oragami_itto wrote:There's a lot of hard evidence to come out recently in favor of psychedelics for psychiatric therapy. So much so that more psychedelics are being approved for medicinal use in more applications, and some areas are even legalizing them.
Personally I'm a huge fan of mushrooms. Used responsibly they can be a powerful medicine with lasting positive effects.
They also promote a singular sort of body awareness that I've never experienced otherwise. I'm sure I'll never develop superpowers or call the dragon down because my body and spirit are so tainted but whatever, Trevor, it's working for me.
I'm an example of psychedelics as a medicine. About 5 few years ago I suffered a high speed collision with a large truck (driver on his phone). I had a serious concussion (slurred speech, etc) and a year later as I was recovering still I was hit again by a driver on her phone. Since I wasn't 'back to baseline' from the original concussion this was now a TBI (traumatic brain injury). Most concussions are very minor and take about 6-8 weeks to recover from - for me, 6 months later I was still degrading. I had to go through a tunnel of darkness, zombie-like brain fog, and had dementia symptoms. I was the 95 year old man in the room no one could communicate with and I was in my late 40s. A specialist recommended micro-dosing mushrooms to me - explained how it created neurogenesis (formation of new neuropathways) and it an excellent medicine for concussion/tbi recovery - eventually I tried it. Within 2 weeks I went from "I just want to go live in a cave and die off in peace" to "I can't wait to ride my bike again!". It was a long road to recovery.
Then a year after the 2nd crash, I was hit a 3rd time - driver on the phone. By the time I go to the hospital I couldn't identify myself - I didn't know who I was. I also stopped talking for about 3 weeks. I couldn't get the brain to motivate the voice to work. Then I had to go through the tunnel of brain injury related symptoms once again... and I had just gotten out of it.
I was told I would never work in my field again. I was told to wait 2 years of recovery, then talk to an occupational counsellor about training for a new career - she actually hinted that it would something like janitorial. I started microdosing again, and within 5 months I began to work an hour every second day, and within 8 months I was working full time (as I struggled but continued to improve).
That was a few years ago and now I'm back at my old job as if nothing occurred (at 1 point a couple of years ago I was homeless in a tent).
During that time of microdosing I'd have a ton of 'aha!' moments during meditation - in fact meditation was the only thing I was capable of practising due to physical injuries from 3 successive crashes. Mediation during a small dose gave me so many epiphanies about my training, about the things my old teacher used to elude to, and gave me an understanding of why he always said "Don't just practise the hard qi gong only. Real power comes from meditation. You need to sit and meditate more". So now I sit and meditate more, and it has unlocked so much more for me than training alone, and the small dose of psychedelics has taken it to levels that would have taken ages (if it would have occurred at all).
Just in case anyone was wondering why I haven't been as vocal on the board the last few years - recoverying. But if you have any questions about concussions, TBI, and recovery modalities, I'm a very experienced survivor and can offer a lot of advice/suppport on this. And the use of psychedelics for training.
For quite a few years, I've apprenticing to be a healer with a curandero in Peru. Lots of deep journeying, healing, and clearing. Absolutely life changing, but you have to be ready for it. Many people dip their toes in the water and start to talk about how deep they went. For me, it's an understanding that you have to be ready for the darkness. For the transformation. To let go of your identity (so many people identify with their traumas they carry) and to be built back up from scratch. It's not for everyone. I used to think "Oh my god, everyone should do this" (referring to the jungle medicines outside of mushrooms) and now I say "only if you're ready to change".