Hi everyone, I am a new member of the nexus and I don't really have much experience in travelling with psychedelic substances, thou always had a fascination for the experiences described by people who tried them and kind of have the feeling that they're an incredible source of knowledge.
I had some intense experiences through the smoking of large amounts of strong marijuana (I don't smoke it very often so i am quite sensitive to it) and i am willing to try other vehicles.
My question is: Do you think DMT is too strong to start with? And if so, is there any spiritual preparation (i.e. meditation) that would help me handle the experience?
I have a lot of respect for this substances so if you can give me some tip i'll appreciate it a lot.

Thanks!!

Hello and welcome to the nexus. I can't speak for you and if dmt will be a good first experience or not. Personally I would start with mushrooms(cubensis) and work my way up from 1gram doses upto 2 or 3 grams after a while and get a feel for the tryptamine type body load and high experiences. Dmt can be incredibly overwhelming even to experienced trippers let alone first time serious phsycadelic users. To each their own however, I'm sure if you do some research you will be able to find the path you are looking for and the substances you will experience along the way.

Meditation is highly recommended before partaking of any psychedelic substance imo. And I'm not talking about sitting on the floor in lotus position (but if you enjoy that by all means ), no what I mean by meditation is quieting and stilling your mind as much as possible.

You'll hear a lot about set and setting around here and these are very important things to keep in mind, but nothing is as important as your own mental state and your intention for invoking the experience. I like what one of Dr. Strassman's subjects on DMT the Spirit Molecule documentary says:

"Set and setting are everything, even more important than the substance really. Now, when you close your eyes and ears what is your set and setting? It's in your mind."

I like this a lot because it's pretty true. It definately helps to partake of the spice in a physical place your comfortable with, but nothing is as important as having a relaxed and open mind going into the experience. If I could offer you one rule to try and remember throughout any voyage you take it's this: Don't resist. Let it come exactly as it is no matter what the content and no matter how confusing it may be sometimes. Integration is the period after the trip, where you can spend as much time as you need to dissecting and interpreting the experience in your own walk of life.



Now, all that being said, nothing can prepare you for the experience. Nothing. Most of us who have 'been there' (and that's not to make us out to be in some special group, it's available to everyone who wants it) come back time and time again to the basic premise that our human language just cannot do enough to describe the experience. We do what we can with our trip reports on self-transforming machine elves, opticus, fabriege eggs from hyperspace, interlocking kaleidoscopic hallucinogenic patterns, etc. These are words and do so little to describe the actual experience.

It is literally like love. No one can tell you what that's like to experience it for the first time. They can try, but they will not succeed. Certain things just need to be experienced to be understood, and the psychedelic underworld is one of those things.

Stay safe, be smart, measure your dose, relax your mind, and submit to the experience. That's the best advice I can give.

If one starts with DMT, makes sure to start with 10mg or less.

Avoiding stress and excess work is important for preparation. And meditation, stilling the mind as tek described. Listening to some music etc.

In the end there is pretty much nothing that can prepare one for the full experience. Relaxation is most important however.

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Thanks everybody for the tips, however I think i'll take the advice of starting with low doses of shrooms, maybe it's better to start getting a mild experience instead a cathartic beginning into psychedelics. See you soon!

In addition to what others have said. Drugs don't have a progression meter. One doesn't have to smoke weed to be ready for another drug, or one doesn't have to do shrooms to be ready for acid. All drugs are different (with some similarities) so they can't fully prepare you for one another. While I agree it probably would be best to start small on hallucinogens. It is not needed. I hadn't done anything other then weed before my first trip and I came out just fine, and enjoyed the experience. Hope it's a good first time when you do it, and welcome to the nexus!

this.
eating apples doesn't necessarily ready you for the taste of oranges.
but it doesn't hurt.

Completely agree.