A Practical Guide To An Enriching Psychedelic Experience
“We cannot solve a problem with the same consciousness that created the problem” – Einstein
Psychedelics offer a doorway to entirely new dimensions of consciousness and creativity, but crossing this threshold without proper preparation can be disorienting or even dangerous.
If you feel called to explore these visionary realms, this guide offers essential advice to maximize your insights and growth while minimizing risk.
With the right set and setting, these substances can bring about deep healing, inspire brilliant problem solving and induce mystical states of oneness with the universe.
Let this guide illuminate the path so you can travel boldly – with or without a coach – into the wonderful world of psychedelics.
With love,
Floris Wolswijk & Lotte Boekhout
★★★★★
“Although the past has not changed, I am more rooted in the present. “
Alperen, 26
Content
Chapter 1
An introduction to the world of psychedelics –
What are psychedelics and how do they work?
Chapter 2
The Practical Preparation – How can you
carefully prepare yourself for the experience?
Chapter 3
The Intentional Preparation – How can you
mentally emotionally prepare?
Chapter 4
A psychedelic experience – What can you
expect during the trip?
Chapter 5
The Integration – How do you retain the experience in
everyday life?
“My experience is that in the session you go much deeper into the ‘why’, precisely where in everyday life I focus much more on the ‘how’.” – Simon, 27 ★★★★★
How to Use This Guide.
This guide is designed to be used flexibly depending on your needs and interests. Feel free to go to the sections that seem most relevant or useful to you. It is not necessary to read the guide from beginning to end in one sitting.
The guide is intended to provide knowledge and tools to enrich your psychedelic experiences before, during and after a session. We recommend returning to the various sections over the course of days or weeks as you prepare for and integrate a psychedelic experience.
Take time to explore practices and perspectives. Integrate the lessons through reflection and experience. This guide is intended as an ongoing reference work to help you on your psychedelic journey, whenever you need it.
Chapter 1
An Introduction To The World Of Psychedelics – What Are Psychedelics And How Do They Work?
Psychedelics have been used for centuries, and in recent decades their use has become more widespread than ever before. In this chapter you will get a brief introduction to what psychedelics are, the various types and their various uses. In addition, you will learn about psilocybin-containing truffles: what they are, possible health risks, the effects you can expect, and the positive benefits they can provide.
1.1 What are psychedelics?
Psychedelics are substances that enable a person to perceive and experience the world differently. The awareness of time and space can change. During a trip, everything a person sees, smells and feels may differ from normal waking consciousness. Colors are more vivid and things often seem to move. Psychedelics provide access to other layers of consciousness. They are powerful “consciousness enhancers” that can be used for many purposes.
The history of psychedelics
Psychedelic mushrooms and plants are found throughout the world and have a long history of ritual use. In many indigenous cultures, psychedelics are revered as sacraments and used in rituals to promote health, strengthen social cohesion and connect with the spiritual world. The use of psychedelics is fully integrated into these societies and often plays a central role.
The recent history of psychedelics in the West begins with the first synthesis of the drug LSD. In 1938, scientist Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD. It was only years later, in 1943, that he discovered the substance’s powerful effects on the human psyche. In the following years, new interest in psychedelics peaked.
The potential of psychedelics seemed enormous – not only for expanding the “healthy” mind, but also for treating psychiatric disorders. Early research on treatments with psychedelics showed promising results. The treatments were increasingly used in psychiatry. However, research was halted when measures were taken to curb drug use.
Today, psychedelics have made a comeback in science. After a radio silence of more than 50 years, psychedelic research is back on the global scientific agenda.
Different types of psychedelics
Psychedelics are a diverse group of psychoactive substances known for their ability to induce altered states of consciousness. The following are some of the most common types of psychedelics:
Different types of psychedelics
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring substance found in mushrooms. It is known for its mild to potent hallucinogenic effects with colorful visions. Psilocybin is often chosen for its psychological benefits, including its ability to promote deep emotional and spiritual insights. It is often used in therapeutic settings to help people increase their sense of connection with themselves and others. A psilocybin trip usually lasts 4 to 6 hours.
LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide)
LSD is a synthetic substance best known for its strong hallucinogenic effects. It can cause intense visual and auditory hallucinations. LSD is often considered a more potent psychedelic drug that can offer a longer and more intense experience. It is often used for deep self-reflection, personal growth and spiritual development. An LSD trip can last from 6 to 12 hours, depending on the dosage.
DMT (Dimethyltryptamine)
DMT is a powerful hallucinogen that occurs naturally in various plants and even in the human body. It is known for its brief but very intense experiences, often described as entering another reality or encounters with entities. DMT is used as a means of promoting deep spiritual insights. A DMT trip usually lasts only a few minutes, but can feel like much longer because of its intensity. DMT is also used as a major component of ayahuasca, a traditional brew from the Amazon region. The DMT is then combined with other plants.
