Psychedelic Yoga & Meditation on Shrooms
The idea of meditation, yoga, reiki or any other form of relaxation and calm contemplation is to achieve a certain level of balance. Balance, in all things, is essential to health & happiness – and in fact, balancing these two core concepts of life is key to a fulfilling life.
Ask anyone who meditates regularly, or those crazy early-risers who meet the dawn of each day in a particular yoga pose, and you’ll hear the same answer: “be at peace, and you’ll find your way through life is much easier”. This ‘sense of ease’ is not to suggest that all forms of meditation will make your goals easier to achieve, but in effect a calm, enlightened mind is more capable of greater things than someone who is weighed down by stress & anxiety.
Now, escaping from the clutches of all the stress that life throws at you is not an easy task in and of itself. In fact, even just learning how to meditate effectively can be a lifelong pursuit. So how can you achieve enlightenment, explore yourself and your relationship with others, and free yourself from the drudgeries of everyday life? That’s the easy part: with the help of psychedelics and some supporting meditation or yoga.
Have you ever tried psychedelics? The number of people who have accepted psychedelics into their lives as a beneficial medicine or health supplement is growing steadily. The days of psychedelics being considered “illegal, controlled substances” are quickly fading as a lot of positive research continues to pour out into the sphere of public access. Just like yoga used to be an obscure “stretching exercise” that your one odd friend used to do, psychedelics are becoming a very popular way to enhance one’s quality of life.
If meditation and psychedelics therapy can help you achieve similar goals, then why not combine the two for a duality of benefits? Meditating on shrooms might sound like a crazy idea at first, but you wouldn’t be the first person to try psychedelic meditation or psychedelic yoga. There are a lot of synergies between safe and measured psychedelic dosing combined with yoga or meditation. Let’s explore some of the idiosyncrasies of meditation and psychedelics and learn about the best ways to harness the pros of both while minimizing the cons of either.
HISTORY OF YOGA, MEDITATION & PSYCHEDELICS
Psychedelics – like many forms of meditation – have been an important part of many cultures for millennia. Yoga, martial arts and a number of meditative practices date back many thousands of years. In some regions of Asia and the Indian subcontinent, examples of meditation stretch back as far back as the earliest known historical periods of humankind. Similarly, psychedelics are becoming a more well-known part of ancient cultures, such as in Mesoamerica, ancient Asia and throughout the First Nations of North America. Shrooms, psychedelic cacti, and some botanical psychotropic substances (DMT) have impacted humanity in our quest for ultimate understanding of ourselves and the universe we inhabit. These fundamental concepts are mirrored in many meditative practices, so it’s only natural that these two ideas can merge together so seamlessly.
One of the easiest combinations of psychedelics and meditation to highlight is the ancient practice of “soma”. Referenced in the Vedic texts – sacred Hindu collections of all matters of writings – soma is an as-of-yet undetermined recipe of psychedelic origin. It has been speculated that soma could be a concoction of psychedelic mushrooms, cannabis or a combination of herbal inputs, but to this day the actual ingredients are not specified in the Vedas. This drink was part of a great many sacred rituals and epitomized “self reflection” and “finding enlightenment”. Funny enough, within a short period of time from when these texts originate, the term for yoga began cropping up across the civilizations of the Ganges. In many early examples of yogic practices, similar ideologies and practices for “achieving spiritual enlightenment” and concepts of “inner peace” that were a fundamental part of soma were mirrored in yoga.
Is it a coincidence that yoga seemed to proliferate out of the origins of a psychedelic ritual like soma? It might also be coincidental that as many cultures of India moved from the mountainous regions of the subcontinent – where psychedelic mushrooms like Amanita muscaria are known to flourish – and into the river valleys of the Ganges – where the term ganja actually originates! – that many of its peoples showed a lot of knowledge about the significance of psychedelic therapy. Another clue to yoga’s psychedelic origins is a very elemental version of yogic meditation called Kundalini yoga. This style of yoga tries to stray away from the multi-billion dollar industry that is ‘urban yoga’, and focuses on many fundamentalist concepts. Kundalini yoga is primarily concerned with the expansion of one’s consciousness, achieving serenity of both body & mind, and the transformation of one’s spiritual energy – the kundalini – that originates in the base of the spine and can be channeled into other parts of the body.
Doesn’t this sound like the modern concept of psychedelic therapy? Exploration of one’s consciousness, self-discovery, channeling energies and achieving enlightenment… these are the ingredients of a psychedelic journey in addition to being founding principles of many forms of meditation – like yoga. The ideas of mysticism and tapping into otherworldly energies or consciousnesses permeates both psychedelics and meditation techniques. The mysterious nature of what meditation does to our minds & bodies has definitely received some attention from medical researchers, but similar to the cases of psychedelics, there has been no serious effort on the part of authorities to verify what is known to many practitioners of both. Psychedelic medicine has been around for centuries, and yet these substances that induce transformative experiences are still thought of as narcotics across the globe. Yoga and meditation aren’t illegal, by any means, but they still have not been supported as having viable, therapeutic applications to many diseases and debilitating conditions. In the same vein, psychedelics have a long history of evidence as powerful tools for curing depression, anxiety, insomnia, PTSD, and a host of other health benefits. When will these practices be ordained into the realm of “official medicine”?
