This was originally a response to a question that had to do with the link between DMT and meditation, but as I just created my account and can't post there, I thought this response would suffice as an introduction essay.
Any feedback would be appreciated!
"So I realize this is over a year after you originally posted the question, but I stumbled upon this page in my online search of people like me who have gone from a DMT experience to a consistent meditation practice and thought I'd share my own bit.
I recall having read in this thread someone saying they are leery of smokeable DMT and its healing effects as opposed to the tea. I can 100% attest to the effectiveness of smokeable DMT.
For years my lifestyle was anything but spiritual. I was a thief and a drug addict.
In my earlier teens, before getting into really hard drugs, I did a lot of psychadellics...mainly mushrooms and acid. It always represented for me a wondrous aspect of human experience but at the time I had no idea how deep one could go down that road and how it could ultimately lead to spiritual healing.
Anyway, so after taking a hard turn from experimental and recreational use of psychadellics and other relatively harmless drugs like pot to the use of harder drugs, it became clear to me how much I was destroying myself both physically and psychologically so I began to really delve deep into alternative medicine. Naturally having already had experience and interest with psychadellics, and having some friends that have a lot of resources, I found myself with the opportunity to smoke DMT...I'll skip the page long detailed description of the DMT experience and how utterly breathtaking it was because I'm sure by this point you've gone ahead with your ceremony or whatever. In case you haven't, or for those that read this post in the future, I would like to offer my humble opinion as someone who has smoked DMT for healing purposes. In my opinion, it does NOT need to be used ceremonially in the jungles of the Amazon...Yes, it is better to do it in that type of setting as opposed to your bedroom..But the transcendental nature of DMT makes the setting rather irrelevant. To be specific about my healing experience, I smoked it (and broke through) on the bench of a dugout of an empty baseball field...Not the ideal place but tranquil enough to not in any way negatively affect my experience. I really can't see you going wrong in terms of setting unless you blast off on the couch at a huge house party...I think anyone considering doing DMT for healing purposes is not stupid enough to do that.
Another point I would like to make, again, in my humble opinion, is that it does not need to be consumed as ayahuasca. For me, my first experience with smoking DMT which was not even a break through was enough to relieve me of some severe psychological afflictions. It instilled me with such a sense of humility and wonder and inquisitiveness about the nature of the world and the human condition that eventually I had to smoke it again in order to break through. And what I can say is that it is by far the best decision I ever made. From the minute I came down from that breakthrough trip onward, I have not touched any drugs and my life has improved tenfold. To see how influential a ten to fifteen minute trip can be in spiritual healing is utterly baffling. I can't imagine the intensity and increased effects of the two or three hour long ayahuasca trip! (Want to be clear I am not saying smoking is the same exact experience as drinking the tea, but for healing purposes it is often times just as effective!)Aside from the absolutely breathtaking hallucinations which in and of themselves are miraculous healing tools, the emotions that often accompany these hallucinations is like nothing I had ever before experienced. It redefines your understanding of the word "love" and "wonder" and "peace". Totally life changing.
What I began to realize was that the change in my personality and view of the world that came about as a result of this experience wasn't in any way forged or inauthentic. Or, in other words, these realizations of love and peace and wonder and awe and connection with the world were always present in me, but were heavily masked by drug abuse, depression, and an array of social conditionings which made me completely blind to my true and genuine nature of being.
So, the relevance of all of that is that it dawned on me that since this profound self realization was something that was inevitably going to happen and wasn't just artificially created by the DMT experience, DMT was therefore an extremely effective catalyst for a spiritual awakening, for lack of a better term. (The term "Spiritual Awakening" always seemed a little taboo to me, I didn't really understand what it meant and associated the word "spiritual" with Christianity and the believe in God which was not my cup of tea). But once I experienced this spiritual awakening I knew exactly how true and profound it was in my life. It literally changed my world view and motivation in life a full 180 degrees. The awakening brought about a strong interest in eastern religions, as well as other alternative healing/traditional medicine practices, and eventually I ended up at Buddhism and meditation and ever since then I have been happily practicing meditation in the pursuit of a purer form of consciousness or further spiritual realization. ( I have no desire to do DMT again unless I use it with someone else to help them heal. I feel it has done all for me that it can do. Even though it changed my life in such a great way, a spiritual awakening brought about by a drug is nothing more and nothing less. To use the drug again in an attempt to attain further wisdom or realization or to simply experience the captivating amazingness of the DMT spirit realm would be an abuse of its power and would also be quite hazardous to my state of mind. I feel that the profundity and literally hypnotizing power of DMT should not be treated casually. Again, for those that may some day read this and haven't tried it, it is not for the faint of heart. This is not a substance for recreational use like weed is and it would be a supreme degradation of its sacred nature if it were used in such a way...not to mention it is, in my opinion, at least in the beginning, one of the most freighting experiences one can have in life. In the process of blasting off or breaking through the threshold to the spirit realm or whatever terminology you want to use for that initial part of the DMT trip, I thought I was dying...and I handled all psychadellics and other drugs pretty damned well up until that point. Point being, use DMT with the right intention and be prepared for the world as you know it to be turned upside down and catapulted a jillion lightyears into outer space and then brought back to earth within a span of fifteen minutes)
So I guess I'm explaining all this to see if anyone else has had a similar experience/change in lifestyle and all that stuff.. Has anyone else experienced a spiritual awakening as a result of the use of DMT?
Also, has that spiritual awakening led you to meditation? Has anyone else found such fulfillment in meditation as a method of embodying the profound life changes that DMT can provoke? If so, how is it going for you?
