A guide for your journals and logs

[Qoniaq]

Hello, travelers.

After the various messages and nudges I’ve received about my journaling practices, I’ve gone ahead and assembled a non-exhaustive list of things that may be useful to remember after a trip. It was made by asking GPT to go through all my reports, and compile what important bits of info keep coming back, and are worthy of noting and remembering.
This isn’t a rulebook, or a checklist you must complete,.. Think of it more as a set of handrails—use as many or as few as feel appropriate for you, or ignore entirely if that’s what the moment calls for.
It can be printed, skimmed, revisited later, or ignored all together.
If any part of it helps someone here retrieve memories, organize experiences, or store impressions a little more clearly, then it has done its job.

No further obligations are implied

DMT Phenomenology Field Notes Template​

Purpose: This template is designed to capture the structure of a DMT experience with enough precision to support comparison, reflection, and later analysis, while leaving space for personal narrative.

Use it as soon as possible after the experience. Bullet points are encouraged. Precision is more valuable than interpretation.

I. Context (Pre‑Flight)​

- Date & time:
- Location / setting:
- Physical state (rested, tense, calm, ill, etc.):
- Emotional state / expectations:
- Preparation (meditation, music, silence, etc.):
- Observer present? (Y/N; role):

II. Entry & Onset​

- Route / form (oral, vaped, IV etc.):
- Onset speed (instant, rapid, gradual):
- Initial bodily sensations:
- First disruption noticed (visual, bodily, temporal, self‑sense):

III. Phase Structure (Timeline)​

Describe the experience in phases, even if they felt simultaneous.

Phase A – Threshold:
- Key features:
- Affect:

Phase B – Peak / Immersion:
- Key features:
- Affect:

Phase C – Return / Re‑embodiment:
- Key features:
- Affect:

IV. Perceptual & Spatial Structure​

- Environment type (space, tunnel, room, field, void, etc.):
- Geometry (flat, curved, infinite, bounded, layered):
- Motion (static, flowing, rotating, snapping, none):
- Inside/outside distinction (clear, ambiguous, absent):
- Stability (solid, shifting, crystalline, indeterminate):

V. Sensory Modalities​

- Visual qualities (if applicable): color, brightness, texture, impossibility:
- Auditory qualities (tone, silence, music interaction):
- Somatic qualities (pressure, vibration, dissolution, absence):
- Cross‑modal effects (synesthetic, fused, non‑local):

VI. Self & Agency​

- Sense of self (observer, participant, absent):
- Boundary between self and environment (clear, dissolved, irrelevant):
- Agency present? (none, implicit, explicit):
- Did anything feel like it was "happening to you" rather than being observed?

VII. Interoception (Body Awareness)​

- Heartbeat perception (present, absent, distorted):
- Breath perception (present, absent, irrelevant):
- Body awareness overall (intact, fragmented, gone):
- Fear related to bodily disappearance? (describe):
- Somatic sub-routines (describe):

VIII. Affect & Valence​

- Dominant affect (terror, awe, neutrality, bliss, confusion):
- Was affect directed at something, or objectless?
- Did affect change across phases?

IX. Anchors & Coping (if any)​

- Any grounding or anchor used (passive or active):
- Was it maintained or only checked?
- Did it interfere with or allow surrender?

X. Exit & Integration (Immediate)​

- Moment of return:
- First coherent thought:
- Immediate bodily/emotional state:
- Observer feedback (if applicable):

XI. Narrative Description (Free Form)​

Write freely here. Use metaphor, story, or imagery. Do not worry about precision in this section.

XII. Provisional Reflections (Optional)​

- What felt novel or unprecedented?
- What assumptions were challenged?
- Anything that resists description?