Do you prefer to do it at a particular time of day? Indoors or outdoors?
Some people like to use a blanket to manage their trips. Cover it for visuals, uncover when overwhelmed. Do you do that? Are there any other physical implements you use for managing your experience?
Do your pupils dilate considerably? Every time or occasionally?
Do you feel unusually hot or cold?
Are you able to read a paragraph under the influence? Is it easy or difficult?
How long after taking the MAOI do you like to administer the rest?
What do you do during the come up?
Do you actively look for a 'beginning' to the experience? If you do, what are the earliest signs that it's going to happen? Are they different every time, have you found reliable indicators?
How often do you experience retarded trips? What is the longest delay you have had and did you eat something to induce or waited it out?
Is your motor coordination improved or impaired by the experience?
Do you typically partake alone, 1-2 people, many people?
How long before you feel the need to purge? Do you look forward to the purge? Do you hold out as long as you can or actually suppress the urge?
Do you play music during your experiences? What kind?
Have you tried meditating during the experience? Was it successful? How does it compare to your normal meditation experiences?
How many different activities might you do during a typical experience? Is there something you do that is unique to you or a few people? Any group activities?
Do you undertake any preparation prior to the experiences such a journaling, fasting?
Have you tried recording yourself and then reviewing the footage after the experience? How did it appear to you compared to your memories?
How do you deal with unpleasant experiences such as thought loops or paranoid delusions?

Gosh, wall of interrogatories. Approaches to the brew tek and the particulars of pre, intra and post consumption logistics vary greatly. Spend a few weeks on the appropriate threads for a plethora of related information. Then do your own thing!

Peace

Lol, and in gun-on-the-head style

The questions are intended as a survey. It's not about trying to find a way, but just asking people about their ways. For curiosity, not for utilization. Is that outside of the bounds of discussion here?

The smaller aspects are routinely talked about as asides, you see them scattered through threads, I personally like the idea of an occasional thread just about them.

Do you prefer to do it at a particular time of day? Indoors or outdoors?
I like to dose about the time of sunset so it will be dark at peak but I may still have a chance of sleeping. I used to love doing LSD in the forest but with aya I just end up squirming in my bed for an hour or three at the peak so its always indoors.
Some people like to use a blanket to manage their trips. Cover it for visuals, uncover when overwhelmed. Do you do that? Are there any other physical implements you use for managing your experience?
I wouldnt be comfortable covering my face. My bedroom is dark and if I need a break I can move to my computer room where theres at least some light. Or I can turn on a lava lamp.
Do your pupils dilate considerably? Every time or occasionally?
When using a harmaline dominated manske extract of rue my pupils dilate quite strongly and I can develop marked photophobia. When using isolated harmine that effect isnt nearly so pronounced and I can often even have a rooms light on.
Do you feel unusually hot or cold?
I always fast for about 18 hours before a trip and my body starts to feel cold after 13 hours of fasting so I often feel cold or get psychedelic shivers until I eat food after the peak.
Are you able to read a paragraph under the influence? Is it easy or difficult?
If I'm not peaking and the dose is mild to moderate, yes.
How long after taking the MAOI do you like to administer the rest?
3-5 minutes but I've only experimented with timing a little bit, I do know that for me 20 minutes is bordering on too long
What do you do during the come up?
Music videos, anime, perhaps sensual play... On some psychedelics, like mescaline, sexual function is not impeded and my capacity for such is increased quite a bit. On others, like aya and mushrooms, if I'm even remotely near the peak I can maintain erection indefinitely but never climax. However, theres a point where its just delayed and difficult to achieve and when it comes its very strong and immediately causes an increased effect from the psychedelics often throwing me right into the peak. That is a fun trick
Do you actively look for a 'beginning' to the experience? If you do, what are the earliest signs that it's going to happen? Are they different every time, have you found reliable indicators?
I do, its sort of a lightness and euphoria often with faint ataxia. The next tell is in patterns like wood grain or a popcorned ceiling.
How often do you experience retarded trips? What is the longest delay you have had and did you eat something to induce or waited it out?
Only rarely. Crystallized ginger or an apple were the eventual triggers.
Is your motor coordination improved or impaired by the experience?
Impaired to some degree. There is also ataxia [thats where you walk like a drunken sailor]. Both are far stronger if there is a large amount of harmaline in the mix.
Do you typically partake alone, 1-2 people, many people?
I like tripping with one or two people I trust with psychedelics, otherwise strictly alone.
How long before you feel the need to purge? Do you look forward to the purge? Do you hold out as long as you can or actually suppress the urge?
If I purge at the one hour mark its premature and impacts the intensity of the trip. If I purge at all, 1.5 hours or later is fine and usually makes me feel better and 'starts' the trip without reducing effects.
Do you play music during your experiences? What kind?
I've done classical but I love non-violent non-angry girl metal or hard rock. If you like non-angry metal/rock I recommend trying music that Within Temptation has put out in the last 7 years. Music seems to be especially powerful when predosing with THH.
Have you tried meditating during the experience? Was it successful? How does it compare to your normal meditation experiences?
On mushrooms or mescaline, not on aya.
How many different activities might you do during a typical experience? Is there something you do that is unique to you or a few people? Any group activities?
I try to keep the number low or I start getting restless.
Do you undertake any preparation prior to the experiences such a journaling, fasting?
I fast before any drug, even coffee. I keep a trip journal for psychedelics. I use the free app NoteTab Light for my journal so I can set the background to black and the text color to dark orange, that way I can type in it even if my pupils are strongly dilated. It also has the handy options of being able to auto-save on close and auto-save the document at a specified time interval while its open, so if the computer is unexpectedly shut off all but perhaps the last line or so will have been auto-saved.
Have you tried recording yourself and then reviewing the footage after the experience? How did it appear to you compared to your memories?
Nope.
How do you deal with unpleasant experiences such as thought loops or paranoid delusions?
I just try to calm down and ride them out. If that fails I go to a different room, change activity, etc. At times I've taken my blood pressure because doing so is very distracting and I always have perfect blood pressure so its oddly comforting, lol

