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Music and Ayahuasca

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OliverJ

OliverJ

Rising Star
Hi all,

It seems to be the case that it is universally accepted in guides that one should play calming music during an Ayahuasca session.

Has anyone here experimented with going against this, playing something fast, high tempo, high energy.

Or something which didn't fit the typical preconceptions but was music you loved?

If so, what was the result?
 
OliverJ said:
Hi all,

It seems to be the case that it is universally accepted in guides that one should play calming music during an Ayahuasca session.

Has anyone here experimented with going against this, playing something fast, high tempo, high energy.

Or something which didn't fit the typical preconceptions but was music you loved?

If so, what was the result?
Click to expand...

Awesome.

While on Ayahuasca I've listened to:
Rap music
Incubus
Bwiti (iboga ceremonial) music
Indie/folk
All sorts of uptempo stuff

I think the main actual requirement of music you listen to while on Ayahuasca is that it has a positive message. and that it is uplifting. For example, I would listen to Incubus (grunge) because it has messages of self-empowerment, but I wouldn't listen to most Alice in Chains (also grunge) because it can have a negative spin on it. AIC is brilliant, genius music, but it doesn't feel right on Ayahuasca because it's kind of "Down in a Hole."

I say listen to what makes you (and your body) happy.
 
Based on your comment... i'm going to give some psytrance a whirl :d

Thanks for your response !
 
I always found ayahuasca less of a musical psychedelic than LSD, mescaline or some other substances.

My general experience is that appreciation for things like melody, lyrics, counterpoint or harmonic changes, the more "cerebral" aspects of music, is far less emphasized with ayahuasca than with many other psychedelics.

With ayahuasca, the more "basic" parts of music, rhytm and sound, become much more prominent.

At least, for me personally, this has always been the case.

I would recommend any music that you think has a great sound. Focus on sound first, then on rhytm. Rhytm can be uplifting as well as calming. Wich atmosphere you go with is a matter of mood and personal taste. But let the rhytmic character be clear and pronounced.

This is my take on it anyway.
 
Yes, classical music is high energy. Mozart, Vivaldi, Handel.

For example
And I've listened to this music when I was triping
Very nice experience.
It can be fast and slow.

In my opinion, classical music is the best music you can listen to on psychedelics. Just awesome and magnificient.
Classical music is healing, curing, it's a natural magic and it's composed according to the Golden ratio, harmony law of our universe.
Classical music brings harmony, calmness and peacefulness.
It allows you to feel a true Magic of spitritual souly Trip.
Highly recommended.
 
Hmm. I've listened to a fair amount of more uptempo music on Ayahausca, I've also listened to music that some might say is a tad bit "dark" for Ayahausca.

On my first trip experimenting with music on Ayahausca, I played some more ambient Skyrim soundtrack bits at first but the plant spirit I ran into said they wanted something more fun and party-like so I played some future funk music. My visuals took on this disco-party light show vibe and it was really good.

On another trip, I played Tangerine Dream's "Phaedra". It was pretty cool and really felt like a journey. I got visuals of crystalline mythical creatures in magical warfare. But the song got so intense and turbulent that I had to turn it off.

Another time I listened to "Hallogallo" by Neu! and the album "Ash Ra Tempel" by Ash Ra Temper. Very intense psychedelic rock. It was hard to stand the intensity at first but once I got on top of that it became a really cool experience.

Most recently, I have been using 30 minute loops of songs from Zelda Ocarina of Time. While this seems like a strange choice, it was really effective for me. In particular the "water temple* theme made the trip take on this very magical and mystical quality. "Astral Observatory" is another good one, and it filled me with a sense of love for people close to me.

I think you can make more intense music work with Ayahausca, but you have to learn to stand the intensity and embrace it. One of my favorite things about Ayahausca is how profoundly music impacts it. If you play a really long track and get lost in it you almost can forget that you have the ability to turn it off. For instance with the afford mentioned track Phaedra it began to really freak me out but I was so engrossed in the moment that I forgot I could just turn it off and play something more relaxing, so it is vital to remember this is an option if you really cant stand it.
 
