1g - repeatable routine

- Basic Lessons: "Cleanliness," Diet, and Isolation

Cleanliness - I think there is something (if only mental) to doing some exercise the day before the 1g (helps loosen up the ego), getting a good nights sleep, having some coffee/tea the next morning with your family and preparing for the day (4hrs of isolation).  As soon as I take the 1g I set my timer knowing that in about 35min I will feel it (usually poo or pee) and 45min I need to be shut down in sitting lotus, eyes closed, back straight, fingers interlocked in front of me, blanket nearby, and slippers (my feet get cold).  Before the 35min my ritual is cleaning up my room and turning on the candle wax with a pleasing scent (magnified during the trip).  Also, consider making your bathroom (toilet) area a place you want to be since you will probably visit it peeing 4-5 times throughout the day.  I put a light dimmer in the bathroom, put a nice picture on the wall, and a plug-in wax warmer as well.

Why cleanliness?  It seems to set me at ease more when my surroundings are organized and serene.  As if the idea of disorganization itself can be a trigger on the vulnerable state of thought patterns, so why not setup measures to avoid that pattern altogether.  I might equate this to having the right workout gear when you go to the gym.  The distractions of uncomfortableness can be annoying when you are trying to get in the "zone" (mental metaphor).

Diet - definitely effects all my trips.  Again maybe only mental, but here are some examples.  When I eat within 1 hour of the dose I don't feel the 45min onset as heavy and it feels more spread out with waves of impacts like the cadence is off, its weird.  Heavy meals within 6 hours make me poo when I dose, why waste  you time on the toilet while your tripping - not very pleasant.  The weirdest experience was matcha (high grade)  mix in water during the 1st hour of my trip that really threw me for a loop in thought patterns that were very confusing.  Eating meat while tripping brings me down (heavy weight on my body and mind).  Drinking juice (kale, lemon, apple, ginger, celery) while tripping gives me a little energy boost but hard to get down, almost like my throat does not want to accept it.  Also, post 4hrs of tripping - what you eat can negatively effect the rest of your day as well, stay away from heavy meals & synthetic foods (you know what I'm talking about).

So what has worked?  You know this already, no eating 6 hours before the trip.  Mushroom is an appetite suppressant anyways so you probably will not be hungry; however sometimes it can be fun to taste things after 2hrs from ingestion of mushrooms as your taste profiles will be enhanced.  Tripping can be exhausting so I like to have the following prepared: Water of course - I like to have a gallon that I can carry around with me.  Sweet Potatoes - I pre-bake them and have them in the refrigerator.  I find sweet potatoes really work well for post trip for rebuilding my energy levels and I get a hit of euphoria, I think sweet potatoes can be slightly grounding (mental) as well which is nice for integration.  Fish - always seems to be very "clean" in that I don't feel weighted down by the food but rather keeps the euphoria elevated and energizing.  Finally, some coffee or tea (raspberry is my favorite if no caffeine) for just enjoying the moment and your surroundings post trip.  Sometimes, I will drink coffee within 15min of dosing and can keep my body calm while my mind can be pushed into more creativity once the psilocybin hits at the 45min.

Isolation - Okay so I have already ran around on 1g and it was fun for the 1st experience but has become increasingly more disorienting over time.  In other words, I would normally take my 1g, 45min later be still for onset until 1hr and then get up start walking around maybe outside looking at plants, maybe turning on some dance music, maybe food tastings, maybe walking the neighborhood, etc.  After about a year of doing that I'm finding that there are fewer and fewer lessons outward vs. inward.  I think my next year will be more about focus.  Today, I setup my closet to be this space.  The way I thought about it today was creating space for your mind to expand vs. ricochet off the complexity of objects that you see in your surroundings.

