OK so I have a reasonable idea of some things that can be done to prevent anxiety and bad experiences, but what do you do if a bad experience results anyway and you realize its gonna be 3 hours of it?

I have read a few reports where people seem to indicate that there was nothing they could do but ride it out, and just be tormented and tortured the whole time. I assume with ego loss you wouldn't really have any understanding of how to calm things down, but what if its a milder trip and just for some reason not loving and enjoyable? Assuming you are coherent enough to remember that you took a drug, is there anything that is effective to change the direction to something more positive?

Like what if you are visited by entities and they want you to do something you really, really don't want to, and threaten you if you don't?

I guess in general I'm just curious what people have had success with when they were having a bad experience.... if anything.

With mushrooms and LSD I find classical bad trips can occur and leave one pretty helpless unless someone is around to talk them down a little.

With aya/pharma, IME it's much easier to let yourself go once you learn how to stop fighting the experience. It also depends a lot on what MAOI you're using. If I'm using a substance high in harmaline, my head can get quite foggy and it's easy to get into loops of confusion which can add to that bad trip effect. But I can honestly say with ayahuasca/THH I am still yet to witness that internal panic alarm.

In terms of nasty entities I find it's best to just look through them. I had an experience with 250mg rue extract and 150mg (3x my standard dose) DMT. I had this evil looking bone pierced tribesman burning with hatred for me staring directly into my eyes, be they open or closed. I was convulsing and shaking my head to try get him out of my mind, but with no luck. After 5 minutes of trying to spasm this being from my vision I just gave up, fell back and looked right at him as relaxed as I could. He melted straigh away and revealed his wise master... awesome

Attention to breath, reciting one's intentions (set strong intentions before a journey!), mantra/song, reminding yourself that everything is transient (easier said than done)... If you do have a sitter, something as simple as someone holding your hand can go for miles.

Breath is #1! Remain still and calm, fighting makes it 1000% worse.

Also, avoid stimulants.

as simplistic as this sounds, this little trick has enabled me to have well over a thousand journeys fear-free. not to say that it hasn't tried to encroach, i'm simply saying that with this little gem i've been able to nip any 'bad trip' straight in the bud...

the trick:

say yes.

that's right. say yes. say it in your mind and, if you can control your physical suit, say it with your mouth as well. everything that comes to you, looks at you, threatens you, confuses you.....say yes. the act of saying yes effectively makes whatever you are experiencing a positive process. good/bad, fear/love.....these dualities are all the construct of the ego.

you can view all moods, attitudes, feelings, etc. as colors if you like. when you are flying through the landscape of the psyche (DMT hyperspace), it is simply an undulating, constantly changing ocean of colors. the associations we give things....well.....i hate to say it but that is your ego trying to discern notable differences. that's the ego's job. to differentiate. to separate.

in hyperspace, we practice the lost art of 'non-separation'. the attempt to see all that we have splintered returned to it's perfect whole. this includes our tiny shard of identity which we have grown so attached to in this density...

say yes to everything you see. ESPECIALLY the scary stuff. it is you and it must be embraced with the same love as the 'love stuff' you come upon. love all colors equally and you have taken a huge step forward in your work with the molecule.

with the deepest love and gratitude!!

Ant, your brilliance shines like the sun!!!

I say yes to that

That is some sound advice, Ant. I am definitely going to remember that one.

I also like what Art van said to someone in another thread. Listening to tones like this one can really help you focus on something if things start to go wrong:

http://goldring.wetpaint...or+369+Hz+Inner+Harmony

Thank you for this thread and for all of the advice given.

I've been having a lot of pre-flight anxiety lately and going to some REALLY weird places and I think the anxiety is causing the unpleasantness.

I start getting the feeling that the spirits are getting agitated with my reluctance to let go and that gets me in an even weirder head space.

I think I'm going to do some chakra meditations and grounding exercises before I attempt to blast off in the future.

When I have a rough experience with changa or any psyche for that matter I just try to think of how much I love everything in existence and try to imagine that love permeating everything around me as it inflates to include the universe, by the end of imagining that I am usually smiling again and feeling warm and fuzzy.

In my experience, there is no getting away from fear in a high dose oral trip. The mind can go in to chaos and confusion, and the body can get confused as well. I think it's the interaction between the maoi and the dmt, as I've found smoked trips to be not similar to oral trips. There is no way out. I've found that the body and mind react on their own, whether I want to do anything about it or not. I've been terrified on oral trips, but I just lie there like nothing is wrong. When I'm at the peak of it, I can sense that it's just energy running through me, and my body and mind deal with it in its own way... it plays out as my trip. There's nothing I can do about it. I guess that's a form of acceptance, but there are times when my body or mind says to get scared, so I do. And the fear just feels like the body's way of dealing with this energy that's going throgh it. Who am I to direct this energy that's become more powerful than my will? I am floored and flat on my face. Let it do it's thing and just keep breathing.

