Hey all,
I'm late twenties and from western Europe.
I tried ayahuasca using the recipe from ayahuasca forums five times over an 18 month period, the last time about 18 months ago and it completely changed my world view.
I had an interest in psychadelics from a young age but never mustered up the courage to try them myself and although I knew a few people in college who used them but the stars didn't align at the time, eventually I decided to do it alone. I was at a dark period in my life at the time and willing to try anything, Ayahuasca really helped me to connect with what is important and changed my life in many ways. I never broke through to hyperspace and or had amazing visuals but it allowed me to analyse life and my emotions from a very different perspective and appreciate myself for the amazing life being that I am and we all are, each day is a gift. One thing I have learned is to relax into life and let go to a large extent to stop being so hard on myself, this has been a difficult journey for me and is still a work in progress.
Not much other psychadelic experience, I tried mushrooms once 6 months ago and they brought up the large amount of fear I have in my life and what I do to try and hide it. I'm pretty free spirited and realise that forcing myself to conform to 'what I should be doing' for so long has taken a toll and especially as I set very high expectations for myself, frequently judging my worth on whether I could understand some complex abstract topic, I was looking for truth I guess and still am. In some ways I attribute my dissatisfaction to an atheistic upbringing in which self worth is really a result of 'success' in the Darwinian sense, if you think you are a piece of thinking dirt then to where do you go for self worth especially if life is not going as planned? I am not making a judgement on religion but I think that believing that God loves you as you are and put you on earth is if nothing else an incredible comfort although I have no time for organised religion. So that is where I am at these days trying to live a fear free life and see where it takes me and keeping an eye out for my calling.
Mainly interested in the many non hallucinogenic methods of consciousness exploration at the moment, Tai Chi, meditation, isolation tanks, even weightlifting and anything else that looks interesting. I am particularly interested in body tension/posture and how they block out natural life force, I've taken up Chen Tai Chi to try and address this issue with a teacher I really trust from good lineage. So major focus at the moment is trying to get that Chi flowing properly!
Also interested in taoism, gnosticism, vedanta and many other non dual teachings.