DIY PSYCHEDELIC GUIDE
DIY psychedelic guide to help anyone that wants to know how to use psychedelics for GROWTH and HEALING
I am not a doctor this is just a perspective sharing on what I consider to be useful information.
Please share this guide with anyone that might be able to use it
THIS DYI PSYCHEDELIC GUIDE HAS THREE MAIN PARTS – INTENTION/MOTIVATION IS BEFORE – SETTING/IMMERSION IS DURING – INTEGRATION IS AFTER
The terminology typically used with psychedelic therapy is the set, setting and integration, which refers to the before during and after. This DYI psychedelic guide follows that outline but adds helpful improvements. The before (set) is broken into intention and motivation. The setting (during) is also broken into two parts, setting and immersion. The after is the integration. These parts will be explained as you go. There is a menu to the left if you are looking to learn about a specific part of the process.
We into detail on each step of the process and this DIY psychedelic guide will work best as a reference. It can be referred back to at each stage of the process. The Guide is also work in progress, there will be additions coming. A brief outline of the process (cheat sheet), interactive forms for the different stages, new improved guided meditations and videos describing each step will be added.
WORKSHEET
I have a worksheet here that you can use to help guide you through the steps of the process. Each step has questions that you can use to get the most out of your psychedelic session.
This link DIY Psychedelic Guide Worksheet will bring you to a Google Doc. Go to file then make a copy and that will bring you to your own google Doc. If you do not want to use Google docs you can copy and paste it.
HOW DO PSYCHEDELICS WORK?
Psychedelics temporarily disrupt the ego function
One of the main ways psychedelics help therapeutically is by temporarily disrupting a system in the brain called the default mode network (DMN). This network is closely tied to the ego (our idea of self).
A metaphor for the DMN is a traffic cop directing what goes where, instead of cars we have areas of the brain connecting to each other. This process is what forms our beliefs and the stories about our life and reality. It is the filter in which we see the world through. This system is useful and important but it will always stand in the way of psychological change. That’s its job, to fit things into our learned or inherited model of reality.
The DMN (or the ego) can be working to keep our harmful beliefs, ideas and psychological patterns within us. This leads to inaccurate perception and lies we tell ourselves even though deep down we know better. Psychedelics can help us connect to the side which knows better.
Our egoic system does not always know what is harmful or helpful, it is just doing what it does, perpetuating learned patterns of perception and behavior. It is also keeping good things around, that system is not the bad guy here, past trauma is often the culprit.
Having a structured and rigid perception is also useful. Losing some of that rigid framework can cause us to temporarily lose normal abilities like tying our shoe or doing simple math. This is important to understand about psychedelics.
There is a chance that we will lose simple abilities while on the trip, so do not take these substances if there is anything that needs to be done. For example, being responsible for others or steering a vehicle.
Psychedelics can make us more whole within
We go through life and may collect harmful patterns, unresolved trauma gets stored and robs us of everything that actually matters.
Our harmful patterns of thought and perception come from an attachment between feelings and egoic framing. Our ego tells us a story about the feelings which keeps the pattern going or hides them from us which causes a fragmented psyche. We then lose part of ourselves because we are divided within.
We end up with different aspects which are not in harmony, they may even be in conflict with each other. The psychedelic experience can temporarily inhibit the system keeping these parts of our self separated.
On a journey our different aspects can communicate with each other and align. All parts of our psyche want to help us yet when fragmented they will not know how. Through this process we can gain a harmonious ego, one that has our different aspects in cooperation with each other. We can gain the ability to be who we are truly meant to be.
We get out what we put in
These holotropic medicines are not going to do the work for us. They only help us to the degree which we are going to help ourselves. This psychedelic guide will help you see how to do that or you could get help. Inquire about guidance services here Guidance Services.
What you put in will determine what you get out. The psychedelic effects will be temporary and it is up to us to convert that into life changes. We need to match these agents of change with a willingness to work on ourselves. This means going up against the ego, which is basically the definition of psychologically difficult.
Psychedelics only help us if we are willing to help ourselves but we also need to know how to make that happen, how to make these experiences be healing and not harmful. That is the purpose of this DIY psychedelic guide, to help educate people from what I have learned over the years. The medicine is all over this planet for a reason we just need to mix it with knowledge and wisdom.