You didnt ask if theres anything done the next morning.
An ink black cup of caffeinated coffee and often an aspirin are consumed.

Now we know where you're coming from, thank you

Curiosity as a motif rules

Let's give this survey a go. 1st post btw :-)

1. Mid-day, when most awake. Sometimes in the evening if feeling well and relaxed. Always indoors.

2. A blanket to keep warm is golden. I usually have a table lamp switched on to which I can turn if experience goes too 'dark'. Facing a source of light even with eyes closed seems to make the experience more positive for me.

3. Anisocoria with dilated pupils every single time.

4. Neither hot nor cold.

5. Very difficult, although not impossible. Dose dependent.

6. 1h15m.

7. Concentrate on breathing.

8. Hard to describe. You just now things are getting 'different'. A bit of anxiety and increased heart rate for sure. Visuals.

9. Not quite sure what you mean by retarded trips. If nausea is a concern then the best medicine I found is ginger tea and a banana.

10. Impaired. I can walk and operate object to some degree but I try to avoid this. Tripping over something and falling on my face doesn't sound fun ;-P

11. Always alone. I am Autistic and do not handle ppl well, especially during an experience.

12. Never purge, ruins the experience IMO. Moclobemide. Some ppl prefer to purge though as it can add meaning.

13. Something easy on the ear and quiet. Music is secondary and if too loud it can be a distraction.

14. No, not during. Before. Not a big fan of meditation, unless to calm down a bit. Breathing is key.

15. Try to take in as much as I can and relax. Re-think my personal matters although quite often it's not up to you where the journey will lead. Every time seems different. I go with the flow.

16. Always try to relax for some time prior. Make sure your body knows there is no danger and avoid the fight or flight reflex. Do not overeat beforehand to avoid possible nausea but definitely not fasting. A journal right after is handy. I usually read it the day after and a week after to re-think aspects of the experience. Memories are fleeting and often lie...

