective. This increases awareness and clarity of the mind’s habits and thought patterns; what occupies your mind and how you think. In this way meditation gives you the opportunity to know yourself better and also to gain insight into why you are the way you are.

With an improved self-awareness you’ll have a clearer perception of your strengths and weaknesses, your personality and your emotions. A clearer perception of your strengths allows you to use them more effectively and the ability to be honest with yourself about your shortcomings reveals room for growth. With a clearer understanding of the unique traits of your personality you will become more aware of how other people perceive you, and of how you perceive others. Relationships will improve and social situations will feel more natural, whether it’s meeting new people, making friends or collaborating with others in creative pursuits and business ventures.

Improve Your Health

Meditation doesn’t only improve mental health but physical health too. Enjoy being healthy? Another reason to start meditating. Your body’s response to potential illness improves with meditation: it boosts antibodies, stimulates immune system brain-function regions and with its reduction of stress increases oxygen uptake and blood flow. This is why meditators take less sick days and why meditation is now being prescribed as a preventative medicine for all kinds of ailments. It boosts your immune system. Research has linked meditation with a long list of health benefits and this shouldn’t really be surprising given the link between physical and mental health and the correlation between stress and sickness.

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These are just a few of the benefits meditation can offer; if you’re still hungry for more there’s a heap of literature online about the topic… go dive in. Hopefully by now you’re ready to set up the pillows on the floor. It’s something I think anyone can benefit from. In twenty years I reckon it will become like how eating vegetables, exercising and brushing your teeth are today; a complete no-brainer. So get on your ass and start the habit today.

Have no idea how to meditate or where to start? Head over to How to Meditate: A Beginner’s Guide.

The post Why You Should Start Meditating Today appeared first on Maps of the Mind.