INTENTION AND MOTIVATION
Throughout this process it is best to keep as many notes as possible. Write out your intention and motivation, write about what was experienced on the journey and do lots of journaling and writing during the integration process.
The model used here has the set (before) broken into two parts, intention and motivation. Intention can be summed up as what we would like from the experience. Motivation on the other hand is the why behind the intention. Exploring the motivation goes deeper into the psyche and sets up a journey that will align with healing and growth.
Figure out the intention anytime leading up to the experience. The motivation can also be thought about anytime. Although, make sure to explore the motivation shortly before your departure. The point of this is to prime our mind/brain/psyche for the connections that will help get the intended results.
Explore the intention/motivation leading up to the trip but leave some time for a meditation just before the immersion kicks in. Here is a guided meditation to use as you enter – guided meditation for entering a psychedelic experience.
Meditating is a good idea because our sympathetic nervous system can get activated when exploring the motivation. The initial onset can be a tough transition and we want to make it as smooth as possible. I highly recommend entering into the journey a mindfulness meditation or something similar, it could just be listening to the right type of music.
The two parts of intention setting
INTENTION
This could be something like: I want to know myself better or I want to find more purpose in life. This is the surface layer of how you would like to grow or heal from the experience.
MOTIVATION
This is going deeper into our intention, tapping into that intention more deeply than words we are telling ourselves. We want to connect to the feelings involved.
INTENTION
Our intention is what we would like to get from taking the psychedelics. For example, are you dealing with depression/anxiety, an issue with intimate or other relationships, maybe you are looking to get beyond a plateau in life or you could be looking for a deeper spiritual connection.
An important thing to know about this step is what the psychedelic medicine is most helpful with, as this is medicine with particular healing powers. It has a broader scope then typical medication but still has limits.
One precaution is using the classical psychedelics with cluster b personality disorders such as BPD, psychosis or bipolar disorder. They may be able to help with that sort of healing but there is much more risk involved. Not recommend to DIY if there are any of these issues involved. With the personality disorders there is a higher chance of a difficult and dangerous situation arising. Using any of these with a chance psychotic or manic episode is a risk I don’t recommend taking but that is up to you.
Psychedelics - Agents of Psychological Transformation
Psychedelics are very powerful agents of psychological transformation. They help us change how our minds function. This could be changing stuck patterns, it could be gaining a different perspective or it could be finding more love and purpose in life.
Psychedelic medicines are agents of psychological transformation. They can help change repetitive harmful mental processing and everything connected to that processing.
They help when we are stuck in psychological patterns. Something like addiction is best thought of as a deeper imbalance, usually unresolved trauma. Psychedelics are very effective for addiction because they help treat and resolve the deeper cause. They resolve the problems at the roots.
The medicine combines with our thoughts and actions to create effects, they are not like medications where you just take a pill and expect results.
It is very important to have an understanding or have the guidance needed to make that transformational energy be healing/helpful and not harmful. So study this guide carefully or for help we have Psychedelic Guidance services. You can also send questions at the bottom of this page and will receive a helpful answer
Psychedelics have a way of interacting with our intention. Many people take psychedelics for fun and don’t get any therapeutic benefits or revelations. This is because they do not have this intention.
Here are some questions to help writing out your intention
What do I want from this journey?
What are the patterns I would like to change?
Do I feel purpose in life?
Do I feel loved by the universe?
Am I working against my own best interest sometimes?
What would make me happier and feel more content in life?
Is there something in the background of my psyche that seems to undermine me?
After contemplating this type of question then write out what you want from the journey. Try to be explicit and detailed. The more we put into these steps the more we get out of it.
MOTIVATION
After we have an intention set out we want to give context and connect to the bigger picture of it. Think about why you want it and do not already have it.
Ask questions about your intention like this:
What are the feelings around the intention?
How would it change my life?
Why do I want this?
Why do I feel the need to use a tool to help with it?
What are the difficulties around it?
How far back can I connect to it?
The idea is to explore that intention within ourselves before the experience. We want to do this closer to the time of the journey but it can be reflected on ahead of time. This step will get the deeper connections primed for the journey.
