This seems to be quiet common so I'm wondering just how many people feel that way about it?

I personally do myself find it overwhelming scary etc

I think this prevents alit of people from smoking more to push through to the other side totally.

Any ideas of how you deal with itpusg through it etc are welcome or description s of exactly what makes the onset uncomfortable or pleasant are welcone

Oh it is definitely scary (at times)!

The difference between say, Mescaline/Shrooms/LSD/Pharma/Aya is that they gradually come on while vaped DMT is like strapping yourself to a rocket.

You came, you saw, you conquered and then it is over. I think the "fear" is mainly because of the sheer intensity and short duration. A way to get over this is to take that fear and channel it into a profound respect for the molecule.

Is DMT scary!? Yes, it absolutely can be.

Does it have to be? No, of course not.

But I am in the same boat, honestly. It does scare me, but not enough to where I won't keep exploring the immense depths of its power! If it wasn't at least a little bit terrifying, it would not be as interesting, IMO!

"At times" is definitely the key words for me here. Typically I tend to like the fast onset. I can get a bit impatient while waiting for the longer-acting psychedelics to kick in. I like that I can make that decision to be there, and then instants later....be there. While I am typically a fan, there can be times when everything is overdriven to such an extent within such little time that it can definitely be jarring. When that happens, I tend to know that I am in for something special.

The building up of the experience used to unnerve me.

I usually try to take as much as I can in a short amount of time, or I will take a small-medium hit to get the experience moving along, wait for the effects to set in, then take the biggest toke I possibly can and hold that. (this is with 1:1 changa)

Either of those methods have always worked to propel me as quickly as possible without much straddling on the comeup between consensus reality and the experience.

The intensity can definitely be off-putting sometimes, as the experience is climbing and climbing the body-load can be something that makes you question things. I've learned to just roll with it, no matter how it feels.

Trust in the experience.

It's the body load that gets me. While it's always been overwhelmingly pleasant, the rapid change from baseline startles me such an extent, that it pulls me into my body and makes it a little bit harder fold into the experience.

I have had a couple experiences where I basically exhaled fractal rainbows and was incredibly startled by the visuals.

One thing that's made it easier for me is experience. Over time and practice I've come to know the DMT has been nothing but gentle with me, even my difficult experiences brought me back in metaphorical loving arms.

Interesting replies thus far, i am learning a lot about how people do it.
Yes, depending on my mood i can get absolutely terrified especially right before smoking.
It is like waves of doubt and panic wash over me, in anticipation of the instant insanity into which i am about to willingly embark.

If I cannot calm myself, I will do one of 3 things: not smoke, make up my mind to have a threshold experience, or make the grave mistake of going for broke and as a result having a bad trip.

If i can calm down inwardly, then the hardest part is still taking the first hit. Once i start coming up, i can somehow find the motivation to "finish the job" and take the last toke before going fully into DMT reality. Yes, it elevates my heart and makes me feel weird nevertheless.

The more times i experience ir, the more awe-filled, terrified and flabbergasted I am at this ridiculous molecule.

Try [acacia dmt] its gentler on comeup but still strong and visual..

I think the more pure mimosa spice is very harsh and unforgiving on come up...who could like being shot out a cannon into hyperspace?

People have delt with this problem by mixing spice in a changa mix it becomes more gentle and sometimes more colorfull..

try it and see...

I do not like waiting for the peak nor the gradual come-up associated with longer lasting psychedelics like LSD and mushrooms. I am not a big fan of the period between ingesting the medicine and feeling its effects; it's like you know it's coming but have no idea when it will strike you. Being in this state of not knowing, along with the gradual descent into tripping, is scarier and harder to handle for me than just jumping in.

I still do those psychedelics of course, but I actually like the fast onset of vaped DMT, and I feel like it helps me in other areas of my life.

Being able to just "do something" with confidence is a very useful skill. I tried developing this skill as early as middle school when I would ask girls way out of my league to dance with me; it's tough and weird, but I'd just work through it. The confidence you gain from having these experiences is incredibly useful, and I feel like just diving into the vaped DMT experience requires, and develops, a similar confidence.

