Hello everyone! Long time listener, first time caller. 

I'm writing this with the intention of seeking additional methods for integrating a consistent meditation practice into my daily life. I'm 25, and began exploring meditation when I was 15. I had my first psychedelic experience when I was 19. It was during my first 10 day Vipassana meditation retreat 3 years ago that I experienced a deep peace and awareness similar to my experiences with LSD and Psilocybin, however after returning home my practice wavered. Some months I'd meditate an hour a day, many more I'd simply think about meditating. I decided to attend a second 10 day retreat to help rekindle momentum for my practice, and yet again after returning home last week again I am finding it difficult to integrate it back into my daily life.

I am taking general advice for this (creating a designated area/time, tying it to other routines, eating healthier, etc.) but want to also keep an open mind to other unorthodox means of supporting this journey. I understand this may be controversial, so I seek your wisdom.

As some have put, I see psychedelic trips as brief helicopter visits up to the top of the mountain, whereas meditation is the perpetual journey walking up to the top. From my current limited understanding and experience, the long term benefits from meditation are gained through integrated long term practice in daily life. If intensive retreats serve to give periodic boosts of insight, how similar are they to the helicopter rides of psychedelic trips? At this point, I feel like I have "gotten the message", and have no interest in a full-dose trip.

However, perhaps due to my past experience with microdosing (only a handful of occasions), I still have a lingering curiosity for its utility. My question is, could regular microdosing on a psychedelic (James Fadiman protocol with LSD) aid the establishment and initial growth for a dedicated meditation practice, or is this just an illusion? If accepting the helicopter analogy for trips, would microdoses effectively be like taking regular "lookouts" several steps ahead on the path? Or would even microdosing past a certain point be a distraction? In most testimonials I've read, those introduced to meditation through psychedelics eventually move on to meditation and leave psychedelics for good. Would microdosing help a smoother transition? 

I don't want to hastily jump into anything without consulting people who have already experienced this and are farther along the path. My other thought is, should I be less concerned about the destination and more concerned about the embracing the difficulty of this stage in the journey? Is my seeking ways to "jump start" my practice my own craving towards a desired goal? Alternatively, I'm considering serving at a retreat soon, or even becoming a full-time server for a few months... Thank you for reading this with an open mind and forgive my ignorance if it is obvious. Any insight you can is share is much appreciated

I cannot really talk out of personal experience, but I remember that, in another practical dharma forum, a good friend of mine said that, according to Dr. Willoughby Britton, who specialises in studying the negative side effects of meditation...

...wait, I found the quote:


I don't know if it was a private communication or an excerpt from a scientific paper or a talk or what. You might want to look that up.

I had a period of a few months when I was microdosing with psylocibin (dried magic mushroom powder). Do I recommend it?... hard to tell:

• I ended up buying into kind-of a cultist trip. You can search the forum for "actual freedom" and read all about it.
• I only abandoned this cultist trip out of sheer luck. There are many actualists still out there.
• But I have also found the place where I want to reach with my meditation practice; this is valuable information.
• However, that information was mixed in with the cultist bullshit and it took me years to untangle the two. If I hadn't gotten all zealot single-focused-like, then maybe it would have been better.

Generally speaking, I think psychedelics make it easier for me to buy into stories spun in my own mind. I get all epiphanic and it doesn't really lead to good places.

Thanks for the response. I looked her up today, checked out the TED talk and another article from her. While she did note potential negative effects of meditation, I have not found the information your friend quoted about "young overzealous men." If you find it, could you share it? I'd like to learn more about these strong adverse effects. As I mentioned, I'm not interested in an intensive retreat or full dose psychedellic, but rather posing questions on potential aids to "spring board" ones start to a consistent foundation in their practice. 

Bruno, I appreciate the reply. By your third point, do you mean that through microdosing you reached a more consistent foundation in your mediation practice? If not, what place do you refer to? I talked with my therapist about this yesterday and shes accepting but Im still mulling this one over. 

It seems like the core of your question is really about establishing a motive to meditate, so it may be wise to think WHY you want to meditate. Not some wishy-washy reason but what is the real,true reason you want to do this? Then your practise will flow out from that. Dismantle your reasoning until you get to your core motivation.

For example,my reason to start meditation was my deep suffering over obsessive-compulsive thoughts. Eventually, these thoughts dissipated and my practise waned for a small while, because my whole reason for doing it was already solved at that point. Now I meditate to have a mind impervious to the viccissitudes of life,so I can snap out of my personal drama and allow me to alleviate the suffering of others around me.

Maybe look up the subreddit r/getdiscliplined, as there's some decent advice on there in regards to establishing positive daily habits, Culadasa's book 'The Mind Illuminated' is also pretty incredible and is a very complete guide on meditation, it has been my primary resource and it has never let me down, and allowed me to practise without any doubt as to what to do, thus avoiding any ambiguity you may encounter on the path.