If there are feelings involved (which there should be) we want to connect to those feelings before the session.
Think about what makes the feelings involved, where within us they are coming from. Try to locate them in your body, try to locate them in your life. try to locate them in your past. The goal is to feel them as much as possible. If there isn’t feelings coming up that is fine and common, just bring awareness and try. They will come within immersion.
It is a good idea to either discuss or to write out the intention/motivation within the hours before of the journey.
After discussing or writing about the intention/motivation we want to let go of all that thinking and move into our body. So make sure to leave at least 20 minutes for that before the medicine takes effect. This is discussed more in the immersion section.
DOSAGE
Dosage is something you are going to want to do some research on. Everyone is different and this can be a big difference. It is not just based on past usage or body size it also has to do with the different psyches. Some people do not need much for strong effects while others are the opposite. This is the type of thing each person needs to figure out for themselves.
This is a guide for therapeutic usage. The best dose for this purpose is more than micro dose (0.1g – 0.3g for mushrooms) but less than the heroic dose (5g and over for mushrooms).
The heroic dose is better for exploring consciousness. It is not as good therapeutically because it is hard to connect it to the more typical state of consciousness. When using the strategies discussed here it is best to take enough that it causes full immersion but not total loss of self. For mushrooms 1-2g is generally a good amount.
The mistake that seems more common is to take too much. Using psychedelics therapeutically requires us to see ourselves and our lives more clearly. We want our ego there with us trying to do what it normally does. then we get to see this for what it is and find a different path. With a higher does you are likely to get beyond the ego but less likely to bring this to your day to day life.
If you are looking to buy the medicine online check out 3amigos.co for a wide range of quality products. You can use the promo code Love20 for 20% off.
SETTING AND IMMERSION
SETTING
The setting is the elements surrounding the experience. Where you are going to be, who is there, what you will be doing or what music you will be listening to.
We want an inward journey
The setting is the elements surrounding the experience. My recommendation is laying down in a place you are comfortable and feel safe with some music. Use a blindfold to encourage an inner journey guided by the music. I have found that this is the best type of setting because it encourages an inward journey. This is what we want for therapeutic purposes.
This technique of laying down with the right music and a blindfold is the best way to encourage an inward journey and that is where the healing will come from.
Music as the guide
The setting is important to plan, for me music is a must. The right music encourages an inward connection. Other than that we just want to limit anything that might be a distraction and have someone there for support if it is needed.
It is a good idea to have music selected ahead of time. I think music without vocals is best or vocals that will lead you in the right direction. While immersed in the experience we become hyper connected to everything around us. The normal barriers that our ego creates become disabled. We become very sensitive to any sensory input. We want the experience to be generated from within to encourage connecting to the intention. Stimulus like the vocals of a song can lead us on different paths.
Also pay attention to the emotion of the music. We want to choose music that will lead us into a good place. Calm music that makes you feel good is best for the journey inward. High tempo music is likely to make us want to move our body. We want less action of the body to help direct the journey inward.
Music can be the guide and it is best to think of it that way, select music that will be your guide.
Tripsitter
As far as a trip sitter (someone there as support) this is a good idea for anyone new to this. Some people may not need a trip sitter, personally I like to be by myself. But I would say it is a good idea to at least have someone that you could reach out to if necessary. Talk to them ahead of time and let them know when you are starting.
Leading into the journey
You want to spend some time going over the intention and motivation ahead of the journey. So have what you have written out there and read it or discuss it with someone.
After spending some time on the intention/motivation do a mindfulness meditation. If this is not something you are familiar with, look into it and practice it ahead of time. If you have not tried mindfulness meditation (or something similar like yoga) and looking to use psychedelics for therapeutic purposes, then you are out of order and missing a necessary step. This is like going to college before learning to read and write.
IMMERSION
Immersion is the session itself. This is what to do while on the journey.
Growth comes from the growth zone which lies between the comfort zone and the destructive zone. This is the case for all areas but especially true for psychological growth.
