Knowing When You’re Ready & Choosing a Medicine
5:01 minutes
People usually fall into one of two buckets when they are considering working with psychedelic medicine: they either just feel a strong, internal pull OR they have tried working with diet, exercise, talk therapy, and other western and eastern modalities to make changes in their life, and they still feel stuck. Both reasons are equally valid.
No matter your reason is for being interested in psychedelics, knowing if you actually want to do it, or knowing when you are ready to do it, can be tricky.
Psychedelics can feel exciting, mysterious, and well… a bit intimidating and scary. The potentials for what can occur in a psychedelic journey aren’t your typical, everyday experiences. Sometimes a feeling of fear about psychedelics can be a legitimate signal that it’s not for you or that you’re not ready yet. Other times, fear can be exaggerated and should be questioned.
There are two common, less legitimate, reasons for fear that are important to name:
1. As we touched on before, the majority of people living in the United States have been taught that psychedelics are scary, dangerous drugs. This initial framing of what psychedelics are can be hard to reprogram. People with this belief often end up worrying about being perceived as “bad” because they are “doing drugs”. Or they think they will become addicted, or that the risk for harm is much higher than it actually is.
2. People who have experienced a fair amount of trauma typically have some coping mechanisms that involve maintaining control. And even if it’s only for a short period of time, having a psychedelic journey does require releasing control. This prospect of releasing control might feel too dangerous, both mentally and physically.
Checking yourself for both of these fears - being perceived as “bad” or losing control - is important to filter out as you decide if and when you are ready. I have never meant a single person who didn’t have some fear before sitting with psychedelic medicine for the first time (or second, or third.) Nobody can tell you when you’re ready - only you get to decide.
Choosing a Medicine
When choosing a medicine, take some time to learn more about the different medicines and journeys and see what sparks your interest. Medicines like ayahuasca, peyote, and san pedro can be more intense, especially physically, and so some people build their comfort level up by working with a gentler medicine like psilocybin first. Others feel called to these more somatic medicines immediately and that is perfectly fine, too.
All of the medicines are being shown to help with depression and anxiety. For people who have childhood trauma, intergenerational trauma, or have dealt with minority stigma, MDMA can be really beneficial. When worked with carefully and intentionally, this unique medicine can be a gentler beginning and allow for a feeling of safety in the body.
How Often
If you do decide to work with psychedelic medicine, you may wonder, how many times will I need to do it? There is unfortunately no clear answer to this question either. Most people do work with this medicine more than once, but it’s certainly not necessary. There is only so much you can cover in each journey. It is important to keep a minimum of four weeks between psychedelic journeys, if not more. You need this time to integrate your experience.