17. Avoid stimulants such as caffeine to minimize thought loops. Paranoid delusions - this is a story for a book in my case ;-) Thanks to DMT I've learned to accept my thoughts and treat them as an integral part of me no matter what they are (initially I did freak out!). Hyperspace realm has made me question all reality including thoughts that were plaguing me in the past. I think this has something to do with that fact that you question a lot of things afterward and I questioned my own internal 'reality' that I built over the years. More questions than answers as usuak (healthy questions!). Hope this makes sense :-)

A retarded trip is basically a blatantly delayed peak.
It generally goes like this: you dose and dont get a peak or get an unusually weak one and then some time, perhaps hours, later BAM! you get a full strength peak. Its often occurs minutes after eating or feeling a rumble in your gut. For instance just last night I had a very weak peak on what should have been a strong dose, I waited until well after the 'peak' was fully concluded and the nausea was basically gone and I ate the bitter core of an apple. Within 10 minutes I was in a potent second peak.
The theory is the DMT gets caught in enterohepatic circulation [caught by the bile] and eventually released for absorption into the blood. Food gets bile moving, it doesnt even have to be fatty food. If your still nauseated eat crystallized ginger.

My most delayed second peaks have been 5 hours after ingestion.

Ahh, that explains it. Thanks. Never heard this before used in such a way. Retarded has a rather negative meaning in my experience.

Thank you for your replies. It's rather interesting how much the simple things can vary between individuals. Indeed such details may be found as asides in trip reports, but I cannot stomach reading most of them. I suppose, without the context of knowing a person they end up being too personalized and often come across as too self-indulgent--much like reading about someone's dream--and it is only fair for the someone to attend to themselves, but not necessarily fair to the reader who neither knows the person nor has a framework for analyzing the subjective experiences induced by psychedelics. I do have a couple of follow up questions:

I wonder, Elrik, how did you settle on apple cores? Seems like a rather strange thing to consume. While I know that ginger is reputed to be an effective anti-emetic (though I've heard that the root itself must be consumed) the only thing I can think of with apple cores is that the seeds contain a bit of cyanide. Also, how did your meditations work out on mescaline/mushrooms and why do you prefer not to meditate with ayahuasca?

And atomu235, you mentioned that you are autistic. Is it characterized by sensory hyposensitivity or hypersensitivity? Does ayahuasca change that for you? Do you find that it is useful in relieving any difficulties that may result as a result of not being neurotypical?

When I eat an apple what I do is remove the stem, split it horizontally and scoop out the seeds, then eat everything that remains. Core and all.
Eating anything bitter will cause the gall bladder to contract, emptying bile into the gut.
The cores of many types of apples have a flash of bitterness to them and are apparently harmless in combination with aya, so I tried it and it worked.
Meditation on mescaline and mushrooms isnt easy for me, but when I can pull it off even for a couple minutes its extremely calming and centering. Aya is just too 'rapid', stimulating, and often anxiety producing for it to work. Its like trying to meditate on a roller coaster.
Perhaps I'm just not good enough at meditation

Yes. Both hypo and hypersensitivity, depending on the kind of sensory information. Hypo (mild) for olfactory and touch stimuli. Hyper (prevalent) for vision and sounds (especially at night). I very much dislike close presence of other humans (even a barber visit requires willpower, something like a massage is out of the question!). Other examples would be repetitive behaviors and obsession with details. As a kid I used to stutter heavily into late age, avoided other kids, was obsessed with nature, skipped school whenever I could and was even diagnosed by one doctor with mild mental retardation after compulsively banging my head against walls (that was before Autism was well known, especially in Poland where I was born). Brings a smile to my face nowadays... :-) I score very high on Aspergers and primary psychopathy spectrums. INTJ personality type (for whatever these tests are worth)...

A history of family mental issues in the long past (grandgrandmother, long forgotten aunts etc). They just used to call them crazy back then. Can't say much more.

Never tried ayahuasca. Prefer pharmahuasca with Moclobemide and lack of purge.

Yes, DMT helped a lot. My sister is a psychologist and she noticed major changes in my behavior, especially in the social sphere. I am a lot more empathetic and voice out my thoughts a lot more openly and clear (this was never my strong side). I've also become much more relaxed and do not push matters my way as much as I used to. More of a go with the flow guy nowadays. I've realized how much is outside my control (in a very positive way). I think it's also made me be more positive about the future... :-)