Mescaline (in Peyote and San Pedro)
Mescaline is a naturally occurring substance found primarily in certain cacti such as Peyote and San Pedro. It often produces a prolonged, psychedelic experience with intense visual distortions. Mescaline is often used in traditional rituals of indigenous peoples because of its spiritual experiences and a sense of connection to nature or the universe.
The above psychedelics are just a few examples. In this guide, for example, we will not discuss MDMA and ketamine because they are not considered classic psychedelics. Both do contain psychoactive effects but their their their mechanisms and experiences differ from those of classic psychedelics.
1.2 Psychedelic Truffles
In this guide, we focus specifically on psychedelic experiences with psilocybin truffles – which we also use in sessions at FLO Coaching. Psilocybin truffles are known for their beneficial effects on gaining deep psychological and spiritual insights.
Psychedelic truffles are legally for sale in stores in the Netherlands. Truffles contain the same active substances (alkaloids) as magic mushrooms: psilocybin.
Although psychedelic mushrooms were banned in the Netherlands in 2008, truffles do not fall under the Opium Act because they are not mushrooms. Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of the fungus that grow above ground, while truffles grow underground. It is illegal to dry or process the truffles.
For healthy people, using psilocybin truffles poses little to no physical risk. The toxicity of psilocybin is so low that you would have to eat about 1.7 kg of dried (or 17 kg of fresh) mushrooms to possibly be at risk. Unlike alcohol, for example, it does not cause physical dependence.
In research settings, virtually no long-term negative effects have been reported when using psilocybin, after more than 2,000 sessions conducted since the year 2000.
1.3 Contraindications
For healthy people, the use of psilocybin truffles carries little to no physical risk. However, use of psychedelics is not recommended for individuals with underlying psychiatric or somatic problems. Unfortunately, a psychedelic experience with truffles is not appropriate if the factors listed below are present:
- The use of antidepressants
- The use of antipsychotics
- A psychiatric condition
- A (family) history of psychosis, dissociation
- A (family) history of a manic episode
- A family member with schizophrenia
- A history of epileptic seizures
- A history of cardiovascular disease
- High blood pressure/hypertension
- When pregnant or breastfeeding
The risks of using truffles lie mainly in possible psychological side effects. Using psychedelics can be particularly risky for people with a vulnerability to psychosis, as a trip can trigger psychosis. Also, people with a (diagnosed) mental illness, such as PTSD or depression, may experience intense emotions during a psychedelic experience, making them vulnerable to possible negative experiences.
Medication
The use of psilocybin is not recommended with certain medications such as SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) and MAO inhibitors (Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors). These medications are often prescribed for depression and anxiety. SSRIs, for example, can interact with psychedelics in several ways. They can reduce the strength of a trip, requiring higher doses for the same effect. Also, combining them can increase the risk of serotonin syndrome, a potentially life-threatening condition. If you are doing a guided session with a guide it is essential to provide your guide with a complete list of all medications and supplements you are taking.
If any of the above factors apply, from FLO coaching, we strongly advise against a psychedelic experience. If you choose to have a coach or guide during your trip, it is important to inform this person of your physical and mental health. A good guide, even on group retreats, will always conduct a screening. If not, alarm bells should be ringing.
1.4 The effects of psychedelic truffles
Psilocybin truffles offer access to other layers of consciousness. Exactly what that means must be experienced to truly understand. Characteristics of a psychedelic experience are difficult to put into words. But many people experience a different sense of time and space. What you see, hear, smell and feel may also differ from normal. Thoughts become associative and emotions are more easily experienced. For many people, it opens doors to profound self-reflection and spiritual experiences.
Usual (mild) effects:
- More information seems to enter through the senses: colors, smells and sounds are perceived more intensely
- Objects seem to move and undulate as if they were breathing
- You perceive moving geometric patterns with eyes closed
- Thoughts become associative
- Time is experienced differently
- Muscle relaxation, physical relaxation
- Emotions can be more easily experienced or amplified
- Meaningful insights about one’s own life can be experienced because it can be looked at from a different perspective
Strong effects:
- Reliving past events (pleasant or unpleasant). The events can be experienced from the perspective of the present self as well as the past self.
- Seeing geometric patterns with open eyes
- Perceiving strong visual and/or auditory distortions. For example, faces may change. Sound may sound slower or faster, softer or louder.
- One’s own consciousness, time and space are perceived very differently. This can be very pleasant, but also very alienating.
- With eyes closed, visions may occur. These may be dreamlike images of unknown places and mythological creatures.
- Feeling a deep sense of connection: with loved ones, with people or living beings in general or with the earth as a whole
Very strong effects:
- No longer feeling where one’s own consciousness ends and another’s begins
- Experiencing a total dissolution of the boundaries of one’s own consciousness. Like being a drop in the ocean.