I really appreciate all of this feedback :) Thank you.

I'm feeling Psytrance. I'm feeling classical. I have a free weekend coming up soon and I plan to go into the session in a meditative manner, explicitly focusing on trying to bring meditation into the session which i've never intentionally done before. If I can, I will attempt yoga also.

I will post the results!
 
I may be the odd ball, prefer underground house music. Music will sound bad-ass incredible if you include from 150mg to 300mg oral THH with your sublingual or oral DMT. The combo of THH + DMT is like listening to music on high-dose cactus tea, heavenly.

Stay true to yourself, Love, Peace and Music
www.friskyradio.com

Home

FRISKY is a groundbreaking electronic music internet radio and DJ mix subscription service. Listen now for free!
www.friskyradio.com www.friskyradio.com
 
I've never had true Ayahuasca yet, so i can't really say anything about that.

For changa, i usually prefer silence. On pharma, i've had very nice moments with psytrance and Ozric Tentacles. Other than that, i only tried slower stuff, like Folktronica. I especially love the sound of shaked leaves and flutes.

ava69 said:
Stay true to yourself, Love, Peace and Music
www.friskyradio.com

Home

FRISKY is a groundbreaking electronic music internet radio and DJ mix subscription service. Listen now for free!
www.friskyradio.com www.friskyradio.com
Click to expand...

Nice! frisky has been my anchor for over a decade now - most of that time was during my break from tripping. I always listen to it in the car and on public transport. Haven't tried it during trips yet - maybe because it is part of my everyday.

One track i noticed recently and like a lot
 
Music and ayahuasca is something I was thinking a lot in the past days, and especially for the role of harmalas.

First off all I think most people underestimate just how much THH amplifies music enjoyment on it's own. THH doesn't change the meaning of music, doesn't make you hear it differently. But the pleasure music causes to you is now something else. The song becomes fuller and with more texture. It tickles and sends shivers down your spine with every turn. Since I try to carefully pick my music during dmt+THH journeys, all I can say is the the positive and gentle touches of the tracks I listen to get amplified significantly. Probably any music you like will work under THH, but for me psybient, choral and violins take the cake for me. Especially a good choral or violin section will absolutely make you have tears in your eyes.
If you have THH to splurge as you want then taking 250-300 mg orally just for the music enjoyment is a valid enough effect in itself. You will feel it about an hour after dosing and have another hour to enjoy this effect peaking. I barely hear people talk about THH and music since they probably use doses less than 150 mg most of the times, but I've seen solo THH trip reports with more than 200 mg that specifically mention this music enhancement. I don't know the exact threshold dosage required to elicit this effect from THH but I don't see the point in using low doses of THH. People should go big with it, 250-300 mg of THH provides the most warming body high and enhancement of music. Higher haven't been tested by me.

About harmine, it also affects music. I know I took too much harmine when music literally starts to sound like it is on 1.25X or 1.5 speed. And it is not just music, it happens with also conversations. The effect is really on the weird side, you can talk with other people and it feels you skip big chunks of letters from their words. Coming back to music, it ruins it IMO, gives it a tiring and fast tempo that overpowers THH. Again not many people mention this because probably not that many use only pure harmine for MAOI inhibition. And it doesn't take much harmine to elicit this effect, probably at 2x the minimum dosage required to inhibit DMT.
Harmaline doesn't seem to have that big of an impact on music. I never used pure harmaline but the delirious mental state it causes (and I am using this term with full intention) will ruin a good listening session.

So when talking about music and ayhuasca, if you don't use pharmahuasca to fine tune your experience how you want, you will basically get the result of these 3 compounds interacting with each other. Syrian rue won't bring the glow of THH, and maybe the caapi tea you cook in your kitchen stove doesn't have enough THH in it. So it will be a wild guess of the exact proportions you will have in your aya drink.