It is good to be out of the comfort zone because this means we are in the growth zone. But we don’t want to enter the destructive stress zone (trauma) because this can be harmful. The psychedelic experience itself is a bit of an exception because it is temporary. We can have a higher degree of stress for the short period. The stress partially tied to the medicine, therefore this gives us a chance to process and recover from it. That is what the integration stage is all about.
The contrast between the psychedelic state and the typical conscious state gives the psychedelic a broader growth zone, (therapeutic window). We can handle more stress without lasting effects but there is definitely a limit not to cross. We don’t want a degree of stress we are not going to integrate and work through, that would be more of the unresolved trauma we are trying to heal. Therefore it is important to have some things in place to help if the stress gets too high.
Meditation that may help to stay in the growth zone
Here is a guided meditation to listen to while entering into the experience but can also be used if feeling overwhelmed on the journey:
This meditation will increase your chance of having a healthy voyage. It can also be useful during the experience to guide you away from stress if things get dark and start to become traumatic.
Start this meditation 15 minutes before the effects are going to start. With mushrooms that is about a half hour after you take them. I will be adding new guided meditations and improving these in the future so check back in for those.
HOW TO STAY IN THE GROWTH ZONE
One precaution someone can take is to have a trip sitter or someone close by that can be there for comfort and support. That person should just be there for you if you need it and not try to discuss anything unless the journeyer initiates it.
The trip sitter should keep things simple and light just saying things like it’s going to be ok, I am here for you. Also they could hold their hand or rub their shoulder. This can help keep the stress in the growth zone if it is heading to the destructive zone.
Another good technique is to have calm, positive, soothing music at hand. If you find stress building music can guide you to a calmer state. Preselect some music like this that makes you feel calm and positive. Have it at hand and play if you need to. A preselected Spotify playlist or something like that is the way to go. Here is a link to a playlist with some good healing music on it – IMMERSION PLAYLIST
ACCEPTANCE
Acceptance means to let go of the separation, resistance and control. To let what is simply be what it is. This is where true freedom lies.
The best technique to lower stress while immersed is practicing acceptance. We are very sensitive while in this state and prone to feedback loops of resistance. The ego mechanisms are impaired and trying to rely on them can be very unpleasant. We need to do the opposite and use acceptance rather than resistance.
It is easy to say ‘use acceptance rather than resistance’ but in practice that may not be easy at all. We may feel deeply anxious, uncomfortable, angry or sad. Feelings can be dramatically magnified, this is why it is such a great place to improve ourselves but at the same time we become very vulnerable.
Let everything you experience be what it is. Doing this will prevent the difficult feelings from feeding into themselves. If we just feel the feelings, hear sounds and see the visions without fitting them into some fixed story they will not hurt us, they will help us grow and heal.
If we are practicing acceptance in our day to day life then we are giving ourselves the skill that will help in the difficult psychedelic experience.
Say a difficult feeling like anxiety arises. Resistance to this feeling takes it and feeds it into itself, we fear the fear. This creates a feedback loop which will strengthen that feeling. It is the fear of the fear which is the problem not the feeling itself. Practice acceptance of that feeling, let it come and just be what it is.
Bringing our attention to your breath can be helpful for acceptance because it can help put us more in our body. This sort of accepting action is always a type letting go. Just let go of the egos framing and feel the feeling in the body not the mind.
When we accept how we are feeling, it can move through us. When we resist the feeling it can get stuck and feed on itself.
DON'T HAVE THE EXPERIENCE - BE THE EXPERIENCE
Having an experience means there is an ‘I’ having the experience and there is the experience ‘I’ am having, in other words there is an ego. While on a journey don’t have the experience be the experience.
We are the consciousness we experience not just an individual inside of that consciousness. Most of us live life perceiving ourselves as an individual inside of our consciousness because that is how we see things. When we are on a journey we get a chance to experience our consciousness as what we are and this is something we want to lean into.
It has taken me a long time to come to this technique, easy to say ‘do this’ but I cannot actually describe how. The best I can do is say it is a letting go rather then a doing. It is what meditation teaches us to do and this is why someone who meditates will likely get more from one of these journeys.
Let everything within your conscious experience happen and then identify with it, know that you are it, you are your consciousness. You are the sounds, the colors, the feelings and the wholeness of it all. Try to release the ego and just let the consciousness be what you are.
