I need some help understanding breakthrough's and I was hoping some of you who have had many and have a clear understanding of this experience could help to shed some light on the subject.

I've read all sorts of descriptions of breakthrough's from "if you're asking whether or not you had one, then you didn't" to people visiting places like fields, fountains, houses and even on "DMT: the spirit molecule" a woman said she saw the place where souls wait around between lives. Another said you often come out laughing, crying or just generally asking what the f**k just happened to me while shaking your head.

Now the problem for me is I've had a couple of more powerful experiences where I took two thick hits from a 500ml machine and upon my return I've exclaimed to my tripping buddy that I definitely just had a breakthrough, though as the hours pass I start questioning whether it really was or not. With the various descriptions of a breakthrough on the internet I find myself unsure and confused.
On the more powerful experiences I always return laughing in this really joyful way like playful and childlike laughter whilst still in astonishment and on my latest even cried a little shortly after I returned, I was very emotional but at peace. I certainly said quite confidently "where the f**k was I just" or "what the f**k just happened to me" (whilst laughing and grinning and bearing a look of amazement).
The best I can explain my latest and deepest experience was I had an undetermined amount in the machine with some residue left from an earlier hit. I fired it up and the chamber filled with thick vapour which I slowly inhaled entirely, I held it for about ten seconds and went to take the second hit but the first was coming on strong, I pushed through, lit up and inhaled another full chamber. Held it for as long as I could which was only a few seconds due to the intensity, and lay back.
I remember the usual solar plexus chakra ignition type feeling I get on these stronger hits while a weird synchronicity seemed to resonate between everything such as the sound of my friend smacking his lips and his clothes rustling as well as the feel of the trip and the way the substance started to take form. I felt my body begin to melt away and become part of the essence of the experience and I watched as the developing shapes I could see and the sensation I could feel (which always seem to be one and the same to me) began to get more and more intricate and infinite until I felt myself become the fabric of the trip. Then the patterns built up so much that they had life and I could see these entity type things right up in my face just sort of observing and playing at the same time and they're kinda pushing each other out of the way to get a closer look for themselves.
Now when I say entities I'm not talking about head, arms, legs, torso, not even a body really just a space that it's occupying. They're sort of like oily amorphous blobs but more real than just that, the whole trip had life and it was moving about in front of me with these life forms integrated into it.
I had a trip a couple of nights previous where I was in a place that I can only describe as sort of like a network of other dimensional caves, I wrote a trip report on it. I also came out of that one saying it was a definite breakthrough.
The thing with this one was that I could feel and just about see these things but they were sort of far away but the ones in this latest trip were like up close right by my face. Now I've heard or read somewhere that there is a milder form of breakthrough where you can see the entities but it's like they're on the other side of the fence and then there's a deeper level when they're right up close with you. I'm wondering if these are the two levels I experienced with these trips? It kind of matches how I feel about them but I'm just not sure.
My obvious question is, were these breakthrough trips or do I still need to go further to experience the breakthrough? I didn't see any wacky visions, go to somewhere physical feeling like a meadow or witness any kind of gifting or anything like that, I just had these indescribable living things right up close with me sort of toying with me in a really playful way. And I laughed my hardest on this one, like when you lose yourself laughing as a child, it was a real innocent type of laugh.

My personal belief is that it was a breakthrough but I just don't know. If it was then I've had four or five of these, this one being the deepest by far.
I achieved the "cave" one on 30mg and a small amount didn't vapourise. I am very sensitive to chemicals and it takes me less that most people on any drug to feel effects. I have a strong feeling from coffee and can get high from a roll up sized joint despite daily smoking (until I tried DMT, now I don't rely on it so much but use it more-so as a tool).

Your help and advice is greatly welcomed

Peace

P.S. I also got no sense of elves nor did they look like those strange robotic things on another thread here, just lifeforms, kind of shapes with life and a sense of mischief and playfulness I guess. I also think that some of what I saw could be described as unusual machinery too but I'm not 100% I suppose

Who cares, they're all just experiences!

My definition of a breakthrough is if you lose all contact with your body and you reside in a different place or become energy or something of the sorts..

In the end of the day labels don't matter.

This sounds like a breakthrough to me. That you did come back laughing, crying, at peace, etc...is a great indicator as well as merging with the patterns.

I get what you're saying sky motion but with all the hype over breakthrough's and how it seems to be the goal when accepting DMT into your life it's something I wanted to be sure of when I had one.
The confusion for me comes from the statement "you'll know if you have one" and like I said I knew when I came out of it but began questioning it as time passed.
So I've come to the conclusion it's not such an easily definable moment such as that.
I do agree that it's a bit of a "who cares" thing because everything that happens on DMT is awesome and worth it. I just wanted to be sure.
I'm still confused about people who find themselves in valleys or flying among the buildings in a city etc. I had nothing like it but I guess there's more the deeper you go and I look forward to my future ventures with DMT. I just don't feel the need for any for a while yet. I'm quite satisfied with what I got last night and over the last week.