I've found the best thing to do is just close your eyes and lie down. But then.... there are times when I feel commanded to open my eyes and look around to scan the environment and get my bearings and keep myself conscious. When that happens, I just listen to the body. The last dmt trip I got scared and I encountered a mocking voice telling me, "you fool... did you really think you could do something like this and not get scared. Sorry, but fear and bad stuff is a part of life. Get used to it and face me."

To me, there's little point in trying to remember anything safe and comfortable because in a confused state, you forget what you're supposed to be doing anyway. One minute you're focussed, the next you're gone, and it can come to a point where the thing that was supposed to give you comfort, just becomes confusion itself... and that is really scary. If it comes to a point where you don't even know what you're supposed to be doing anymore, or who you are, how are you going to calm yourself down? You'll start grasping at something, and then realize you don't know what you're grasping for. But, general survival instinct still remains even in the most confused states. I know I need to breathe, I know I need to avoid predators, or attacks, and I know that in my intoxicated weakened state, my best bet is to just lie down and avoid all conflict, plus I can barely walk anyway. So I just lie there and keep breathing, and wait for something familiar to come along. But even then, you can still get scared. When I get really confused and think I might actually be dying, I tell myself, "just keep breathing, and you'll be fine"... but then sometimes it gets to a point where even my breathing becomes hard to focus on, and I'm not sure if I am really breathing right, or if I'm on my way out. What are you going to do when you're not even certain about your most basic function? You'll have nothing else to turn to for comfort. The only thing you'll have to turn to for comfort is if you manage to remember that people aren't dying from taking dmt, and you are probably just imagining that you're dying. But that probably won't provide you with much comfort because everything in you will be telling you that you're dying, so unless you're cool with that, you better try as hard as you can to stay alive because there is nothing else for you to do at that moment.

But of course, you wouldn't be the first person to think they're dying while on a psychedelic. That just seems to be a common experience among users, but people live through it. I don't know of anyone dying fom ayahuasca. Eventually, something familiar comes along, it doesn't matter what it is. I'll look up and notice something about the sky and realize what time it is, and realize, "YES!! I just made a logical conclusion, I'm starting to remember my senses". The body and mind will go through its own natural process of losing itself, getting confused, and eventually coming back to normalcy. It will happen on its own.

The best thing to do to avoid panic is to be in a place where you won't have to deal with anyone or anything. But even in the safest environment, your body and mind WILL go in to chaos if you take a high enough dose. Just make sure you are in a place where you won't have to deal with any distractions because in your intoxicated state, having to deal with anything will be extremely difficult and probably very.... un-nerving.

wow man thats some words of wisdom..

I dont have any dmt experience but i can say that what is a strong dosage of mushrooms can be nice in one situation, and a bad trip in another situation. Escpecially in group tripping, if negativity is creeping up on you and you cant change your attention, then you might want to change the setting. Go for a walk in the parc. Change of scenery/company does magic.


It should always be priority to prevent bad trips. Not only for safety. Bad trips are a waste imo.

Bad trips? Try drawing and painting. Put on your favorite music and then get to work. Amongst other media, I used to paint with flourescent watercolors under a desktop blacklight...just painting what comes to mind. Lots of people asked for the resultant artworks ... some even offered to buy them! Be assured I have near-zero artistic ability when my receptors are firing normally.

Very good thread w/ some great posts/replies.
I especially got a lot from Antrocles' post.
Thanks for sharing everyone.

Apoc has some good advice, please remember it.


1. Don't Panic!

2. Remember to drink plenty of water in order to help the chemicals pass through your system.

3. When you are laying down and remaining as calm as you can, keep blankets around to cover/uncover as needed to keep your body's temperature comfortable.

4. Remind yourself that you have ingested a drug and that the effects you are experiencing will pass.

5. After a few hours you might drink some milk and have a few bites of food to help your metabolism move things along.


ant's post reminded me of this song.

Antrocles nailed it:

Don't fight it,
SURRENDER

I agree with Antrocles in a sense, but simply put by Camdemonium as "Don't fight it, SURRENDER".

Whenever SWIM has came across entity's that try to attack or do something I don't want done, I just merge with them, or go through them. Never fight them though, cause that just seems like fighting yourself.

But as for calming before the experience starts, I recommend a bowl of mary j. Mediation and mary j have done wonders for people I have guided through an experience and for myself.

Weather it be for the flight anxiety or just to relax before hand, I definitely recommend it.

From my own personal research and experiences, I have come to the conclusion that THC, THH, and DMT mixed together makes for a very good experience.

I don't think anyone has anything to worry about though. Even if you were to have a bad experience, the best thing I could think of is, that's when you need to go right back and get over your fear.