Being the experience should be a goal
Being the experience rather then having the experience should be one of the main goals to set out for. One way to get there is to take a large dose of medicine but that will not give us much in our lives. It will seem less real as time goes on and we will not know how to connect to it. If we take less medicine and find our way there this will have a impact in our lives because we will know the path traveled to get there.
It may take many journeys to find the way to being your consciousness. That is OK, the process getting there will also be changing how you experience your life.
There are two good reasons why we want our journey to be like this. First is that this is where the healing and growth will happen effortlessly. It is like having access to a higher level consciousness with all of its wisdom. The second reason is that it is an extremely nice place to be. The more we become our consciousness rather then an ego inside of it the more the experience will give us peacefulness, feelings of love and even ecstasy.
SUFFERING IS A DOORWAY
While on this journey down the psychedelic rabbit hole any suffering is a doorway we can pass through. Through those doorways lie great gifts but the doors are not usually easy to open. The more difficult, uncomfortable or down right painful the journey becomes the more significant of an opportunity we are being given.
I know that suffering while on a journey is a doorway but I have not always found the key, I have had some extremely difficult journeys. I hope that this psychedelic guide will help others avoid some of that pain while still reaping the benefits. Knowing that suffering is a doorway is now a key for me. Combined with the other techniques here knowing that suffering is a door allows me to open it.
The difficulty that comes up through the use of psychedelic medicine is not there to make us suffer, it is there to help us see what we hold within our psyche and heal it.
We will pass through the doorway of suffering when we accept and release whatever underlies it. The healing outlined in this DIY psychedelic guide is about this process of accepting and releasing dysregulation in our deeper psyches. This will often play out over the integration process but it may take place while immersed.
You can find the way beyond the suffering by accepting something buried deep within. This will always come as a letting go, a forgiveness or compassion for ourselves our others. This is the key to the door of suffering.
WHAT TO DO WITH OUR MIND
For many of us our minds are leading us through life but within a psychedelic experience the mind is no longer in the driver seat (not to say it ever actually is).
While deep into an immersive experience we will have a very different connection to our mind. If we try to steer with our thoughts we are likely to hit a tree. That’s why much of this DIY psychedelic guide is geared towards learning how to steer with something deeper then thoughts.
While immersed it is best to consider our mind and thoughts like a pupil taking notes of a greater wisdom. The wisdom is coming from the body, not the material body you see, the body which can only be felt.
We should use our mind to take as much of the experience with us as we can. Don’t use your mind to analyze, control, judge or anything like that. Doing that will not go well for you. Try to let your mind be in the back seat or a fly on the wall. Let your body and conscious experience take the lead. Another way to say this is don’t overthink just surrender to the experience.
A journey is like a dream where much of it can be lost if we do not remember it at the right time. Psychedelics have a trailing off period, they taper at the end. We want to recall what was experienced as we are coming out of it but we don’t need to figure out what it means.
INTEGRATION
Integration is how we take the psychedelic experience and fit it into our lives. This is where we need to put in the most work and also where it is most important to have the right tools and wisdom to work with.
Here is a meditation you can use during the integration process:
This meditation is about bringing awareness to the deeper layer of our consciousness which is a mixture of mind and body, thoughts and feelings. It is meant to help bring more awareness to our beliefs, judgments, values and desires as well as the way we are framing things in our life. As mentioned, I will be adding new guided meditations and improving these in the future so check back in for those.
We need to do the work
One thing to keep in mind is that putting in work here pays off. The more effort we put in the more healing and growth we get. The work is the exercises outlined here and looking within; the work is also going up against our ego and being honest with ourselves.
Sometimes shifts can take place that take no effort. These are nice, but don’t count on that. The majority of gains will come from spending time thinking about the experience and taking the relevant actions. I have had integration that has taken place over a decade with countless hours spent working on it. This was because there was so much to be gained from the journey. It was such an intense session that it offered a huge potential for me to grow, bit by bit it has transformed my life.
Sometimes the intended goal changes between before and after the experience. This is why we cannot know what integration looks like ahead of time, it is based on what came through during the session. Before the experience we may not have had the right perspective on the motivation. Then the journey gives us a deeper clarity, the new perspective allows us to see what the intention should have been.
