Using Psychedelics for Personal Growth
Note: A guided trip with a trained professional is safer than attempting self-therapy while using psychedelics. Read our article on finding guides as a starting point. We do not provide guides nor make direct referrals to guides. The information below are insights we have gained from our personal experiences. We do not believe that the use of psychedelics for personal insight is safe or useful for all people; those with a history of physical or sexual abuse, who suffer from severe anxiety or have mental illness may be particularly susceptible to bad outcomes on psychedelics.
Psychedelics are not well studied, and the long term effect of them are not well-known While we believe the prevailing view in the scientific community is that psychedelics are not inherently dangerous, there are documented risks and legal exposure to buying and using them. As always, do your own research and rely upon a variety of recognized sources of unbiased information before taking any psychedelic drug.
This guide is focused on the use of LSD, which we find to be most effective in promoting personal growth in the manner described below. However, the use of Psilocybin mushrooms may also be substituted. The techniques below are also well suited for anyone meditation or mindfulness, replacing the psychedelic trip with a deep meditation session.
With the resurgence of interest in psychedelic drugs, driven in part by pop culture buzz around micro-dosing and the favorable press coverage created by Michael Pollan’s How to Change Your Mind, we have begun to encounter a new phenomenon: Psychedelic disappointment. People anticipating a life-altering experience are instead experiencing a fun and entertaining experience but one devoid of creating a meaningful day-to-day positive impact.
For some people, the mere act of taking a psychedelic drug will result in profound change, almost by accident. The dots will be connected, self-acceptance achieved, or past trauma healed. But for many, personal growth requires a carefully chosen path.
Below you will find a road map to personal growth through psychedelics; a process to identify the areas on which you would like to work the most, and a simple algorithm to start you on the right path.
We believe this guide will prove helpful to all seeking change through psychedelics, regardless of objective, current lifestyle or spiritual outlook. Here, we have attempted to avoid the ambiguous language or heavy reliance on a spiritual practice, while directly addressing spiritual paths for those seeking spiritual enlightenment. We have reviewed all scientific studies published in English on psychedelic research, but rely soley upon observed experience to determine the most effective techniques.
HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
This is a comprehensive guide for those beginning the journey of guided trips. We suggest that everyone that is serious about using psychedelics to change their lives read it in full. However, those wanting a quicker read can focus skip the section The Science of Personal Enlightenment, and in each section after that, read only the section dedicated to the area they are choosing to focus upon (The Past, The Now, The Future or Spiritual Enlightenment).
The first section, a Note on Learning and Psychedelics, provides a brief overview on how psychedelics help with personal growth. Next there is a non-scientific overview of how the process works, and techniques that are being employed in this guide. There are many theories and techniques to improve one’s life, but here we focus on those areas where psychedelics have been observed to have the greatest impact. The techniques draw upon a rich variety of sources, and have been refined over many years of experimental work. Thoughtful, but hard to digest sources like the book The Psychedelic Experience, by Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner & Richard Alpert have been incorporated, as have mindfulness techniques, neuro linguistic programming technology (NLP) and non-violent communication principles
We next outline the Four Step Process to personal growth. The four steps consist of finding your area of focus for your trip, preparing for the psychedelic experience, maximizing the benefits during the trip and integrating your learning post trip.
This process starts by helping you identify the area you want to focus upon, and we suggest you pick only one area per psychedelic trip. We define the four potential areas of growth to be the past, the present, the future and spiritual growth. Please understand that if you choose to focus on your past, your current state and your future will certainly be impacted. Similarly, focusing solely on the future, will likely impact your understanding of the past as well as your present condition. And a focus on spiritual growth will likewise have a broad impact. However, as you review the descriptions of "The Past”, “The Now”, “The Future” and “Spiritual Growth” you will likely be drawn to one.
These categories have been derived primarily through observational experience, which shows that people tend to be drawn to certain way of looking at growth, and while each path will impact all aspects of life, one path may feel the most comfortable or powerful for an individual. While each path is considered in more depth in below, even a brief overview may make clear the path to which you are drawn.
The first path focuses on reflection about your past — the events that have made you who you are today, and how they are shaping your current and future self. Any fan of Freudian talk therapy will be drawn to this approach, as one seeks deeper meaning by focusing on the path that lead you to today.
The next path focuses on where you are today. While the past and the future may be relevant, on this path you are focusing on the present and what is most alive in you right now. Those wishing to change who they are without digging through the morass of past history may be drawn to this approach.
The third path looks at your goals for yourself and where you want to go with your life — your future. This approach builds on the tradition of many self-help gurus, applying traditional techniques (mainly drawn from Neural Linguistic Programming), which will be familiar to anyone who has listened to a Tony Robbins seminar or virtually any other modern learning or motivational speaker.
The final category is spiritual growth. This path is for those seeking any type of spiritual enhancement, including those on the path of a traditional religion, those seeking to improve a mindfulness practice, or anyone who seeks to better understand their connection to the greater world.
We end with an optional section: the Science of Psychedelic Enlightenment. There we discuss the science that is beginning to explain why personal growth may be accelerated with the help of psychedelics. For some, simply understanding that there is real science here will help them believe that they will achieve personal growth. The expectation of change can be critical in allowing the growth to occur psychedelics. If understanding the brain science involved will help you trust the process, be sure to read this section, but if the science doesn’t interest you, feel free to skip it.