It’s already well past midnight on the clock of progress for psychedelics. Meditation might be an accepted practice among scholars today, but until policymakers start taking our ancestors seriously and investing in the ideas of our past, it’s going to be difficult to work towards a brighter future for psychedelic yoga or psychedelic meditation.
PSYCHEDELIC YOGA OR PSYCHEDELIC MEDITATION: WHAT’S BETTER?
When you think you need to choose between meditation vs psychedelics you’re making the same mistake as debating cake over pie – they’re both delicious, why not have both?! Meditation and psychedelics can both achieve similarly great things for your mental, physical and spiritual health – especially when you combine the two together. Like peanut butter and jelly, they seem to be made for each other and perfectly complement one another’s best qualities. For instance, meditation can be utilized to put you in a positive frame of mind – mentally calm, poised, relaxed breathing – that can be essential to having a meaningful psychedelic experience. Vice versa, psychedelics can help to break down your ego and increase your empathy towards others and the world around you (a concept that is fundamental to finding inner peace through meditation).
If it weren’t already a popular practice, meditating on shrooms would be a perfect marriage for those people who enjoy an out-of-body experience. Psychedelic meditation techniques – such as LSD yoga or meditating on shrooms – can be mutually beneficial, but it’s important to be cognizant of the risks associated with consuming psychedelics. Not only can you fall victim to a ‘bad trip’ if you’re not in the right headspace, but any progress you’ve made against depression, anxiety or emotional trauma can be flipped on its head if you don’t dose properly. The idea of dosing is often the biggest hiccup for many prospective psychonauts. How much do I take? What’s the right amount for what I want to achieve? How long will my high last? These details, like many things, will depend on the individual and are affected by many factors (including genetics).
It can be very difficult to predict your experiences with psychedelics, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility to set yourself up for success. Microdosing psychedelics – such as psilocybin – has grown to extreme popularity in recent years, and for good reason. When you microdose psychedelic substances, you can achieve a lot of the positive effects without any of the psychoactive encounters. What does it even mean to microdose psychedelics? Microdosing involves taking very small, consistent doses of a certain substance over time to derive particular benefits to your mental or physical health. An example of this is the modern psycho-therapeutic use of magic mushroom capsules to combat the serious effects of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). By microdosing psilocybin, a patient does not experience the intense hallucinations that might occur with shrooms, but can still benefit from the reduced symptoms of anxiety, stress, depression and insomnia.
Many yoga enthusiasts and meditation gurus can benefit from microdosing psychedelics, and what’s more is they don’t have to alter their experience – only enhance it. Microdosing mushrooms, for instance, is reliably efficient at boosting creativity, productivity, energy and focus. All of these benefits can apply to how you prepare for meditation, or they can improve your ability to concentrate or be at peace during yoga or meditation. Microdosing also provides a calm, clarity of mind and has been known to improve a person’s positive outlook – all of which are essential to effective meditation techniques. Suffice to say, microdosing psychedelics is a pathway to many abilities that can truly enhance your yoga or meditative experiences, without altering your state of mind.
Microdosing isn’t the only means to utilize psychedelics, but it is a safe option for those people who are fearful of psychotropic effects or for those who don’t find any value in psychoactive episodes. There’s nothing wrong with not wanting to “go on a trip” – it’s entirely your decision. All that we hope you keep in mind is the facts: psychedelics have shown, time and again, that they can be a very effective treatment for a growing list of injuries & illnesses. Psychedelic yoga and psychedelic meditation have the potential to transform your experiences in life as well as your penchant for meditation. Psychedelics have an innate ability to enhance your perceptions of self, your interactions with others and your understanding of the universe around you. If you’ve ever struggled to achieve that inner calm and poise that other yogists and meditators around you seem to grasp easily, then why not try resetting your brain’s circuitry with some psychedelics?
There are a profound number of ways to achieve enlightenment and inner peace – yoga, meditation, positive affirmation, family time, sports, athletics, or even just reading a good book. Psychedelics can compliment these fundamental parts of life, but it’s up to you to decide how psychedelics should influence your day-to-day. If you’re not keen on any psychoactive experiences, you can still introduce the brain-boosting powers of psilocybin into your routine with a consistent microdose of these fantastical fungi. Feeling more adventurous and inspired? Try consuming psychedelics before your next yoga session or meditation exercise. The augmented reality, greater depth of perceptions and heightened senses might lead you to true peace and harmony.
MEDITATING ON SHROOMS
As always with psychedelics, it’s very important that you stick to the golden rule: start low and go slow. Dosing magic mushrooms can be very tricky – each person can be affected differently, even if you’ve developed some sort of tolerance to psychedelics in the past. Be sure to begin with a very low dose, and whenever you’re meditating on shrooms give yourself and the psilocybin lots of time to kick in. Try to take notes on how you feel before, during and after your psychedelic episodes; the more details you keep, the better prepared you can be for your next psychedelic meditation or psychedelic yoga exercise. For more information on the healing powers of mushrooms and how you can enhance your meditative experiences, check out our other blogs on spirituality, mind-bending experiences and the magic of psilocybin.
