I started doing a cold brew of caapi with about 1g/5oz in batches of a gallon recently. With maya's white, this was wonderful. But I'm trying a new bunch of caapi from another source, and it's not strong enough so I'm currently soaking a bit at 1g/3oz to see how that goes.

Grind it up, add bottled water, shake when you walk by it, and strain through a funnel with cotton balls after a day or two.

I don't like boiling it, no hard proof that there's any difference except what it feels like. Batches that I don't drink within two week start to taste sour (fermenting? fungal growth?) so with my next bit @ 1g/3oz I'm gonna just do a half gallon.

Drink a whole cup to feel what that's like, then try half a cup and sip the other half throughout the day, get a thermos and sip it from sun rise til sun set, try doing using more or less than a cup, etc, until you find what you like for your desired effects. I've been working on finding the right amount and rate to plateau the micro-effects throughout the day and come off it into relaxation in the evening. More than a little bit of coffee with caapi makes me tired, but I've found that I don't really need any coffee when I've got caapi.




I developed some serious memory issues among other things a while back and went on a thorough "brain diet" which I consider to have been very successful. I'm youngish, so I didn't get into everything on the market as a lot of it is for people who are a bit older and it just plain won't work for kids (people under 50). Keep in mind this is just what I found to work for me, and everything works differently for everybody, but I've outlined what I found to work best with minimal changes to personality and largely positive changes in mood:

If you're into regrowing your brain, I totally recommend looking in to acetyl-L-carnitine, or "ALCAR". Bulk powder is cheapest.

Find some legit fish oil, like companies that have reliable content, and add that to the ALCAR regimen. You may want to try to get a proper ratio of omega-3 to omega-6, I don't know if that has been proven to matter but it's still a detail to consider. I've heard that flax is considered by some to be not a good choice because of it's overabundance in n-3, but I've also heard other people swear by it.

B-Complex is incredibly useful fuel for neurogenesis, and also provides a bit of mental energy. There's some hoopla about vitamins not being bio-available, but that's refering to the generic crap on the shelf at your local supermarket. Check the literature, maybe some forums, to find whatever form is all the rave these days. I remember reading about n-acetylated vitamins being awesome, and also that they were less than good. Probably studies funded by conflicting marketing departments and my knowledge of biology is still budding.

Ginkgo biloba's great in general, goes well with most nootropics because it gets more blood flowing in the brain.

Nothing has done more for me than regular biking.


Brain Diet:
ALCAR
Omega-3/Omega-6 (fish oil or flax)
B-Complex
Ginkgo biloba
Exercise 3-5 times a week
Sleep 8 hours at the same time each night
Eat 3-4 meals a day, minimize junk and balance the healthy stuff



Aaand for those who do the mdma thang, piracetam the day after is supposed to work wonders (but not miracles). Can't speak from experience though, just stuff I've seen round the net.

I've just used piracetam by itself for all the crap it's supposed to be good at, some of which it is slightly effective for, but overall it made me a bit of an asshole - thus it and a few others are not included in the list above. Everything effects everyone differently and all that. Exercise did everything I wanted the piracetam to in one way or another, to a greater degree.





Someone I used to know had aya sessions once to twice a week was quite happy, and were member to no church (case study, I know). They said they did not adhere to a dosage amount or schedule. Plants used were caapi or rue combined with mimosa or chaliponga, a selection of any/all of the four.

From talking to them about their journies, I'd say the happiness was a product of psychological self-examination. That's just my personal opinion on that though, they vehemently disagreed when we discussed it. They moved recently, but over the month before the holidays they said they were tapering off their sessions because they were getting too excited with the things they could do with their time. I haven't wanted to bother them lately so they can get settled in to their new abode.

Microdosing Caapi feels great. It is important to cycle on/off weeks, though.

Personally, I just take a tiny splash (1/4 tsp or so) of normally reduced brew for ceremony, and take it with a shot of almond milk (yum, actually!).

It immediately feels like golden light flowing from my crown, through my arms... wonderful clarity, openness, energy. Very euphoric in small doses.