I wish you the best in your spiritual search and/or experiences with DMT and its healing powers to all that come across this post.
Hasta luego!"
Any feedback would be appreciated!
"So I realize this is over a year after you originally posted the question, but I stumbled upon this page in my online search of people like me who have gone from a DMT experience to a consistent meditation practice and thought I'd share my own bit.
I recall having read in this thread someone saying they are leery of smokeable DMT and its healing effects as opposed to the tea. I can 100% attest to the effectiveness of smokeable DMT.
For years my lifestyle was anything but spiritual. I was a thief and a drug addict.
In my earlier teens, before getting into really hard drugs, I did a lot of psychadellics...mainly mushrooms and acid. It always represented for me a wondrous aspect of human experience but at the time I had no idea how deep one could go down that road and how it could ultimately lead to spiritual healing.
Anyway, so after taking a hard turn from experimental and recreational use of psychadellics and other relatively harmless drugs like pot to the use of harder drugs, it became clear to me how much I was destroying myself both physically and psychologically so I began to really delve deep into alternative medicine. Naturally having already had experience and interest with psychadellics, and having some friends that have a lot of resources, I found myself with the opportunity to smoke DMT...I'll skip the page long detailed description of the DMT experience and how utterly breathtaking it was because I'm sure by this point you've gone ahead with your ceremony or whatever. In case you haven't, or for those that read this post in the future, I would like to offer my humble opinion as someone who has smoked DMT for healing purposes. In my opinion, it does NOT need to be used ceremonially in the jungles of the Amazon...Yes, it is better to do it in that type of setting as opposed to your bedroom..But the transcendental nature of DMT makes the setting rather irrelevant. To be specific about my healing experience, I smoked it (and broke through) on the bench of a dugout of an empty baseball field...Not the ideal place but tranquil enough to not in any way negatively affect my experience. I really can't see you going wrong in terms of setting unless you blast off on the couch at a huge house party...I think anyone considering doing DMT for healing purposes is not stupid enough to do that.
Another point I would like to make, again, in my humble opinion, is that it does not need to be consumed as ayahuasca. For me, my first experience with smoking DMT which was not even a break through was enough to relieve me of some severe psychological afflictions. It instilled me with such a sense of humility and wonder and inquisitiveness about the nature of the world and the human condition that eventually I had to smoke it again in order to break through. And what I can say is that it is by far the best decision I ever made. From the minute I came down from that breakthrough trip onward, I have not touched any drugs and my life has improved tenfold. To see how influential a ten to fifteen minute trip can be in spiritual healing is utterly baffling. I can't imagine the intensity and increased effects of the two or three hour long ayahuasca trip! (Want to be clear I am not saying smoking is the same exact experience as drinking the tea, but for healing purposes it is often times just as effective!)Aside from the absolutely breathtaking hallucinations which in and of themselves are miraculous healing tools, the emotions that often accompany these hallucinations is like nothing I had ever before experienced. It redefines your understanding of the word "love" and "wonder" and "peace". Totally life changing.
What I began to realize was that the change in my personality and view of the world that came about as a result of this experience wasn't in any way forged or inauthentic. Or, in other words, these realizations of love and peace and wonder and awe and connection with the world were always present in me, but were heavily masked by drug abuse, depression, and an array of social conditionings which made me completely blind to my true and genuine nature of being.
So, the relevance of all of that is that it dawned on me that since this profound self realization was something that was inevitably going to happen and wasn't just artificially created by the DMT experience, DMT was therefore an extremely effective catalyst for a spiritual awakening, for lack of a better term. (The term "Spiritual Awakening" always seemed a little taboo to me, I didn't really understand what it meant and associated the word "spiritual" with Christianity and the believe in God which was not my cup of tea). But once I experienced this spiritual awakening I knew exactly how true and profound it was in my life. It literally changed my world view and motivation in life a full 180 degrees. The awakening brought about a strong interest in eastern religions, as well as other alternative healing/traditional medicine practices, and eventually I ended up at Buddhism and meditation and ever since then I have been happily practicing meditation in the pursuit of a purer form of consciousness or further spiritual realization. ( I have no desire to do DMT again unless I use it with someone else to help them heal. I feel it has done all for me that it can do. Even though it changed my life in such a great way, a spiritual awakening brought about by a drug is nothing more and nothing less. To use the drug again in an attempt to attain further wisdom or realization or to simply experience the captivating amazingness of the DMT spirit realm would be an abuse of its power and would also be quite hazardous to my state of mind. I feel that the profundity and literally hypnotizing power of DMT should not be treated casually. Again, for those that may some day read this and haven't tried it, it is not for the faint of heart. This is not a substance for recreational use like weed is and it would be a supreme degradation of its sacred nature if it were used in such a way...not to mention it is, in my opinion, at least in the beginning, one of the most freighting experiences one can have in life. In the process of blasting off or breaking through the threshold to the spirit realm or whatever terminology you want to use for that initial part of the DMT trip, I thought I was dying...and I handled all psychadellics and other drugs pretty damned well up until that point. Point being, use DMT with the right intention and be prepared for the world as you know it to be turned upside down and catapulted a jillion lightyears into outer space and then brought back to earth within a span of fifteen minutes)
So I guess I'm explaining all this to see if anyone else has had a similar experience/change in lifestyle and all that stuff.. Has anyone else experienced a spiritual awakening as a result of the use of DMT?
Also, has that spiritual awakening led you to meditation? Has anyone else found such fulfillment in meditation as a method of embodying the profound life changes that DMT can provoke? If so, how is it going for you?
I wish you the best in your spiritual search and/or experiences with DMT and its healing powers to all that come across this post.
Hasta luego!"
