Warrior
At Peace
Lately I've been brewing up a larger, more concentrated batch of ACRB + S. Rue. The concentration I've been reducing to has been 32g ACRB + 14g S. Rue, reduced down to 200mL.
I got the idea to try microdosing after reading the chapter on this exact topic from Fadiman's "The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide." The user accounts in the book chapter claim amazing things, and I can attest that it all holds true for microdosing Aya in this way as well (the book chapter mainly talks about sub-perceptual doses of LSD and psilocybin).
First things first. My experience to date has gone like this:
10mL on an empty, fasted stomach (~1.6g ACRB + ~0.7g S. Rue)
For reference, 50mL of this brew gives a super intense takeoff, full immersion, full surrender experience that begins to fade after 4 hours, and full return to baseline occurs at about 6 hours--basically a strong, but realistic journey that isn't over the top.
Lesson 1) If I hadn't had about 10 breakthrough experiences already, I might just think I was having a really good day. But having learned of all the sensations, feelings, and subtle increase in visual acuity, focus ability, outlook, sexual energy, social outgoingness, creativity, meditation ability, openness to love in my heart, feeling lighter on my feet, feeling energy flow through me, and a sense of tapping into a larger wisdom of the world, I really would have taken my first microdose experiment to be just a really darn good day (or good morning, since the peak experience is the best part, and then fades away after the 2.5 hour mark).
Lesson 2) Repeating dosing in a 24 hour period is CUMULATIVE in effect. In fact, the cumulative effect of repeat doses seems to even last with a day break in between. That is, taking a 2nd microdose 48 hours after the first produces a more powerful experience the 2nd time. Yes, we're still talking about sub-breakthrough, but if you are taking a microdose and planning on working on a creative project from your home office, and planning on sticking to your normal daily routine, finding yourself bumping into the ceiling of a breakthrough experience can be a little jarring.
The first day I tried microdosing I tried to ride the wave of the microdose experience by taking another 10mL every 3-4 hours. The second dose was a surprisingly hard takeoff, but I didn't think too much of it, and used the energy wisely to keep working (and work was prolific that day). But the 3rd dose of the day.... Oops! Total breakthrough to hyperspace! That was a seriously huge "oops." My afternoon changed gears very rapidly as I found I wasn't able to engage myself in any type of work anymore. Hallucinations had taken over, and I had to meditate through it, rest a bit, and chalk it up to experience. Accidentally breaking through to hyperspace should be avoided at all costs! It causes anxiety, even if you've been in a euphoric, happy, loving mood all day. It didn't help my cause that I was under a time pressure to get a project out under a hard deadline--not a good feeling to be drifting through hyperspace with that looming on the horizon.
Lesson 3) I waited 2 days before repeating a microdose experiment after accidentally breaking through. Day 3 began with another 10mL of this brew, and again, it felt like an unusually hard takeoff for a microdose, and I was bumping up against the ceiling of another breakthrough, (but luckily that didn't happen again). Work was great until it began to fade after 2.5 hours or so... At the 4 hour mark I took another 5mL to extend the experience. This worked very well also. Instead of going for a 3rd dose, I decided vaping a small amount of cannabis sativa to extend the duration of the sensations was better than flirting with an accidental breakthrough again. This worked great! I ended up working 13 hours on this day, and it was a great day, and very creative. Stimulants like caffeine and ALCAR during this experience didn't seem particularly helpful. I believe the best way to capture these experiences is to seek comfortable flow, rather than using stimulants to jack yourself into work mode. Gentle flow is key.
Lesson 4) Day 4, 24 hours after a good microdose day I tried again--again being conservative with dosing. I did a full body workout in the early morning (upper body + heavy deadlifts), came back to my home office before 9am and took 10mL, followed by another 5mL later in the day. Both doses gave me a hard takeoff again. I discovered that doing this on a fairly regular basis means it is better to REDUCE THE DOSE ON SUBSEQUENT DAYS. On Day 4 of this trial, I found myself feeling a bit lost in how strong the sub-breakthrough sensations were. My original logic felt like anything below a breakthrough experience should be roughly equivalent to the euphoria of the afterglow, but that is wrong. Even a sub-breakthrough dose can bring about the same emotional responses as a full hallucinatory experience. That is, fears, desires, anxiety can cloud the mind and end up being counterproductive. For this reason, even microdosing should be given the same respect as a full experience, and that also means giving yourself integration time between microdose days.
Lesson 5) I've begun noticing that on subsequent days after microdosing, some of the 'benefits' carry forward for another day or two, even if they are nearly impossible to detect at the cognitive level. Respect this stuff... If you do, the benefits last and you avoid surprises and counterproductive trouble.
Summary and Conclusions:
Microdosing is a powerful way to enhance:
*visual acuity
*focus ability
*outlook and well being
*sexual energy
*social outgoingness
*creativity
*meditation ability and depth
*openness to love in my heart
*feeling lighter on my feet
*feeling energy flow through me without the burned out feeling stimulants can induce
*a sense of tapping into a larger wisdom of the world, including a sense of unity with all life
It also seems to provide lucid dreaming on a regular basis.
The cons of microdosing:
*still have to integrate experiences
*still have to take it all very seriously. Give it deep respect.
*it can backfire and waste precious time if you are working on a creative project
*it doesn't last as long as I would like, and repeat dosing can be finicky/tricky
*it becomes easy to lose track of time, including the passage of days
*sub-perceptual sensations don't go away immediately the next day, which is more of a pro-, but I'm listing it as a con since seeing glimmers of hallucinatory patterns overlayed on normal experience can get tiresome (for me)
*hosting a small dinner party with close friends after a day of microdosing made me feel very tired, very early in the night
*I find that getting a small taste for the experience only makes me want a full journey again, which is probably just my own personal psychology at work, but it is something to remember and keep in mind when planning ahead. Full journeys have their place, as does microdosing.
