Hello. I will admit I am not the most efficient communicator, however I will do my best. The name is Cloud. I chose Cloud because that's what I use on the other forum I frequent, and because I genuinely feel I would rather like to be addressed as Cloud over my real name. Had I any say in the matter I would have chosen this to be my name. I'm a twenty something at the moment. I first started experimenting with psychedelics in my late teens. I've always taken a slow approach to psychedelics, and have only experienced psilocybin and LSD a handful of times each. I first learned about DMT from a close friend who was given an amount from a user. We spoke at length about their experience, and then I shelved the idea for later, and didn't really think about it too much after.

I've always considered myself a spiritual person, and I could write pages upon pages about why the religions I've been exposed to have left me thirsty for more. It wasn't until my journey through the teachings of Gnosticism did I encounter Graham Hancock, and through him learnt of Terrence McKenna. Once I listened to McKenna describe his experience, I was hooked.

For the last few months I've been lurking around the Nexus and Erowid. I've read many of the reports, and despite the apprehension I feel when contemplating what the writers try to describe, I feel like this is something I want to experience. I've been reading the more simple teks, and I feel comfortable in my ability to perform them, although it never hurts to have the ear of someone who has done it before.

I'm not sure what else to include here. I hope I didn't break any rules in this post.

warm welcome cloud. how do you do?

Welcome Cloud

I think you're right to take a slow approach to psychedelics. It helps to process and integrate the experiences. I believe that even smaller doses of mushrooms can have long lasting effects that are subtle and not always obvious.

You mentioned being into spirituality. Have you tried meditation? It goes together well with psychedelics. In my experience, meditation can help you get more out of psychedelics and psychedelics (especially mushrooms in my experience)can help bring about a meditative state, if not during than at least after, as they seem to clear a lot of the static we have bouncing around our minds.

But of course, meditation is great in and of itself.

ps. I don't think you broke any rules

Thanks for the warm welcome! It's kinda funny that you mention meditation. My roommate is really into meditation and has been dying to get me to try it, and I've been really interested in it. One of the issues I have is clearing my mind and not falling asleep at the same time.

Welcome Cloud!

I would highly recommend meditation as well. Clearing your mind seems like an impossibility at times given how we are surrounded by so much stimulus all of the time. Keep at it though.

I'm not too familiar with all the varieties of meditation but something that helps me is to focus on my breathing. If my mind moves from the track I was on or on a random tangent, I try to go back to my breathing and start again.

I hope you gain some insights through your meditations (or at least a good nap!)

Cloud, you'll never really clear your mind. the idea is just to be able to sit with your thoughts with increasing equanimity and compassion and a reduction of judgment, which hopefully carries over into other aspects of your life. And falling asleep is a common challenge, usually it's a sign that you need to sleep/rest more. But people can get so busy and distracted they don't even notice how tired they are.

If you're curious, I highly recommend the book "Mindfulness in Plain English" it's like a manual for starting meditation, and uses very simple easy to understand language. The intro can be a little pedantic, but if you can get past that it's really helpful for starting a meditation practice.

Welcome to the nexus Sounds like you have a level head and that's a good state to be in when introducing yourself to the most mindblowing thing on planet earth

Welcome!!
Meditation is a very powerful tool in the psychonaut toolbox. Practicing it helps you control your thoughts while you are on a psychedelic journey.

Once again, a big thank you for the warm welcomes!

Aislin- Breathing has been my focus lately. I find when I do eventually get centered, I get pulled out because I suddenly realize I'm breathing quite slowly, and then I start breathing quickly, and the journey begins all over again.

Sayaq- Clearing my mind was a bad way to put it. I guess centered or grounded would be a good way to describe it. Like getting the ocean calm enough to go fishing. Except lately there's been some chop in the waves. I will look into that book. My roommate recommended "My Big TOE". It's got some interesting ideas. I really want to get experienced in meditation so that I can actually incorporate the things I'm going to experience and learn, not to mention the beneficial feeling I get in a spiritual sense when I do it.

Orion- 😄!

A question for the near future: Can Cloud post extraction Q's in a thread in the welcome area? Or would the chat be better if for some unforeseen reason They would need advice during the process?

I come across that often as well. It simply takes practice and patience. I dabbled in some pranayama which I found very interesting. The exercises I was lead through were focused on breath control through a warm up and then a series of forced exhalations and inhalations. At the end of an exercise, I would inhale deeply and unconsciously hold my breath for what seemed like minutes. During that time my mind was completely empty. It was a very intriguing sensation.

The philosophy behind it, from what I was told, is that by controlling your breath, you can live longer. Through observation, it was noticed that dogs breath slowly and then very rapidly in an inconsistent pattern and that they only live for about a decade. A sea turtle on the other hand takes a breath once per minute and they can live over a century.

Probably more than you were looking for but I figured it may be food for thought.