Bacopa

Beautiful medicine. Try it.


Or you can try this....

Bacopa powder

....and experiment with a cold-water infusion technique.

Yes, it is important, I feel, to take a break from daily Caapi use.

2-3 weeks on 1 week off it how I usually do it.

Also I am noticing that many people are taking larger amounts (10g day) than I do. This is fine, and I'm truly glad it works for you, but please know that with good vine, 10grams prepared properly can fully or almost fully inhibit the MAO's in your body, so please take care what you put into your body after drinking the vine.

I find that brewing up 2-4g/day (1 large batch for a week or two at a time) is more than sufficient...others may need more or less. I use a small splash of vinegar, a very small splash, per brewing.

I have also recently found that if you get powdered vine, a teaspoon full of the raw vine, washed down with a nice glass of warm something is MORE effective than a tea. It also seems to last a bit longer. I don't know if I can recommend this for long term useage, but for a quick pickup out of the dumps, it works great.

I'm really glad to see that people are using Caapi with good effect.

Also, I see members trying to compare pharma MAOI's to Caapi. I'm not sure if this an apples to apples type of comparison.

When I take raw harmala's especially THH, I notice an antidepressant effect within a day or two. It may just be that these RIMA's have a different effect on the system than pharma MAOI's, or they don't need weeks to build up in your bloodstream like pharma MAOIs.

Or it may just be another mystery with the Caapi vine. Why does it work so well at lifting the human spirit?

Wow this is a great thread! after reading about caapi and its maois i came to the same conclusion as the OP. i have been scouring the internet for more info about this and how to take caapi regularly. At the moment i have only an ounce of dried caapi leaves and have been smoking it in a 100% caapi joint. Is this an efficient way to get Mao inhibition? I have seen that making a brew is much more powerful, efficient and its my understanding that it is a hallucinogen in its own right. Is there a recipe for a tea or brew using caapi leaves? I would love to make a tea to drink as i prefer not to smoke. Would a simple boiling water and caapi leaves work for full mao inhibition?

No, smoking a joint of the leaves is not going to provide full MAO-inhibition, however it is a wonderful way of working with Caapi. You do not need full inhibition to get the healing affects from the plant.

Micro-dosing is about NOT reaching full MAO-inhibition...but if that's what you are aiming for just buy some Caapi vine and use 20g-50g...that will inhibit those MAO's BUT large doses of Caapi by herself are not as pleasant as microdosing. Caapi gets a bit unpleasant at high doses without the addition of "the light" (dmt).

Caapi leaf tea is yummy, and will give you some healing affects...but you're get more from smoking it.

Get some vine, for microdosing I usually suggest anywhere from 2-10g made into a tea. Doseage depends on A) stregnth of the vine B) individual sensitivity.

Do the same benefit's from daily usage of caapi apply to other sources of harmala alkaloïds like passionflower, as well?

Brother Antrocles, so glad to hear that you're off the SSRIs!

Based off everything I've been hearing from my co-worker, getting an inversion table and hanging upside down everyday may just be the best thing you could do for rapid brain recovery. I have one on order, should be getting in a week, so I'll keep you updated to what I feel from it.

Also, keep in mind that more (like 3-4x more) neurotransmitters are produced in the abdominal brain then in the brain in your head, so things like probiotics can help a lot. Getting colonics with a real good colon hydrotherapist can also make a massive difference in one's intestinal health.

: )

JM

We don't know, my guess is probably not as much if at all. No real studies have been done on passionflower and depression (that I am aware of).

I have tried a passionflower dieta...using no other herbs for a couple of weeks. I did not notice an antidepressant effect...well that's not true, about 15 minutes after ingestion to 2hours past ingestions there was a nice, relaxing, minor euphoria that was present...after 2 hours it was gone...no long lasting effects were noted.

I do know however that passionflower has a broader profile of alkaloids (not all MAOI's), it is much more sedating than Caapi, and has fewer harmala alkaloids per/g than Caapi does.