I've found that vaping again after already having done so that day totally eliminates the fear from the situation. I had a realization once that fear just arises from the ego, and the fear we feel is that of the ego not wanting to be killed/reduced. So once you've already bashed your ego once for the day, it's much easier to go under again. These further sessions are oftentimes very deep and a lot more fun too!

Good call . It might be even a (number of) survival reflex(es) that has to be overridden. Ego highly possible being an active part of that.

Both of these points resonated me with quite a bit. I've heard more than one person quote Nietzsche in reference to hyperspace via; "And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." But I think this is all wrong - like saying that you learn the most about yourself in the freefall of skydiving. Sure, there's plenty to be gained from the experience, but there is a certain amount of comfort in the inertia of being locked into the trance (and as such, the pre-flight anxiety associated with the second session of the day is virtually nil compared to the first.) This neglects all that's to be learned from the internal dialogue that gets you outside of the plane to begin with. The unknown that awaits you is the real monster, not any one monstrous entity which could be encountered on the other side. Learning how to address the demons you manage to headtrip yourself with is 99% of the battle, which is why you come out the other side proclaiming "That was so amazing! I need to remember for next time that there's nothing to worry about except how amazing it is!" (which I'm consistently unsuccessful at internalizing as much as I'd like.) As such, the real abyss gazing back is the potential for disaster that you manifest without any help from the DMT whatsoever.

Search the Nexus for Propranolol.

I find ramping up a little first with some enhanced caapi leaf, vine tea, or even a harmine extract of some kind helps the cause alot. Once you begin to add the spice it reaches a tipping point in a way that can be less sudden and frightening. Past experience seems to be my best ally with this stuff.
Once it starts coming on strong letting go into it is the best thing to do.
Resisting it can make it more difficult.
Many times I forget how amazing it can be until Im fully in it again and then laugh at myself for putting up such a fuss about it beforehand.

There are good reasons to be afraid though, through experience you can get better at telling where its going and have some tricks to dealing with it when it takes a bad turn.

I always say set and setting but its true.

Why?

tseuq

I find the preflight anxiety worse than anything, and I actually have to really push myself to light up. After that I find the come up quite enjoyable actually. Something like hitting the "light speed" lever on the "Millennium Falcon". Mind you I haven't had a break through dose on n,n yet, so it might be different once I hit that range.

I'm going to be honest, I find the onset of almost all drugs (besides alcohol), to be anxiety provoking in their own way, even smoking cannabis usually comes with 1-2 minutes of "ahh...^#$%" before I settle into being happy and hungry.

There's something about being in a state of consciousness that's *changing* that I find deeply uncomfortable. Once I reach a stable point (or are on the comedown), it's almost always smooth sailing, but comeups bug me.

If d(consciousness)/d(t) > 0, I'm uncomfortable. If d(consciousness)/d(t) =< 0, I'm pretty ok.

Blessings
~ND

Funny because my girlfriend and I were talking about this 10 minutes ago. She was saying that she wished there was no transition, as the ego is still trying to make sense of it when not fully dissolved. Once there its easy to let go, as there is no ego to question it. I personally like the transition, but I do find it all much easier when launching solo, as even in silence I find another persons presence a distraction.

Not to hijack the thread, perhaps I'll start a new one. But there's a lot to talk about preflight anxiety, what about reentry anxiety? I find having to wrap myself up in body and ego upon coming back to be extremely uncomfortable, sometimes scary and is quite anxiety provoking. Any thoughts?

Like doing Kermit stated above, once you're there in hyperspace it's usually extremely comfortable, full of love and grace. It's the coming back that sucks for me.

A lot of great responses so far on this thread. It's amazing how differently everyone feels about it but it seems to be anxiety provoking and intimidating to most people.

Thinking I'm due to go back in soon

Harmalas + melatonin + a small dose first before the plunge helps tremendously for me. As does yoga on that small dose, flowing music, and throat singing... or almost any kind of vocalization