• A substance that produces altered and expanded states of consciousness
• Common ones are LSD, LSA, Psilocybin, Psilocin, Ayahuasca/Yage, mescaline, Wachuma/San Pedro, peyote, iboga, ketamine and DMT
• Greek – for mind manifesting was coincide by Humphry Osmond a British psychiatrist working in Canada in the 1950’s
• psykhe (mind) + delos (manifesting)  
• literally means mind manifesting

• Not all locations are created equal within or outside the USA

ILLEGAL

• Most locations are illegal.
• Self-Explanatory 
• Jail, probation, fines, record

DECRIMINALIZED

• Lowest priority to law enforcement
• Fines
• Within the USA –
  • Ann Arbor, MI
  • Denver, CO
  • Oakland, CA
  • Santa Cruz, CA
  • Somerville and Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • Washington DC
  • Oregon – entire state
• Austria 
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Italy
• Portugal
• Spain
• Switzerland
• Uruguay

Many other countries are illegal but unenforced.

LEGAL

• Oregon for mental health treatment supervised
• Netherlands 
• Brazil – used to rehabilitate prisoners
• British Virgin Islands
• Jamaica
• Bahamas
• Nepal
• Samoa

ANCIENT USE – The First Wave

• Earliest evidence can be found in a cave in the Sahara Desert, Algeria
• 7000-9000 years old
• Other archeological findings from Texas, Spain and Peru to name a few.

WESTERN DISCOVERY

• Allegedly first was made by European explorers who sailed to Latin America
  • As early as 1496 when Ramon Pane, who traveled with Christopher Columbus on his 2nd journey to the Americas, documented the Taino people in Haiti/Dominican Republic consuming yopo, a psychoactive with an active ingredients DMT and 5-MeO-DMT .
  • Just one of many documented reports of use amongst indigenous tribes

PSYCHEDELIC RESEARCH

EARLY RESEARCH – The Second Wave

•  By 1889 scientists had begun studying psychedelics – and that work continued until prohibition.
• Chemical compound, effects and therapeutic applications were studied.
• 1893 the chief of the Comanches gave James Mooney, an ethnologist with the Smithsonian Institute, 50 pounds of dried peyote buttons. 
• Supplied them to psychologist William James and physician Weir Mitchell who experimented with them.
• 1895 – first scientific trial involving Peyote in Washington DC at Columbia University (now George Washington University. 
• 1919 Ernst Spath synthesizes mescaline
• 1931 Richard Manske, a Canadian chemist, synthesize DMT
• 1938 Albert Hoffman, Swiss chemist  synthesizes LSD – said he was a microdoser
• 1947 Sandoz Labs makes LSD under the brand name Delysid
• Given to psychiatrists in the thought it could assist in better understanding schizophrenia
• 1952 Charles Savage published a study looking at LSD for depression
• Same year – it was also being used to treat alcoholism.
• In 1955, then VP of JP Morgan Gordon Wasson participated in a mushroom ceremony in Mexico with Maria Sabina (also known as the priestess of mushrooms)
• His account published in LIFE magazine in 1957
• By 1960s well known chemists had made and distributed millions of doses of LSD
• By 1970 LSD, DMT, MDA, psilocybin, psilocin, mescaline, peyote and cannabis became schedule 1 drugs in the USA
• Means no recognized medical value and high potential for abuse
• Studies done over the last 2 decades came to a halt
• The 2nd wave ends and it would be another 2 decades before we see it reemerge. 