I got the idea to try microdosing after reading the chapter on this exact topic from Fadiman's "The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide." The user accounts in the book chapter claim amazing things, and I can attest that it all holds true for microdosing Aya in this way as well (the book chapter mainly talks about sub-perceptual doses of LSD and psilocybin).
First things first. My experience to date has gone like this:
10mL on an empty, fasted stomach (~1.6g ACRB + ~0.7g S. Rue)
For reference, 50mL of this brew gives a super intense takeoff, full immersion, full surrender experience that begins to fade after 4 hours, and full return to baseline occurs at about 6 hours--basically a strong, but realistic journey that isn't over the top.
Lesson 1) If I hadn't had about 10 breakthrough experiences already, I might just think I was having a really good day. But having learned of all the sensations, feelings, and subtle increase in visual acuity, focus ability, outlook, sexual energy, social outgoingness, creativity, meditation ability, openness to love in my heart, feeling lighter on my feet, feeling energy flow through me, and a sense of tapping into a larger wisdom of the world, I really would have taken my first microdose experiment to be just a really darn good day (or good morning, since the peak experience is the best part, and then fades away after the 2.5 hour mark).
Lesson 2) Repeating dosing in a 24 hour period is CUMULATIVE in effect. In fact, the cumulative effect of repeat doses seems to even last with a day break in between. That is, taking a 2nd microdose 48 hours after the first produces a more powerful experience the 2nd time. Yes, we're still talking about sub-breakthrough, but if you are taking a microdose and planning on working on a creative project from your home office, and planning on sticking to your normal daily routine, finding yourself bumping into the ceiling of a breakthrough experience can be a little jarring.
The first day I tried microdosing I tried to ride the wave of the microdose experience by taking another 10mL every 3-4 hours. The second dose was a surprisingly hard takeoff, but I didn't think too much of it, and used the energy wisely to keep working (and work was prolific that day). But the 3rd dose of the day.... Oops! Total breakthrough to hyperspace! That was a seriously huge "oops." My afternoon changed gears very rapidly as I found I wasn't able to engage myself in any type of work anymore. Hallucinations had taken over, and I had to meditate through it, rest a bit, and chalk it up to experience. Accidentally breaking through to hyperspace should be avoided at all costs! It causes anxiety, even if you've been in a euphoric, happy, loving mood all day. It didn't help my cause that I was under a time pressure to get a project out under a hard deadline--not a good feeling to be drifting through hyperspace with that looming on the horizon.
Lesson 3) I waited 2 days before repeating a microdose experiment after accidentally breaking through. Day 3 began with another 10mL of this brew, and again, it felt like an unusually hard takeoff for a microdose, and I was bumping up against the ceiling of another breakthrough, (but luckily that didn't happen again). Work was great until it began to fade after 2.5 hours or so... At the 4 hour mark I took another 5mL to extend the experience. This worked very well also. Instead of going for a 3rd dose, I decided vaping a small amount of cannabis sativa to extend the duration of the sensations was better than flirting with an accidental breakthrough again. This worked great! I ended up working 13 hours on this day, and it was a great day, and very creative. Stimulants like caffeine and ALCAR during this experience didn't seem particularly helpful. I believe the best way to capture these experiences is to seek comfortable flow, rather than using stimulants to jack yourself into work mode. Gentle flow is key.
Lesson 4) Day 4, 24 hours after a good microdose day I tried again--again being conservative with dosing. I did a full body workout in the early morning (upper body + heavy deadlifts), came back to my home office before 9am and took 10mL, followed by another 5mL later in the day. Both doses gave me a hard takeoff again. I discovered that doing this on a fairly regular basis means it is better to REDUCE THE DOSE ON SUBSEQUENT DAYS. On Day 4 of this trial, I found myself feeling a bit lost in how strong the sub-breakthrough sensations were. My original logic felt like anything below a breakthrough experience should be roughly equivalent to the euphoria of the afterglow, but that is wrong. Even a sub-breakthrough dose can bring about the same emotional responses as a full hallucinatory experience. That is, fears, desires, anxiety can cloud the mind and end up being counterproductive. For this reason, even microdosing should be given the same respect as a full experience, and that also means giving yourself integration time between microdose days.
Lesson 5) I've begun noticing that on subsequent days after microdosing, some of the 'benefits' carry forward for another day or two, even if they are nearly impossible to detect at the cognitive level. Respect this stuff... If you do, the benefits last and you avoid surprises and counterproductive trouble.
Summary and Conclusions:
Microdosing is a powerful way to enhance:
*visual acuity
*focus ability
*outlook and well being
*sexual energy
*social outgoingness
*creativity
*meditation ability and depth
*openness to love in my heart
*feeling lighter on my feet
*feeling energy flow through me without the burned out feeling stimulants can induce
*a sense of tapping into a larger wisdom of the world, including a sense of unity with all life
It also seems to provide lucid dreaming on a regular basis.
The cons of microdosing:
*still have to integrate experiences
*still have to take it all very seriously. Give it deep respect.
*it can backfire and waste precious time if you are working on a creative project
*it doesn't last as long as I would like, and repeat dosing can be finicky/tricky
*it becomes easy to lose track of time, including the passage of days
*sub-perceptual sensations don't go away immediately the next day, which is more of a pro-, but I'm listing it as a con since seeing glimmers of hallucinatory patterns overlayed on normal experience can get tiresome (for me)
*hosting a small dinner party with close friends after a day of microdosing made me feel very tired, very early in the night
*I find that getting a small taste for the experience only makes me want a full journey again, which is probably just my own personal psychology at work, but it is something to remember and keep in mind when planning ahead. Full journeys have their place, as does microdosing.