EVERYTHING WITHIN A JOURNEY COMES FROM OUR PSYCHE
What we experience on a psychedelic journey is an expression of our psyche.
Everything we experience within the journey is part of what we are. The ego unit of self is just a box we tell ourselves we are contained in. We are consciousness and this becomes much clearer while on a journey. The boundary between the self and the outside reality we are inside of breaks down. Everything we see and hear become intertwined with what we are.
The purpose here is not to push a spiritual belief on anyone. Saying we are our consciousness does touch on a spiritual belief, while I believe this I do not ask anyone else to. The thing that matters is this: if we see ourselves as everything while on the journey it will be deeply healing. During integration this same perspective will allow us to make sense of the session and get the most from it.
We don’t want to think that the feelings, visions or messages were somehow caused by the medicine. They were caused by our psyche. We need to find the place within us that the experience has come from.
If we have a difficult journey it is easy to think it just came from the substances. Like the fear, sadness or pain was somehow contained in those molecules we took. This is obviously not the case, those molecules do not contain such things. All the molecules did is allow us to see parts of ourselves that are usually hidden.
During integration there is an aspect of our psyche that we now have better access to. We need to integrate that part of ourselves into the whole. Integration is finding how to fit it in better than it has in the past.
THE INTEGRATION PROCESS
A general rule for the integration process is this. An unpleasant experience is showing us something that we have to let go of. A positive experience is showing us what we should find more of and have a deeper connection to.
There is no blanket timeline for how long the integration will take, it’s relative. A good way to see where you are in the process is by how stable you feel when connecting to whatever has come up. The psychedelic experience is going to shake things up within us. The more we get shaken up the more there is to be integrated.
Before the session things were in a stuck pattern and after there is something new to work with. If whatever emerged on the journey still feels unstable then there is integration to be done.
It’s crucial to understand that the psychedelic experience can make us unstable and we can be fragile for a while.
If still sensing some unease this is not the time to do another session, it is time to integrate. Over time that instability should turn into a more stable psychological foundation. We want to stay in the growth zone and avoid the destructive zone.
Pay attention to yourself and do lots of self monitoring. We want to go into the growth zone but we also want to spend lots of time in the comfort zone. It is the comfort zone where we build the energy and strength to handle the growth zone when we go there.
THE MEDICINE IS AN AMPLIFIER
The medicine amplifies parts of our psyche. This understanding leads to how we should approach the integration process. We should use those exaggerations to see the potential for growth and healing.
Like the way a telescope can allow us to see the planets more clearly, the medicine amplifies our psyche so we can see it more clearly.
I think of it like this. We have an egoic system that keeps parts of ourselves from connecting to each other. The medicine temporarily disables that system and those connections can take place. This brings lots of suppressed stuff to the surface. It was always there; we just did not have awareness or full access. We are not free from it because we didn’t notice it. It is always there just well hidden.
INTEGRATING THE DIFFICULT WITHIN A JOURNEY
There are no bad trips, only ones that are wasted or not properly prepared for.
The harder an experience is, the more potential for improved quality of life there is. This is a good thing. But only if that is understood and the right integration takes place. If not then yeah it most definitely is a bad trip. Not because of the trip but because the trip was wasted.
It amplifies our flaws so we can see them
The journey can amplify a part of our psyche so we can see how flawed, silly or harmful it is. Then next time it arises to a lesser degree in our life we can see it for what it is.
We have seen our flawed psyche amplified, after that the flaws will be clearer. When it is not exaggerated it may not seem as foolish, flawed or harmful but now we can see it more clearly. This is a new perspective that comes from reflecting on the session and seeing its connection to our everyday life.
We can have hard experiences that involve fear, sadness, past trauma or some type of suffering. A mistake that people make is thinking that they this bad. These experiences are great gifts if they are recognized as that. This comes back to what was just discussed. The experience is not creating something new, it is exposing what is hidden.
Whatever comes up during a challenging experiences was always there undermining us from within.
It can be hard to see a lack of confidence or self defeating patterns. These types of things can be subtle. What comes up in the hard experiences are the roots of those subtle aspects of our psyche. We may not notice something like a lack of confidence in our life because it can be subtle. In the psychedelic voyage we may experience the emotional underpinning of that lack of confidence and feel deeply insecure.
