Anxiety while tripping

[superturkey]

I struggle with anxiety while tripping. I am fine in normal life by the way.
While I try to break through I struggle to let go of my conscious, I find it difficult to relax and enjoy the trip because my thoughts and filled with analytical anxiety. If you can understand what that is. Basically while in the trip I over-analyse everything finding the negative in a lot of things. My conscious is saying "relax... and enjoy yourself" but it is very hard to overcome this negativity.

This also happens with marijuana, which I do not do any more because it is completely un-enjoyable and causes paranoia.

Does anyone have and solutions for this, should I try a higher dose in an attempt to lose all consciousness and ego. At this point I am trying to train myself to enjoy it as I would really like to be in that world with a fully positive and happy mindset.

The other option is try trip while on MDMA or an anti anxiety such as xanax or valium. In an attempt to kill all negative thoughts. SWIM's best trips so far have been after a night out on ecstasy/meth-amphetamine when I get home to relax and trip before passing out.

 

[ScientificMethod]

This is a very common issue. I recommend dedicating a portion of every day to meditation. It helps to practice sober and then when you go into trips, you'll be practiced at getting into a calm state of mind and just taking life as it comes at you. It never makes the anxiety 100% go away, but it absolutely helps.

 

[concombres]

Breathint exercises & calming the mind help alot.
It also helps to slowly work your way up from a low dosage until you are comfortable with the effects.

 

[Tryptallmine]

Sounds like you may have an issue with giving up your control and what may come of your mind and thoughts while under the influence of DMT.

I've been in a similar situation which I would try and be analytical about what was happening to me while I was moving through various stages of a trip. "This is where my visions going to go blurry, i'll feel this, this will happen next", kind of thing. It really destroyed the experience, there was nothing good to be had of it. It was just a means to try and control an out of control situation.


I've found that in order to get past this type of thing I needed to incorporate meditation exercises prior to a journey. Breathing, posture, stillness of mind. I'll also do this in a place that brings me peace like in the sun outside on the grass. I feel a lot can be had for grounding yourself with the earth.

This can last half an hour before I even commit to taking DMT and sometimes overpowers the need to take it at all as sometimes I find those answers without the drugs. If I don't find that peace before I plan to trip then I just don't smoke it. I wouldn't consider benzodiazepines a viable solution to quelling anxiety to ingest another drug.

The other aspect that I look to incorporate before I will trip is positive thoughts of love ,being grateful and respectful to the world, people, plants and animals. I know it probably sounds silly but having positive thoughts in my mind prior to ingesting DMT really changes how the experience pans out.

I'm often left with very insightful and meaningful thoughts vs seeing other worldly objects. Most of my meaningful experiences come from sub breakthrough doses where I still have control of my thoughts and can influence the direction of the journey.

I would say try meditation with very low doses, it removes the white noise from your mind and gives you a feeling or sense of control. Work your way up slowly, we aren't really geared to be launching ourselves into the exploration of our subconscious as often as some of us do. Our minds have the capacity to take us to some of the darkest places so its understandable for that to come with anxiety.

 

[thugware]

Sounds like you may have an issue with giving up your control and what may come of your mind and thoughts while under the influence of DMT.

I've been in a similar situation which I would try and be analytical about what was happening to me while I was moving through various stages of a trip. "This is where my visions going to go blurry, i'll feel this, this will happen next", kind of thing. It really destroyed the experience, there was nothing good to be had of it. It was just a means to try and control an out of control situation.


I've found that in order to get past this type of thing I needed to incorporate meditation exercises prior to a journey. Breathing, posture, stillness of mind. I'll also do this in a place that brings me peace like in the sun outside on the grass. I feel a lot can be had for grounding yourself with the earth.

This can last half an hour before I even commit to taking DMT and sometimes overpowers the need to take it at all as sometimes I find those answers without the drugs. If I don't find that peace before I plan to trip then I just don't smoke it. I wouldn't consider benzodiazepines a viable solution to quelling anxiety to ingest another drug.

The other aspect that I look to incorporate before I will trip is positive thoughts of love ,being grateful and respectful to the world, people, plants and animals. I know it probably sounds silly but having positive thoughts in my mind prior to ingesting DMT really changes how the experience pans out.

I'm often left with very insightful and meaningful thoughts vs seeing other worldly objects. Most of my meaningful experiences come from sub breakthrough doses where I still have control of my thoughts and can influence the direction of the journey.

I would say try meditation with very low doses, it removes the white noise from your mind and gives you a feeling or sense of control. Work your way up slowly, we aren't really geared to be launching ourselves into the exploration of our subconscious as often as some of us do. Our minds have the capacity to take us to some of the darkest places so its understandable for that to come with anxiety.

Wow dude, thanks for this. This is excellent!!

 

[universecannon]

Good advice above, meditation is extremely useful.

As is many other things when implemented...like exercise, yoga, poi or flow arts, nature, and especially healthy food. I noticed that my anxiety dropped a lot when I quit the typical american diet.

Harmalas/caapi/rue and melatonin beforehand seem to help tremendously for me too. And just smoking a low dose of DMT first, doing some stretches/wriggling around to some great psychedelic music before trying to take a higher dose.

 

[DreaMTripper]

Yeah if you dive in it can be a shock to the system, sometimes its directly because of the alkaloids effects on certain areas of the brain some times its a combination of the mood you are in beforehand, stress levels etc and the alkaloids, sometimes a bit of everything.
A little bit of anxiety is good as it helps you see areas in your life that are creating stress in the background that you ignore or have simply forgotten about. Also it can spur you on to improve yourself if after all is stripped away you feel
unsatisfied with elements of your self but you should also realise your imperfections and be kind to yourself.

I think we've all had those painful trips at one time where its just too nervy for no apparent reason and you want it to end, during those phases I find minimising stimuli and listening to easy listening music in a peaceful environment helps.

Light passiflora tea helps but its also an maoi so you have to be careful what you take it with, a weak tea seems to hit the spot, takes the edge off without cranking the trip up a level and adds a great deal of colour with a feminine vibe.
"You get what you need not what you want" whoever said that was right, when its time to go deep it will be the right time.

 

[superturkey]

A lot of very helpful advice here, which is much appreciated. Before I next dive in I will calm myself with music, meditation and a peaceful environment. I feel like I learn a little bit more with each experience now that I have a grasp of the feelings, sights and sounds of hyperspace.