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So here are a few notes from isolation today.  Everything above worked as planned.  I was in my closet sitting upright, legs crossed, finger interlocked with eye shades on.  I had flutes/tibetan bowl music on iheart radio through my bluetooth headphones and felt the wave building.  The onset is always the most anxious time for the ego, like its saying OMG, OMG, something is HAPPENING..haha.  I have learned I can get very fidgety if I am not sitting upright, legs crossed, finger interlocked, and total darkness.  I have learned to lean into (mind) the come up and welcome it with dignity.  Its easy to want to scratch your head, or make excuses with uncomfortableness but this is the squirming of the ego, so I say "you are okay, relax, nothing is going to happen to you" and that always settles me down.

That 15min transition phase that begins 45min from ingestion is the most disassociating time for me (identity) and I have found bliss in that moment.  With eye shades on, depth increases in the darkness and I usually have some light on the edges of my eyelids (even in total darkness) or there is flickering once I get over 1g but this creates a vista that I find to be very calming as if it were an ascension of mind in some way.  Sometime this can last for what feels like 30min to an hour but you know when that part is done because you will want to stretch, almost like clock work I look down at my watch and it shows only 15min have passed.

Now from 1hr to 1:45m I am moving around, laying down, stretching out the built up energy and exploring creative thought.  In this time it is easy to entertain that the trip is on and now you just ride it out but in my experience this can be misleading because right around 1:35m I can get uncomfortable again with the squirming and I have to bring myself back to center for a 2nd wave at 1:45m.  Terence talked about the waves as well and I am finding repeatability at 45min increments.  What this means is be prepared to welcome the wave otherwise it can throw you for a loop (you know what I mean).  

Today I left closet isolation at 2hrs which took some discipline to wait that long but I found it value added.  I made the destination 2hrs analogous to running.  When you first start running you just want to hit that mile marker and then 2nd mile marker and so on.  I think discipline in setting markers for your trip allows you to stay the course and make progress in thought patters vs. being consumed by them.

I laid down by the fireplace in my living room, with some raspberry tea looking up at the ceiling.  When I closed my eyes I immediately went to the forest and then to the beach next to fireplaces and the comfort of the warmth against my body.  I had boy & bear on my sonos speakers in the living room and just melted into the tapestry of the setting, very peaceful, a healing experience to be sure.

I couple of other random points here were some thought processes about snakes.  I becoming more convinced that the visual changes you experience with higher doses creates something in your visual cortex that finds perimeter lines in your periphery line of sight that orients itself in snake like movements and lines as a result of the peripheral drift illusion.  I think what we "see" as snakes with octagonal skin is a manifestation of the visual cortex illusory functions yet many reports describe this phenomena as literal.  My point is on lower doses I can focus on the marbling granite in my countertop and see the same "snakes."  I take this to mean don't get distracted or be frightened by what you "see."  If you can use it to improve yourself great but I tend to side with Kent in psychedelic information theory on some of this phenomena.  I also  like Robin Earhart-Harris neuroimaging work in the Imperial College on his studies finding decreased blood flow to the default mode network and the 5-HTAR binding and exciting the layer five pyramidal cells.  The outer layer (cortex) of the brain is highly excited with Psilocybin which makes sense when you feel high doses buzzing to the top of your head.

Finally, in my 3hr-4hr I feel great and then suddenly I had this image in my mind of a time with my father in a wonderful moment together.  Without too much detail it was a moment I could see where my fathers love was felt fully in the moment, his protection over me was visualized with him putting his hand over my little heart and I wept uncontrollably.  I had the type of cry I only have very rarely, a cry of healing and understanding.  The last time I had this type of experience was in the 3-4hr mark on Thanksgiving when I was walking my daughter back from the playground and when I got home I went to the bathroom and just cried at how thankful I was for my wife and daughter and the love I feel for them.  My point is, both of these moments were totally unexpected, I like to think of how psilocybin might be working with building bridges on neural pathways that might have atrophied over time, in the "reconnection," emotion can overwhelm you...in a good way.

Thanks,

Lessonsofyawns@gmail.com