I'm writing this post a day after I took THH+ DMT and just enough harmine as to not interfere. Even now the music I listened during the trip seems to bring back the body high I felt sending waves of chills down the back.
Hightlight tracks for me were
and

Can reccomend the full album for any journey anytime
 
ControlledChaos said:
Most recently, I have been using 30 minute loops of songs from Zelda Ocarina of Time. While this seems like a strange choice, it was really effective for me. In particular the "water temple* theme made the trip take on this very magical and mystical quality. "Astral Observatory" is another good one, and it filled me with a sense of love for people close to me.
Click to expand...

I love this idea. Not just the use of Zelda tracks, which I can totally see how those songs could work very well for someone, but the idea of using loops to get into a headspace better. I am not yet an ayahuasca user, but from my psilohuasca music listening I love the way the experience can be fueled with sound, but its always sad when you are in a great space and then a song ends and another begins potentially completely changing the experience. Sure, sometimes the variety is nice, or the change is greatly appreciated, but the value of being able to continually dive into a certain feeling or story and explore it cannot be underestimated. That is something I have experimented with in guided relaxation and visualization, but didn't consider musically.

I have often listened to continuous mixes, ambient albums, and other music which has less harsh transitions or longer tracks, but the idea of listening to a musical loop had not actually occurred to me so thank you very much for sharing.
 
RowRowRowYourBoat said:
ControlledChaos said:
Most recently, I have been using 30 minute loops of songs from Zelda Ocarina of Time. While this seems like a strange choice, it was really effective for me. In particular the "water temple* theme made the trip take on this very magical and mystical quality. "Astral Observatory" is another good one, and it filled me with a sense of love for people close to me.
Click to expand...

I love this idea. Not just the use of Zelda tracks, which I can totally see how those songs could work very well for someone, but the idea of using loops to get into a headspace better. I am not yet an ayahuasca user, but from my psilohuasca music listening I love the way the experience can be fueled with sound, but its always sad when you are in a great space and then a song ends and another begins potentially completely changing the experience. Sure, sometimes the variety is nice, or the change is greatly appreciated, but the value of being able to continually dive into a certain feeling or story and explore it cannot be underestimated. That is something I have experimented with in guided relaxation and visualization, but didn't consider musically.

I have often listened to continuous mixes, ambient albums, and other music which has less harsh transitions or longer tracks, but the idea of listening to a musical loop had not actually occurred to me so thank you very much for sharing.
Click to expand...
This sets me thinking. With the right technology it would be relatively simple to have a selection of soundtracks each of which can be looped (and unlooped) at the push of a button. If this doesn't already exist, it's about one simple step away from existing software solutions. Hardware versions also exist - in fact I might try this with the Akai MPC500 that I have right next to me here. Physical buttons seem more appealing than the touchscreen version.

Another option is programming DJ software (such as Mixxx) to handle any number of loops, which can then be switched around at will.

Further suggestions along these lines would be very welcome :)

e.g. for mobile devices we have these suggestions: Mixxx Alternatives for Android: Top 4 Music Production & Similar Apps | AlternativeTo

Cross DJ Free - The essential DJ experience on iOS & Android!
[youtube]

Looks like it has potential and I'll likely try it out fairly soon.
 
I think the almost universal incorporation of sound into psychedelic ceremonies is due to its sympathetic resonance effects. Some research is now seeing the brain behave like a Resonance chamber . Coupled with field theories of consciousness (EM and perhaps phononic fields, a likely candidate IMO), this provides a basis for why resonance might pull the neural field into greater levels of coherence. Try using a large singing bowl with some choir music on a decent pair of speakers. Or even a sine wave tone of a few hundred hz. The effect is obvious on psychedelics if you're relaxed
 
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