It shows us where we need to let go
The process of healing from a difficult journey is always some sort of internal letting go.
The difficult experience is showing us something to release. This could be a release of guilt, it may be forgiveness of ourselves or others, it may be a release of a past trauma or it could be a release of some way of seeing things. I call it a release because that is what the internal action feels like. It is a letting go of something we are holding onto. Maybe we experience a lost traumatic memory and this allows us to release the way it effects us. Whatever the case we need to let something go.
AN EXAMPLE OF INTEGRATING A DIFFICULT JOURNEY
I will tell you about a way I used this integration technique personally in my life to illustrate how it works.
I once suffered from quite severe paranoia. This was no longer the case at the time of the journey but it came up full force. This was unexpected because I did not think it was something that had much presence within me anymore. So the first step was to recognize that it was still there affecting me.
The next step after that was to find how that paranoid state was subtly affecting me. I noticed certain situations where I did have a small degree of unreasonable and illogical mistrust and fear.
The things I was paranoid about during the session were clearly coming from an imbalance within my psyche. I could tell this was the case after the session because the fears were clearly unfounded. I then found its presence in my daily life.
When I noticed these more subtle fears and mistrust in my life I could see that they were the same imbalance within me and not a good way of perceiving the world. To put it simply, seeing the flawed way my psyche saw things during the session allowed me to see its flaws after. This is obvious once we can see it that way but totally hidden by our ego until we get there.
INTEGRATING THE POSITIVE WITHIN A JOURNEY
The psychedelics can also amplify aspects so we can see how much we have to gain from them. We all have aspects of ourselves that would make us happier, more confident or healthier and for whatever reason our ego suppresses them. When we see them in the amplified way we can see how good, happy or loving we could be. These are the feelings of profound love, unconditional acceptance or true compassion.
After getting access to these feelings in such a powerful way it becomes obvious how special and important they are. When this happens it means we need to connect to that side of ourselves and make it a bigger part of our life.
Say for example someone experienced a deep connection and oneness with nature. This means that is typically being suppressed. The integration is to free it and make it a bigger part of their life. The session has showed them how much they have to gain from it and how important it is to be in the world. To do this they need to look for that feeling in its more subtle form and connect to it more. This will be a connection to the feeling within and an external connection on life on the outside. Spending time in nature and feeling that feeling.
What happens in the experience is there inside of you. You just need to connect to it and let it flourish. Seek the things that bring that feeling forward and let it guide you in your life.
AN EXAMPLE OF INTEGRATING A POSITIVE JOURNEY
A good example of how to integrate a positive journey or positive part of a journey (we often get both) comes from a woman I did a guided journey with. This is a service we offered here- Psychedelic Guidance Packages. After going through an extensive intention setting it seemed as though it may be a difficult journey. It was the exact opposite of that.
The way she described the journey was the experience of being pure love. I think that the guidance she received connected her to being loved and that is what the medicine wanted her to see.
We get different types of journeys because there are different sides of ourselves that want to be experienced.
The psychedelic medicine puts us in touch with deep truth, integration is about discerning what that truth is. This woman was getting access to how much love she can have. More than that, she saw it isn’t just an experience, it is the very fabric of her reality.
After getting in touch with the love at the core of our being, like this women did, we are going to have a new lens of which to see ourselves and everything else.
The goal of her integration was simple, how to find and to give as much of that love and oneness in her life as possible. Saying find and give as much love as possible is not all that profound since it is obvious to many, yet when when combined this sort of a journey it is deeply profound and has a very clear meaning. This is how psychedelics work and I hope this DIY psychedelic guide will help people see this.
INTEGRATION EXERCISES
Integration exercises help with the integration process. Just like the integration process there is no way to say what the right exercises should be ahead of time. The exercises should be tailored to what came through the journey. This is a rough idea what those exercises look like but in the end you will have to figure out what makes the most sense for you. Another option is to get help with the process like the Psychedelic Guidance Packages we offer or just send us a message on the bottom of the page for suggestions.
