Vipassana and DMT

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Aleks TK

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Nov 18, 2015, 2:12:55 AM11/18/15

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I had the pleasure of experimenting with NN-DMT last night. It should be noted that I had taken some LSD the previous night (there is a cross-tolerance) and I am currently on an SSRI (known to significantly reduce the effects of DMT). Therefore I hardly tripped in comparison to other people who took the same dosages, minor visuals. I was somewhat disappointed with my micro-dose experience, and on a whim I decided to try meditating. I was shocked by the results.

I was instantly able to meditate with more breadth and clarity than I have before. As if I could 'see' my thought process in a whole new way. Vibrations (discrete packets of experience in different senses, read the other posts to learn more) were obvious and flooded through my mind, and it was much easier to integrate and perceive several senses at the same time. I also began picking up on subtle experiences I often overlook. Packets of experience manifesting as my sense of 3D volume, subtle emotions fluctuations, and different aspects of thoughts (visualization and conceptual thinking) were more easily integrated into the rest of my field of experience.

Directly after taking DMT and beginning meditation I was under the impression that I was 'thrown-forward' in my meditation skill. I began experiencing what Daniel Ingram refers to as 'formations' (http://bit.ly/1HVFPfE) which involved perceiving my different senses (including thoughts and volume) as an integrated whole rather than the traditional flood of vibrations. Unlike when using LSD, my perception did having the side-effects of feeling 'unstable' or 'jumpy' and I was more easily able to enter deeper states of concentration.

During the apex of this experience it felt like I was clearly and consistently seeing the low-level implementation of several of the brain's algorithms dealing with attention, memory, and the way thoughts link together. However after the first ten minutes this experience faded (as did my ability to perceive formations) and I was back to quickly switching between vibrations in different experiences. [NOTE: 10 MINUTES IS THE AVERAGE TIME OF A TYPICAL DMT TRIP]

However for the next hour (as I continued meditating) I was still operating above my normal capacity. My field of experience seemed 'wider' (I am able to see more of it at once, especially touch / sight / hearing) and clearer, one could say the vibrations in my line of sight (with closed eyes) were 'brighter' and more discrete rather than muddled. I didn't skip as many vibrations when switching between the senses.

As I write this (a day later) I have just finished a meditation session (sober this time) and my perception still seems altered. My ability to meditate seems noticeably higher than normal, my field of experience is wider and clearer. I continue to more easily pick up on subtle mental objects such as thoughts, volume, sense of self—although not nearly as easily as perceiving sense-data. Vibrations are perceived effortlessly in touch, sight, and hearing. There is a constant ringing in my ear as sound is broken into different tiny parts and interlaced with packets from the other senses. Although I still 'drop' packets as my brain struggles to integrate these different aspects of experience.

Who knows whether the changes I am experiencing are actually a result of the DMT, or how long they will last. I do not have nearly enough experience meditating on DMT to know whether or not it actually allowed me to 'see' my thoughts in the way I have described—experiences I have only ever had inconsistently on high dosages LSD, with far more side effects.

One of the difficulties of combining vipassana and psychedelics is the lack of a baseline for comparison. Everyone in the community who is currently practicing vipassana is also taking psychoactive substances for other research purposes. We still don't know if these substances ultimately enhance or decrease our ability to practice insight meditation.

I think it would be useful to find individuals (probably outside the community) who would be willing to start practicing vipassana while sober and record daily logs. This would help us get a better idea of the altered states of consciousness vipassana induces, and the amount of practice needed to reach these stages.

At the same time members of the community (PJ and KayTwo, or anyone preferably not on an SSRI) might want to begin experimenting with micro-dosages of LSD and DMT for multi-week periods and observe the changes in their perception while meditating. Of course one should first practice for several weeks while sober in order to have a basis for comparison.

Vipassana is ultimately mindfulness meditation taken to the extreme, the point of which is to break up perception into microscopic detail. As the community is well aware, psychedelics also enhance mindfulness. If we can reliably repeat the experiences I had last night by combining skilled mediators with small dosages of DMT, it might have a lot to teach us about cognition.

Maybe or maybe not...I remain skeptical as always. But I think the combination is definitely worth investigating. What do you guys think? Let me know if you have any questions.