I was reading the thread about using hypnosis to try and retrieve or re-create psychedelic experiences and was unable to comment over there due to still being a new member.

My original interest in meditation was actually tied to studying hypnosis and self-hypnosis for personal growth. For the most part I consider the line between hypnosis and meditation to be fuzzy at best. I actually tend to think of hypnosis and guided meditation and meditation as self-guided hypnosis, as far as I'm concerned the only difference is whether you have other people involved. Sometimes you can go deeper with others involved, if you trust them and they know what they're doing; but, it's ultimately the same altered states of consciousness.

One reason I have never really worked with psychedelics is that for the most part I tend to view them as a crutch, as in they may be useful in order to achieve certain states of mind and help you to deal with fear; but, ultimately what you want is to outgrow them and evoke experiences through personal will and discipline. I suspect that they may be useful for breaking through, but I've actually had (admittedly infrequent) breakthrough and hyperspace experience with no drug use at all.

Now, that said, people use crutches for a reason and there's no shame in it. I'm pretty sure many of those who use psychedelics have gone deeper than I have and seen things that I haven't yet, but that there is no real difference between the actual altered states themselves. Whatever method of trance induction you use, mystical experiences are mystical experiences.

Someone on the other thread mentioned wanting to spend more time looking at the random thoughts that passed through his mind on the way to hyperspace. I actually have spent entirely too much time dealing with the shadows in my subconscious and don't actually recommend engaging them if it can be avoided. They feed on attention and grow stronger the more you focus on them, there is madness there if you're not careful, and I recommend that you trust in the wisdom of the DMT molecule which gets you past that as quickly as possible. Often you overcome the darkness within by recognizing it as inconsequential, not by fighting it and not by engaging it; fighting your demons tends to empower them.