Meditation and journaling
One exercise that will help everyone during the integration process is meditation.
Meditation will go a long way to facilitate the growth and healing on its own. There is a guided meditation at the top of INTEGRATION section and more will be added here in the future. It is best if we bring the integration process into the meditation. Bring awareness to the intention, the journey and the integration process while practicing the meditation.
Journaling is another exercise that will be helpful to all during the integration process.
It is best to have been journaling and keeping notes through this whole process. During integration journal about how the journey is now connecting to your life.
The exercises depend on what came through
Many exercises and follow through activities will be dependent on the journey. Maybe you felt guilt about not being there for a loved one. A follow up for that would be to talk to them and tell them how you feel, then an exercise could be a regular get together with this person. Maybe that person has passed and you cannot do this. In that case you could still write a letter to them and burn it. Or spend time with them within your own consciousness and that way you will find they are still there with you.
While I cannot tell you what the best exercises will be for you here is a good place to start. Write out questions for yourself like this: In what way did the journey connect to my past? How did the journey give me clarity? How do the feelings I had on my journey present themselves in my life? What do I have to learn from the journey? What do I see or know now that I didn’t before the session? Then write out the answers and discuss them with someone who cares for you and will hear you.
MICRODOSING DURING INTEGRATION
Microdosing during the integration process can be a great tool. This can help prevent the ego reaction that can follow the experience.
Our walls and defenses will come back over time and sometimes they can come back quickly. This reaction happens to protect us from the vulnerability that the experience has exposed. We do need to protect ourselves from being hurt but this can also keep us from growing and healing. Microdosing on the higher end (0.2g – 0.3g for magic mushrooms) can keep the strong ego reactions at bay long enough for us to grow and heal.
Microdosing too consistently will form a tolerance. One day on one day off. One day on two days off. Four days on three days off. These are all regimens to prevent tolerance.
You can add lion’s mane to your magic mushroom microdose. This will help increase the brain’s ability to form new pathways, build new connections and remove old pathways. A stack of 0.1-0.3g magic mushrooms, 1g lion’s mane and 100mg niacin is a recommended stack created by Paul Stamets.
Keep in mind that following the experience there will likely be a period of instability and microdosing can increase that. This also increases the potential benefits but can make some types of performance more difficult. We will likely find ourselves more emotional and aware. So you might want to start with lower does at first to make sure you can perform whatever duties you need to perform at. Things that are more creative will likely be enhanced in this period of instability but it could be the opposite.
USING POSITIVE AWARENESS DURING INTEGRATION
Psychedelics can help give us a higher degree of awareness of ourselves.
Awareness is good because it helps us make shifts in our psyche but keep in mind that awareness can also work against us. This is why positive awareness is the key. Positive awareness means to find the positive place within our psyche and leveraging it’s power to help us heal, grow and have a healthy perspective.
We are always framing things in some particular way. This framing is shaping how we feel and what we do. We do not typically have much awareness of this but it is very powerful when we bring our awareness to it. The integration process is a great time to do this because we have a higher degree of awareness and new insights to work with.
Awareness only heals if it is positive
Awareness is a double edge sword. Bringing attention to things we do not like about ourselves opens the door for us to put ourselves down. This is the opposite of what you want to do.
When we become aware of things we do not like about ourselves we are taking the first step to transforming them. This is a good thing and we should feel good about that. That is how positive awareness works. We see our flaws and instead of feeling low we see something good and an opportunity to heal and grow.
To use positive awareness just keep in mind that the awareness is healing. If you believe the awareness is healing it will be positive and it will heal. If you do the opposite and feel bad about yourself when you gain awareness this will just reinforce negative patterns. This sort of awareness is self fulfilling. If you believe it is a good thing and part of the growth and healing process then that is exactly what it will be.
So pay attention to the judgments, beliefs and way that you are framing things in your life. Especially the self judgments. Then keep in mind it is a good thing to gain this awareness. Feel good and empowered when you start to see yourself on a more real deeper layer. Know that you are growing into a more enlightened being.
To all the souls bold enough to take this trip you are loved and supported.
Feel that and bring it on your journey.
Feel free to ask me any question or leave a comment below:
Please share this guide with anyone that might be able to use it