I think we should start a thread discussing all the methods we have for dealing with:

"OH MY GOD, I AM NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN!!"
"OH MY GOD, SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH MY BREATHING!!"
"OH MY GOD, I AM GOING TO DIE!!"

Now... we all know these things aren't true, BUT, they can be *pretty convincing* in the moment.

For me, flying far over the edge and realizing that I came back alive--at the highest moments of death, insanity, pollution, and hyper-awareness of breathing (which my mind MISTOOK as labored breathing)--conquered the fear.

One thing that comes up a lot is heart/breath "irregularities." I had a particularly intense Ayahuasca experience (so I had the pleasure of the freakout going on for hours) where I thought my breath was fucked. Every single inhale was a struggle to breathe. I called for my sitter. It felt like a battle for life and death.

Finally, when I could talk, the first thing I asked was, "What did my breathing sound like?!?!"

I was **ABSOLUTELY NORMAL** and ALL VITALS WERE FINE! No sweating, no temperature, no labored breathing, normal pulse (sitter held my hand and sat with me).

This was not what my mind experienced at all; I wonder, if it was, in a way--since DMT takes me so often back to birth--if I was reliving that struggle for "the first breath."

I had a weird experience with heart perception that was all completely a matter of hyper-awareness, rather than real physical complications. A lot of people talk about chest sensations.

Barring preexisting physical conditions and wrong drug combinations, Aya/pharma/spice seems to redirect the awareness in ways we may mistake for physical death.

Aside from the whole psychological/ego death.

So, after I had the bejeezus scared out of me, any challenging experience could simply be guided by breathing deeply, slowly, and deliberately from the stomach.

I like to sing the Gayatri Mantra sometimes when I am scared, too. That's a beautiful bit of words for me. And, my subconscious mind grabs the Hail Mary sometimes.

Breath, mantra, and remembering/interfacing with intentions are key to guiding a terrifying experience, as well as keeping people free from freakouts and pulling a Mr. Nebraska.

More thoughts, please? This can be a great reference for a lot of people.

yeah.

ms_manic_minxx,

I'm in the thick of it so this seems relevant. It is an individual problem/journey and cannot be solved by an outsider or an internet thread. But, having said that, I do feel that the support, experience and insights that the Nexus offers on these topics is very interesting and helpful.

BTW, who is Mr. Nebraska?

Peace & Love,
Pandora

Making sure people are aware their perception of their body's functions will be altered during the trip is very important. Breathing will feel odd but if you are aware in advance its much easier to deal with. If the sitter knows about it even better.

Dreamer took to having friends hold his heart and lsiten to his breathing when he smoked. They said his breathing seemed normal, but his heart rate did increase noticeably.

This has always concerned dreamer... the absence of this sudden heartrate increase is one of many reasons why he has moved towards oral use now. Sure it's safe and all that, but he doesn't like the thought of it. Did the studies show an increase in heartrate?

I'm pretty sure this topic is what she's referring to.


I'm not sure what studies you're referring to, but a faster heartbeat only seems logical to me.

Blasting off into hyperspace = psychological stress

psychological stress = more rapid heart rate

With oral, I've found that a Voyager may hum a single tone to help center themselves. Focus everything on this gentle vibration.

To find one that is pleasant, try sliding the pitch up and down until one resonates comfortably. Breathe in slowly and deeply, softly exhale on this note. Repeat. After some time, however long, another comfortable note may be found.


Smoked spice or jungle is another creature entirely, I can't offer much beyond the assurance that strange is most definitely normal.

Maybe remember that the mind returns to familiar functioning in 15-20 minutes and our reality aligns itself largely in within an hour.

I like the hyper-sensitivity to bodily functions view, it seems most appropriate.

My heart beat changes from none at all to a strong increase in rate, and the apparent irregularities in rhythm are most probably a product of subjective time dilation (the split second between beats may 'seem' to increase/decrease from beat to beat, etc).

Sweating can happen, but doesn't always.

Your body will breathe, trust in this.

"Try to not let these things of the body distract anything. You are and will be fine."


EDIT: Just read this blurb in another thread called Fear, kind of relevant to this topic and well put:

Great thread topic. Next time I journey with smoked DMT, I will try a blindfold. It seems the freakout occurs as I try to reconcile the two worlds. You are 100 percent right when you say the fear turns into panic when you think that you have forgot to breathe. Then there is THAT PLACE that it takes me that I've been to before on high doses of nitrous or salvia - and that place is deep and it feels I shouldn't be there. So there is a lot going on here that can induce psychological discomfort. I really can't believe how hesitant I am to go back to hyperspace considering that I am able to handle high doses of other psychedelics.

Even a cigarette will boost your heartrate almost instantly... If you are realy stressed about it get one of those vital sign monitor thingies..



You could get one off ebay for like $10 I bet.

I think it was mentioned in Spirit molecule, that they ended up haveing to buy blindfolds for the very reasons you mention, some people have a hard time when they open their eyes too early, I think it was a very high statistical group... enough for them to go buy blindfolds.

^^

I can't quite make out the above image..~~~is that a six?~~~



I find that if I allow myself to panic BEFORHAND and just get it out of the way first then things go smoother.
I also am a big believer in the predose warm up toke. It does so many things to help.

~ Reminds you of the place you are going and the sense of familiarity is definitely soothing.
~ Gets all of the negs out of the way first. I can only speak for myself, but I go through a bit of a gauntlet before I experience any healing. I call it the purity phase and it involves the psychic house cleaning that is needed to ensure happy travels. I am reminded that while I am a puny human in a viral collective of close to seven billion I am also worth loving in the eyes of the universe that saw fit to create me. Just a balancing of facts versus ego.


Also worth trying beforehand:

~ Deep breathing and finding the bodies rhythm.
~ Focusing on my third eye. Whether it exists or not isn't important(Benzyme or Burnt). Before I ever knew what a third eye was while meditating I always found it easier to attain a heightened state of awareness when my eyes were sort of 'rolled back' up into my head. Why? I don't know. Coincidence? You decide.
~ Intent of surrender first, knowledge second. I feel that true knowledge comes from the sharp contrast between the phases of knowing(before), unknowing(during) and knowing(after). An eclipsing, if you will, of one against the other.
And without surrender, the UNknowing cant happen.


Namaste,

Espiridion
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