- A euphoric sense of eternity, where time no longer seems to exist
- Experiencing what it is like to die. This is also described/interpreted as the death of the ego. Often (but not always) this experience is followed by a sense of “rebirth. This experience can be frightening, but if you manage to surrender to it and let it happen, it can be a particularly transformative experience.
Body and mind
The body and mind are inseparable, and this is evident during a psychedelic experience. Physical effects may also occur during the experience. These often involve the release of stored tension or emotions. Limbs may twitch, tears may flow, the body may make jerky movements or grimaces may appear on the face.
Most people who use psychedelics do not usually experience such effects as unpleasant. It may also be that the psychedelic experience makes you aware of certain stored emotions or tensions. In such a case, you may experience temporary pain, cramps or pressure in sensitive areas of your body.
Such physical effects of psychedelics are almost always psychosomatic (i.e. caused by the brain, not a physical emergency) and can have an important healing function. Dose is not a reliable indicator of a psychosomatic trip: it can occur at both lower and higher doses.
The intensity of the experience
The effects and intensity of a psychedelic experience are difficult to predict. Several factors influence the intensity of the experience. The dosage plays a major role; in general, the higher the dosage, the more intense the experience.
However, dosage is not all-important for intensity. The person’s metabolism and sensitivity also have an influence, as do previous experiences with other states of consciousness.
Some people may find the intensity of the experience overwhelming or frightening, especially in the beginning when the effects begin to take effect. However, careful preparation, the presence of an experienced guide and a safe environment have a great deal of influence on how you can cope with the intensity of the experience.
The degree to which a person can surrender to the experience is a crucial factor. The more you can surrender to what you encounter, the less tension you experience. This allows you to go deeper into your own process and get more out of the experience.
1.5 What are the positive effects of psychedelics?
In recent years, more and more research has been done on functioning in the brain. To explain this well, we use the metaphor of a busy city with different neighborhoods. Normally, some neighborhoods talk to each other a lot, while others are a little quieter.
The Default Mode Network (DMN) is one such area of your brain that is always busy. This is the part in the brain that worries about the future, thinks about the past, makes plans and daydreams.
When you take psychedelics, something special happens in your brain. It is as if new pathways are created between neighborhoods that normally don’t talk to each other very often. The neighborhood that peaks (DMN) becomes quieter, while other parts of the city begin to communicate more with each other. So different connections are made between different parts of the brain.
In short, psychedelics help your brain work in a different way. It makes new connections and allows certain parts to become quieter. It’s like freshening up and creating new pathways for smooth communication between different parts of your brain. Below, you can look at yourself, your life and the world with fresh eyes.
Psychedelics and mental health
Much has been written in the media recently about psychedelics as medicine for various mental disorders. The potential of psychedelics is great. After all, many mental problems are related to having rigid patterns (OCD, depression, trauma) that may be broken.
There is currently a great deal of research on psychedelics in a therapeutic setting, for virtually all psychiatric conditions. The results are particularly promising in the treatment of PTSD and depression.
Research into the treatment of PTSD with MDMA (an “entactogen,” not a classic psychedelic) is currently in its final phase. This has shown that a large group of people, 67%, have significantly reduced PTSD symptoms after intensive counseling.
Psychedelics and coaching
Although it is not yet possible in the Netherlands (and many other countries) to use psychedelics therapeutically for psychological complaints, recent studies show promising effects of psychedelics on, among other things, the functioning of the brain. This creates an exciting combination of psychedelics and coaching, with both methods striving to increase psychological flexibility.
Coaching focuses on creating a rich and meaningful life aligned with your deepest values, while psychedelics support this process by enabling the brain to make new connections.
This guide focuses on conscious, enriching and deepening psychedelic experiences. In the following chapters, we explain how to achieve this, both with and without the guidance of a psychedelic guide. First, however, take time to reflect on this consideration. A guided session offers numerous advantages.
The role of the guide is to accompany you in the preparation, during the experience itself and in the integration afterwards. They take care of all practical matters, so you are completely unburdened. This gives a relaxed and safe feeling, allowing you to better open up to the experience and dive deeper into your inner world.
The Ideal Setting
At FLO Coaching, we offer the ideal setting for an individual psychedelic truffle journey. Our sessions are designed for curious people who want to gain deeper insights with the help of a changing state of consciousness.
We provide a safe and responsible environment so that you can fully surrender to the experience. With our careful preparation and focus on integration, we provide a journey that is not only safe, but deeply transformative.
Chapter 2
The Practical Preparation – How Can You Carefully Prepare Yourself for the Experience?
Coming soon
All the chapters are already available in the ebook. Download the ebook to read them.
