It seems to be a big thing  now. Silicon valley, google and amazon employees.  I guess sub threshold doses of lsd are helping with work productivity  and creativity.  The  companies that are notorious for trying this are also known to be heavy I to the mindfullness movement.    Has anybody here tried microdosing as an adjunct to jhana or vipasana practice?

Hi Matthew,

Although I live in Silicon Valley, I've never talked with anybody here who does microdosing. Maybe in San Francisco?

Back in the early 70's when I was in college and into psychedelics, I regularly microdosed. I found after the first time I took them that a full dose was too disorienting (like I got nauseous and threw up for half the night) so I typically cut the dose down by half or more. Nobody called it microdosing back then though.

I haven't tried it myself. The sense that I get when talking to people who are into this sort of thing is that they are in the business of "bio-hacking" with the belief that they will be more productive and achieve more worldly type of success as a result. I talked to a meditator who was microdosing THC edibles and experimenting with meditation concurrently he seemed a bit spacey and confused to me. 

I've tried it a few times many years back, only once at work. Some moments were enjoyable in a recreational way but I was pretty uncomfortable while in the office.

One of my coworkers at that job would do it somewhat regularly and I noted the same thing, that he was noticeably spacey and his work output was weirder than usual and less accurate, although when asked what he thought about it he would say that it helped significantly. It was one of the factors that lead me to reconsider my views on psychedelics and stop using them.

While they may prove to be useful for some sorts of mental illness I've found that the reported positive effects on productivity may be more from the perspective of the user as opposed to an actual improvement.

I was curious about the emerging microdosing scene myself and deciding to do a multi month micro dose protocol following stamets recommendations. Part of my curiosity also stems from being a therapist and the movement towards using psilocybin in treatment.

I was actually pretty surprised by the experience. I am not embedded within the map/practice structure of this community. I'm more a zen kid with shamanic leanings. 

My main dharmic door has always been longer meditation retreats, seshins. I found that the microdose, when used in the proper setting and intention mirrored the movement of a retreat. It had a transformative arc where I was able to work through aspects of my experience in a way I normally don't during daily meditation. Whether it was insight oriented or healing, the mushrooms seemed to support my engaging with and working through more difficult aspects of experience for me. I definitely feel lighter, more at ease and less concerned through the process. 

There's a lot I could say but from a decade plus meditator who identifies with some level of awakened participation, I think it's good shit. 
 

The Buddhist monastic traditions have rules against intoxicating substances. The point of their rules is not to be acetic for the sake of being acetic, but to help their practice, so I would defer to their greater knowledge and experience on this subject.

Personally, I am reluctant to take any kind of substance, even foods like coffee that influence the brain. The brain is plastic, it adapts, I don't want my brain adapting to artificial substances. 

I also think you should be skeptical of reports that substances can be used to assist in this or that task because the people making the reports were intoxicated at the time so their perceptions are not reliable.

This is an example to illustrate what I mean, I am not implying this is evidence that can be used to generalize it to mediation or to other drugs:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/cannabis/article-some-people-think-they-drive-better-after-a-joint-the-science-says/