Could you all please define a DMT Breakthrough in your own words. It seems from what I read, there is some grey area on what a BT really is. Is it when there is absolutely no contact w/ reality, all OBE? Or can it be less intense than this?

N,N-Dimethyltryptamine breakthrough - A phenomenological experience that transcends as well as overtakes normal reality to the point where it does not matter whether your eyes are open or closed.

Short + Sweet

Personally Ive still been able to talk (Usually I just say I love you over and over) and press my palms together and things so it's not an OBE per se, but everything is completely different. It's very hard to articulate. One must experience it for themselves.

For SWIM, the breakthrough can have very, very different phenomenological effects, sometimes losing sense of the body sometimes staying with it. For her, the only consistent quality is a sense of phase change, like going from a gas to a liquid, where there's a sharp defining line between breaking through and coming back but still tripping very hard.

Another funny thing about breakthroughs, which live up to their name, is they seem to break through the previous notion of what a breakthrough was. This evolution of experience indicates a mechanism of growth, as if it's an engine driving consciousness forward in a way.

There is no clear definition of the word. Experiences can vary in so many ways.

It usually means that the effects of the psychedelic you´ve taken override your normal sensory perception, wich can lead to OBE´s, experiences of other worlds that feel very real, etc.

You´re flooded with psychedelic input until you will no longer stay afloat in normal reality, but 'go under' (often it also feels that way, especially at the beginning).

Vaporised DMT also acts quickly and because of this has an extra 'stunning' dimension to it.

But oral psychedelic´s like shrooms, mescaline, ayahuasca and ibogaine can also be this intense and overpowering, though less rapid.

You'll know it when it happens. That's honestly the best and worst 'defining' anyone can do for you.

As some have already said, there are certain symptoms that creep up rather quickly that can let you know you're about to breakthrough, but a pretty easy-to-use rule concerning breakthrough experiences is this:

If you're questioning if your broke through or not, you didn't.

This. Most definitely.

If you are questioning it ....when?

I felt like I all of sudden went to another stage of materiality, maybe becoming ether.
Each time I really went, I couldn't speak nor act as I completely loos any sense of still being in this room, with this poeple, even on this planet. So in most of my smoked experience it was an OBE.
Sometime you're happy to be able to return, while other you just waking up and regret the magic is gone.

DMT breakthrough:

You are no longer present wherever you were present just seconds before. Sober reality is completely replaced with... something else. You know when this happens, it's impossible to doubt, hence the "if you question whether or not you broke through, then you didn't" phrase. Usually you'll come out of it laughing, crying or simply saying "what the fuck?!" or "oh my GOD!" or something to that effect while shaking your head.

It's simply awesome, and I would go as far as to say it's kinda the peak of human experience (sorry honey!)

I believe I had my first breakthrough experience over the weekend with some friends. I don't remember many details but once it hit there was a rush and I couldn't help but keep my eyes shut. Though my eyes were shut I could still see my room clearly around me, however everything was different. I have a large dresser with fairly intricate woodgrain as it is real hard wood as opposed to a laminate. Instead of the wood grain appearing to grow and morph on the surface as it tends to do with mushrooms or lsd it seemed to actually be made of woodgrain colored fire. The grain appeared to morph in multiple dimensions almost like the dresser was made of fire. When I finally realized my eyes were shut I decided to open them to see what the real world looked like. Upon opening my eyes I felt as if I had fallen back into my real room, however everything was melting off the walls and my celtic tie dye tapestry appeared to be glowing. This crazy continued for around 10 minutes before some semblance of normality was reached. All in all it was an incredible experience.

I'll never forget my first words coming out of my first breakthrough (and I wish I could have caught my face on camera). I looked at my girlfriend whom at the moment I only half recognized, grabbed my hair which felt absolutely alien to me and exclaimed 'Where the F*** was I just now!!?????'

DMT Breakthrough - When you have to remind yourself to breath then you've broken through... Normal and mundane things become extremely foreign. One might lose connection with their body.... and your eyes could be wide open or shut it just doesn't matter. Audio distortion is also common with my BTs. Also on the come up of a breakthrough it feels like I'm being warped somewhere at light speed (this doesn't happen every time).

When you listen to your self breath and you sound like some kinda intergalactic steam engine from the planet Dimitri then you've broken through....

Hey thank you all. This has very much so helped me understand where I might be heading towards when I do breakthrough. I really like the "If you're questioning if your broke through or not, you didn't." comment. So simple, but yet seemingly so true.(Personally I wouldn't know.) This has actually calmed my nerves quite a bit. I'm still pretty leery of the breakthrough & DMT itself. The few times I have experienced DMT it was so terribly overwhelming but still the best moments of my existence.("CALL 911!" moment. Thank goodness for sitters, ya know!) Even tho I fear and respect this drug, I won't be driven away. I must prepare myself more as I approach my inevitable breakthrough.



So your saying that once you become familiar with the breakthrough experience you can get deeper and deeper into it as you are able to more fully handle/process whats happening? Thus evolving your consciousness.

Once again, my most sincere thanks go out to all who have & will post on this topic. LOVE!

You're very much welcome DMTerrestrial! Best luck to you.

Yes, I think this is one of the main purposes of DMT in a way. Every time it happens, it's different. Seemingly deeper.

I concur with most of the above. I tend to look at the breakthrough as the point of complete ego dissolution, or the intersection at which I cease to exist in any previously recognizable form. There comes a point where the line is pretty clearly crossed between observer of the experience and (the perception at least of) complete and utter integration. "I" can be present to some degree and still have a thoroughly profound experience, but breakthroughs (as I've come to label them, personally) are synonymous with ego death.

Keep in mind that these are just labels. The adage of "you'll know when you get there" is absolutely true, but it's also true that it gets only weirder and deeper the more that you go. Try to resist the urge to judge or label your experiences. There's always another layer of the onion to peel away, if you dare.

..above the 'threshold', as some used to call it, is loss of physical body and complete immersion in an apparently different space, to a degree that many at first fear they have permanently left..the ego can still be intact at this stage, though...

I've had experiences I consider a breakthrough that featured little to no visuals at... at first.

It's probably happened 3 times or so where I have a relatively high dose but on inhaling, don't seem to be immersed in any kind of hallucination, but have a very definite tryptamine feeling. I call it the not tripping trip. Typically I think I've misfired then get up and walk to the bathroom as DMT often makes me pee as it's quite relaxing. Going past the mirror I realise my face is a pulp and I then look down at my feet and see that there's blood dripping on them. I can smear the blood even.

When I leave the bathroom, the world is rather unrecognisable.


I've also experienced flying over real world city's with no typical DMT-world aesthetic and kneeling before a fountain in the middle of a grassy field... all from the comfort of my bed. An entrance to an alternate reality is not very common for me at all.

This substance has so many varying parameters from trip to trip and then probably even more from person to person...

I don't think a breakthrough can actually be defined... in short

I doubted my first breakthrough because I could feel my fingers nervously rubbing the fabric of the pillow behind my head through the experience. And I had come to believe a breakthrough meant completely leaving your body.