I want to attach an image that I found which shows the closest I can find to one of the entities I was with but I don't understand the attach image option

I get what you're saying sky motion but with all the hype over breakthrough's and how it seems to be the goal when accepting DMT into your life it's something I wanted to be sure of when I had one.
The confusion for me comes from the statement "you'll know if you have one" and like I said I knew when I came out of it but began questioning it as time passed.
So I've come to the conclusion it's not such an easily definable moment such as that.
I do agree that it's a bit of a "who cares" thing because everything that happens on DMT is awesome and worth it. I just wanted to be sure.
I'm still confused about people who find themselves in valleys or flying among the buildings in a city etc. I had nothing like it but I guess there's more the deeper you go and I look forward to my future ventures with DMT. I just don't feel the need for any for a while yet. I'm quite satisfied with what I got last night and over the last week.

The attached image shows the closest I can find to an entity I was with during that trip

you can accept DMT into your life with or without the understanding of a breakthrough. Either you grow and develop through the experiences or you don't. It's not important whether you had a breakthrough or not.

That being said I agree with SkyMotion's defintion - the breakthrough is when you lose contact with your body and the space around you, for me. IME typically there are no more fractals when that happens, the visions become smooth and sometimes you lose the concept of self. On most breakthroughs I forget that I smoked DMT or that I ever had a body. When I come back I'm just amazed and finding myself in one, carefully making out the GVG between my hands and slowly realizing what just happened. But it's not like that for everyone.

Some of my breakthroughs were like turning into an infinite tree of light starting from the roots (going deeper and deeper and giving me nutrients and water, giving me hold) and ending in the branches and leaves streatching up to the source. Another time I was in front of a tribunal of egyptian gods weighing out my heart and my memories. You see, every time it is quite different. Sometimes you go somewhere, and sometimes you transform into something.

Don't believe all the hype, my friend! It's not important. Important is your personal work with this magical molecule and if you feel it is helping you on your way. If you feel you need to go deeper, do try, but if you feel you have found your sweet-spot, don't let anyone tell you it's not it. Just because you go further intot hyperspace doesn't mean it's more beneficial for you. Trust your own intuition and forget about labels and other people's descriptions. You are the explorer of your own unknown territory!

You got to experience the Ma'at weighing of the heart ceremony? So jealous

Indeed it's not always about going deeper, a lot of times it's just different. DMT has a lot of faces to show, and you need to spend quite some time with it to even get a glimpse at just how many things it can show you.

What does an immaterial being look like?

In a non-physical realm, how can a physical being perceive anything? What we see in hyperspace is a representation. Consequently, due to our unique neuro-anatomy and neurochemistry and life experiences, we each represent the immaterial differently.

Don’t be concerned if your representation is unlike others. My representation is almost always very alien – like nothing I see in this world. Others have very “Earth-based” representations. I tend to believe we’re having similar experiences, just representing them differently.

There are no limits to the depth of DMT experiences, so don’t worry about whether or not you’ve gone far enough. If you continue this pursuit, you will from time to time (usually when you least expect it), go deeper than you’ve ever gone before, exclaiming “this must be the ultimate!”. Then, maybe weeks later, maybe months later, maybe after your next experience, maybe after another hundred experiences, you’ll reach a new level.

Reaching these new levels is not a matter of taking ever-increasing doses. I usually take the same dose (about 25-30mg if I have the courage for a deep breakthrough) and continue to be surprised.

What people above have said, a breakthrough is different for everyone anyways...I've had breakthroughs where I as above state lost contact with myself and had a hard time figuring out what I was or rather in that state used to be, simple because the terms "I","myself",or "me" were so alien, as I became part of the framework of the other side, I was aware of reality still but only because I was trying to stay partially in both worlds to describe the effects to a friend, but I was experiencing things like 360 degree vision, meaning I was the center point and could see in all and every direction at once. It is kinda true though once you breakthrough you should have no question, consider it as this, if you weren't to breakthrough and saw all these kaleidoscopic colors and shapes, that's all you may have, but during a breakthrough you may fly through and become these shapes, and interact with them, lose sense of self ...etc.

Fantastic replies on my thread, thank you guys.
Yes at first I was a little hung up on the breakthrough because of all the hype but now I've had them, especially the latest and deepest experience, I realise it's not important. I've found where I like to go, or I've found the point where I prefer to be beyond and in trying to get there I sometimes go a little deeper than expected and so far I have been very pleasantly surprised. Being with them in their alien world is like nothing anyone can ever imagine and it's so nice to have it happen.
I am no longer hung up on it and you guys have helped me realise and finalise that thought.
I have to say this is the first thread I've read where the main issue of the breakthrough is to not get hung up on it.
I've had the most fantastic experiences of my life and I intend on having more, last night I had the most amazing 10 minutes of my life and it's very reassuring to be aware of that fact immediately after. I'm sure I will find myself having that realisaion time and time again and I can't wait, but I will.

Love to all