WELCOME TO THE THIRD WAVE

• 1986 – MAPS multidisciplinary association for psychedelic studies founded
  • Non profit for research and education that develops medical, legal, and cultural contexts for people to benefit for the careful uses of psychedelics and cannabis
  • Developing psychedelics and marijuana into prescription medicines
  • Training therapists and working to establish a network of treatment centers
  • Supporting scientific research into spirituality, creativity, and neuroscience
  • Educating the public honestly about the risks and benefits of psychedelics and marijuana.
• 1990 – 1995 Rick Strassman worked with giving 60 volunteers injecting them with DMT and recorded the effects.
  • Findings are documented in his book, DMT: The Spirit Molecule (1991)
• 1999 Dr Roland Griffiths creates a research program at Johns Hopkins University to study the effects of psilocybin.
  • 2006 published a groundbreaking study showing that psilocybin can induce highly meaningful mystical experiences.
• 2006 researched published showing LSD and psilocybin can lessen intensity and frequency of cluster headaches
• 2009 – first clinical study on psilocybin carried out in the UK – the first in 40 years.
• 2011 published study showing psilocybin was effective at reducing anxiety in patients with severe and terminal cancer. 
• 2011 study demonstrates that MDMA was safe and effective for improving treatment resistant PTSD
• 2014 – brain scans showing psilocybin increases communication between areas of the brain that don’t normally communicate 
• 2016 – published images of how LSD affects the brain
• 2018 – study illustrates that ayahuasca leads to significant decreases in symptoms of depression
• 2019 – Imperial College, Johns Homkins both put tens of millions of dollars into launching research centers.
  • Both still carrying out research into what psychedelics reveal about consciousness and how these gifs can help treat conditions such as depression addiction and PTSD

WHAT IS DOSING?

• A buzz word you may here as you explore the world of psychedelics.
• Likely different meanings in different crowds.
• Let’s take a look at what we mean for our purposes.
  • Using a substance with intention

Let’s explore intentions…

• What one intends to:

• • Do
  • Bring out
  • Bring about
  • Address
  • Explore
• It’s…
  • An objective
  • An aim
  • An action of intending
  • A plan
  • A forethought of action

FOUR LEVELS OF DOSING

HEROIC

MACRO

MINI

MICRO

“At the lowest dose you see how much God loves you, if you take a bit more, you also see how much you love God, and if you take quite a bit more, then of course it gets pretty hard to disentangle exactly who you are and who God is.” Psychedelic Explorers Guide

WHY DO PEOPLE DOSE?

Most intentions fall in one of two categories

• Decrease the frequency and/or intensity of undesirable states of being 
• Improve or increase the frequency and/or intensity of a desirable state of being.

“Psychedelics, used responsibly and with proper caution, would be for psychiatry what the microscope has been for biology and medicine or the telescope is for astrology” David Nutt, a professor

Psychedelics and Serotonin

• Serotonin is one of the most critical neurotransmitters in the brain and affects nearly everything we do.
• LSD and psilocybin share similar structures and work along the same pathway.
• Stimulates serotonin 5-2a receptors
• Important serotonin receptors concentrated in the prefrontal cortex, digestive system and throughout the body. But mostly the prefrontal cortex.
• Prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain used for planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making and processing information from all other brain systems.
• When the receptors are stimulated it leads to two significant results
  • Like miracle grow for your brain.
  • The neurotransmitter most responsible for brain functions like cognition, learning and memory.
• Production of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)
• Increased transmission of glutamate.
• Although the relationship between BDNF and glutamate has some unknowns, we do know that having more of each leads to many reported benefits from microdosing.

Psychedelics and the Default Mode Network

• As mentioned previously, psychedelics enable parts of the brain to communicate with other parts of the brain 
• This is why we receive thoughts, perspectives and insights that would otherwise not happen
• Psychedelics quiet the activity in the overused part of our brain called the Default Mode Network (DMN).
  • Some studies suggest depression is linked to overactivity in the default mode network 
• Used for daydreaming, self reflection and thinking about past or future – like I said – overused.
• So putting it all together, Dr. James Fadiman suspects that microdosing works so well because it impacts the entire system much to the way that vitamin D impacts all our systems – it works, we just don’t yet understand why.

Depending on the substance and the type of experience you are seeking, there are different types of guides.

• TRIP SITTER – keeps one safe
• SPACE HOLDER – creates and holds the space while keeping one safe
• FACILITAOR – supports and navigates throughout the process from intake to integration (and everything in-between)
• SHERPA/SHAMAN – goes into the experience with you to navigate deeper realms of healing together.

In any circumstances, a person who supports a process being easier in:

• Safety
• Sovereignty
• Flow
• Depth
• Creating and sticking to and/or shifting intentions.

Working with me will provide you a space to co-create your protocol with someone who has many years of personal experience, as well as extensive training.

Together we will complete an extensive intake to ensure preparedness.

We will prepare your mind and body for your experience.

We will set your intentions

We will navigate through your journey/protocol with safety as our #1 priority.

And we will evaluate your experience, create an integration plan, eradicate what no longer serves you , create your life team and actualize the life you deeply desire.