Yes. Having a tool as powerful as a ship certainly enables new frontiers; but it's still ultimately
us —the individual— who is tasked with the navigation. Last week, I made a video talking
about my recent magic mushroom trip, which I thought went really well. I didn't have a guide,
I didn't trip with company... I tripped alone and it was a wonderful experience, so i thought,
today, I would make a follow-up video. Obviously, if you're new to psychedelic journeys, you should
consider embarking on your first one under the supervision of an experienced guide or at least
a trusted friend... just to put your mind at ease. But I also understand that these two options
aren't always feasible for people, especially against the backdrop of everything that's going on
in the world right now. And certainly tripping alone can be a really valuable experience in
and of itself. So this video today is going to be all about the steps that you can take to optimize
your chances of having a quality solo trip. Before we dive in, though, I want to address two things.
Number one: if you're new here, don't forget to hit that subscribe button and the bell icon so
that you never miss an update. At this point, I have an entire playlist dedicated to psychedelics
and 2021 will bring many more videos under that theme. Number two: let's talk about bad trips.
There are many people in the psychedelic community who don't like the term "bad trip" because they
think it's misleading. Instead, many prefer the term "challenging trip" because, really,
a challenging trip? You can still learn a lot from a challenging trip; you're just moreso learning
them the hard way. Okay, so actually, before I get into another reason why the term bad trip
is potentially problematic... we all know what a bad trip is, right? Instead of feeling euphoric,
you might feel anxious out of your mind. Instead of seeing a calming field of lavender or the warm
embrace of the oneness of the universe, instead you see a maniacal demon telling you that you're
a fraud and everyone in your life is onto you. That's a challenging trip. One of the reasons why
the term "challenging trip" is potentially problematic is because it can insinuate
that the quality of your experience —of your psychedelic experience— is determined by the drug
or the dosage that you take. And I'll tell you what the legendary psychedelic activist Timothy
Leary says about all of this. I'm going to pull a quote from his book The Psychedelic Experience:
A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. This is what he says: "Of course,
the drug dose does not produce a transcendent experience. It merely acts as a chemical key.
It opens the mind and frees the nervous system of its ordinary patterns and structures. The nature
of the experience depends almost entirely on set and setting... It is for this reason that manuals
or guidebooks are necessary; their purpose is to enable a person to understand the new realities
of the expanded consciousness to serve as road maps for new interior territories,
which modern science has made accessible." What I gather from this quote is that psychedelic
substances are merely tools. As powerful as they might be, they are tools nonetheless.
Psychedelic substances are the ships that we steer into a sea of expanded consciousness.
Yes; having a tool as powerful as the ship certainly enables new frontiers,
but it's still ultimately us —the individual— who is tasked with the navigation. And just as
you wouldn't want somebody who is a total novice steering a ship, you also wouldn't
want somebody to go into a psychedelic journey poorly-equipped. How equipped a person is for
navigating the seas of their consciousness depends on two crucial variables: set and setting, which
is what we're going to talk about on the other side of this nifty new transition that I made.
Um... where were we talking— Yes. Set and setting. "Set" refers to your mindset. "Setting" refers to
the physical and social environment of your trip. These two variables have a huge impact on the
quality of your psychedelic journey, which makes controlling for them crucial. Before you trip,
you should ask yourself "What am I expecting here?" It's one thing to find the benefits
of psychedelic experiences appealing, but it's another to go into one with an expectation that
the medicine will serve you in exactly the way that you want. The only expectation you should
have going into a psychedelic journey is to drop any preconceived notions; any resistance;
any hesitation or anxiety or fears you may have and just come with an open heart. You are the
student in this situation and the medicine is your teacher. The medicine is to be revered.
Other questions you should consider asking yourself include: Can I give myself fully to this
experience or is my attention somewhere else? Am I afraid of losing control? If so, why? Is there
something lurking in my shadow that I'm just not ready to confront today? And it's totally okay
if you ask yourself these questions and conclude, "You know what? Today just isn't my day." That is
completely within your right and nobody can tell you otherwise. For myself, recently... I mean,
clearly, I wouldn't have gone on that trip had I not felt that I was ready. And I knew that I was
ready largely because I had the right mindset. I was ready when I was willing to cast aside my
need for conscious control and humble myself to the level of a student. It's true what they say:
if you keep your heart open and go into the experience with the least amount of resistance,
the worst thing that can happen to you is closure. I was trying really hard to be poetic with
that but i don't think it landed. Anyways, that was mindset. Let's talk about setting. The thing
to remember about setting is that it's really about removing potential triggers of discomfort
in your external environment —whether that means physical or social triggers. The goal is to create
an environment in which you can be the most comfortable you can be and that means different
things for different people. And I'll tell you what it meant for me. For me, it meant tidying my
room and having lots of water and snacks nearby. It meant putting my phone on "silent" and making
sure that I could go offline for six hours and not have anybody come calling for me. Some people like
to have calming music playing in the background as they trip. I didn't do any of that. All I needed
was for my blinds to be shut and for my dog to be sufficiently exhausted from his morning walk and
voila! I could be physically and emotionally comfortable at last. The benefit of tripping
from the comfort of your own home, of course, is that the variable of self-consciousness is removed
(which was not something that I wanted to deal with in the first place, being an introvert... but
I'm sure it's not just an introvert thing). Now, as the title of this video suggests, I have one
more tip to share with you. One thing that I did to help ease myself into the proper state of mind
prior to going on my psychedelic journey was that I began my day by taking a microdose. I woke up,
I took a cap containing 150 milligrams of magic mushrooms, and then I proceeded with my morning
routine. I drank coffee, ate breakfast, walked my dog, came back, and meditated. The beauty of
combining meditation with microdosing is this: they complement each other really well. The fact
that I was already on a microdose helped me to be more present in my morning meditation practice.
Once that was over, I changed into comfy clothes and then I took a full dose of magic mushrooms and
then up and away I went. In my mind, that tip that I shared with you is something that I came up with
because it's not something that i've read about too often. I haven't read about it anywhere else,
so in my mind, I came up with it but I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. To those of you in my
audience who are experienced psychonauts, what do you think of that trick? Should we just make that
a part of the best practices for first-timers? I think it's a good idea. It worked well for me, but
if you disagree, let me know. If you agree, let me know as well. That's it for our video today.
Seeing as this is my last video before the new year, I want to wish you guys a very
happy and safe holiday season and a happy new year. And I know the word "happy" blah blah blah
like hallmark cards, whatever, whatever... I think one of the takeaways from 2020 is that I
think it's really challenged us all to maybe shift our definition of happiness a little bit. I know
certainly for me, my definition of happiness is now more about being grounded in a sense of peace,
so that's what I really mean for you guys going into the new year... I hope that you can carry
a sense of peace with you and I hope that continues to develop in the new year, and i'm
so so grateful that you're here with me and I will see you next year. —As in, next week. Okay. Bye.