This is something I'm wondering if others have experience with, and if so how do you go about it?
So far since I've started smoking DMT recently, I've had mostly one "type" of trip with it. What will happen is basically that I'll start getting phosphene-type patterns very strongly, progressing to the point of well-formed hallucinations, accompanied by a feeling that resembles an adrenaline rush. I'd like to point out here that the visual experience does seem to be a pattern-dominant type of thing... things are very chaotic and constantly morphing from one form to the next. I have yet to have what I would call a breakthrough, though I have seen entities. They seemed to be built more around my sensory input than actually having some sort of stability or life to them... basically just like patterns that were more about human shapes than mathematical designs. The overall feeling of the trip is that the patterns I'm seeing are running through me and decompiling me into these visuals, which would be really cool... if it weren't for the fact that that initial rush makes me feel really sick. These days my body tends to respond to most forms of chemical stimulation this way, and this doesn't seem much different. It tends to add an atmosphere of dysphoria or anxiety to the experience, which really deters me from smoking it as much as I'd like, because otherwise the trip is just brilliant.
But only twice so far, I've had something else happen. The first time was about four hours or so after a previous trip, a large dose that had gone just like I described above. This was my first strong trip in years and so even though it was quite uncomfortable in that way I was still very pumped about it. I think it was probably because of that attitude combined with my body having built up a short-term tolerance to those physical symptoms.... When I smoked it again I actually used a lower dose than before (honestly, I just hit the bowl again from the last time), but several qualities of the experience felt MUCH stronger. The visuals were noticeably less vivid for sure, like I definitely did get a smaller dose... but the style was totally different. Rather than there really being patterns emerging, it was more like a psychedelic daydream just started quickly but gently fading in from the side of my vision. This was the first time I ever felt like I got a real glimpse into what people mean when they say "hyperspace". If there was any sort of phosphene enhancement like usual, I couldn't have noticed it; my visuals simply replaced my normal perspective. Whereas with previous trips it felt like I was becoming the experience, this time it felt more like I was being absorbed into it or overwritten by it. What I saw was basically a bird's-eye view of a city forming beneath me in slow, smokey, and intimate way. First buildings, then trees around them, and then people began to sprout up around the trees.... Along with them the whole scene transformed into a neon spaceship with futuristic geometry and colors like red, yellow, and blue dominating. I didn't really pay much attention after that because I was too happy just basking in the euphoric mindset.
The second time was just a few days ago, and I smoked it while I was also high and a little drunk. I had loaded a big bowl for someone else and they were barely able to take any of it, so I took a big hit from it afterward. It was still less than I've used before, though. This time I feel like the alcohol might have prevented the rush, because weed usually has the opposite effect in me so I doubt it was that. Being around a bunch of friends at a party probably helped ease my mood as well, but I really do suspect that the alcohol played a large part. The way it began was exactly the same as the previous time without a rush... it just faded in from the side and was like peering into another world, like closing my eyes actually caused them to open. This time, I'm guessing at least partly because of the combination, the trip was extremely sexual. There were lots of female entities doing very very erotic things, and again I felt like I was being absorbed into them.... These entities, also like the previous time, also felt distinctly more real than I've encountered with the trips that start with the rush. This trip was also a bit stronger than the last one and more vivid, and I felt like if I had gotten just a little bit more I would have totally disappeared into the experience. After this time is what really got me thinking about all of this, really noticing the differences in these trips....
It really seems to me that the rush is preventing me from getting the most out of my experiences. I have encountered it with both much lower and much higher doses than I used for the two trips without the rush, and the feeling always makes it sort of negative. I also can't help but notice that when I do have the rush it seems like breaking through would be very difficult no matter how high I pushed; I'm sure the visual experience would get even more ridiculous and chaotic, but as it is I've pushed so high into that that it took weeks afterward to remember more than a few seconds of the trip, and so if I still have to push even higher than that is it even going to be worth it when I just come out of it having totally blacked out? I would question it even more if it weren't for those two trips.... Those were far better than my others, and they seemed to allow me to see the real power of DMT better and at more reasonable doses than my other trips. Because of that I'm very interested to see if I can find a nice way to just cancel out the rush again to see if that really will allow me to journey more deeply.
So basically what I'm asking is this.... How are some ways that I can possibly reduce that sort of rush? I've heard that harmalas slow down the experience, will they help in that way? Are there some nice herbs that I can mix with it that will have that kind of effect? And does this effect change in something like smoked vs oral administration? I've only ever smoked it myself. If anyone has answers to these questions I would be quite grateful to hear them!