Psychedelic Journeying Advice from a Professional
Everything I've learned from 15+ years of experience in one place
Psychedelic experiences are sacred and should be approached with respect, intention, and care. They take us to the deepest depths and highest highs, and the right knowledge can make the difference (literally) between heaven and hell.
This article is intended to equip you with that knowledge: how to journey safely, intentionally, and effectively with psychedelics, solo or with others. It's a maximally compressed, minimally distorted version of what I've learned from years of personal and professional experience, and applies to classic psychedelics like psilocybin mushrooms and LSD, as well as MDMA and others.
This began as a set of tips I've shared with friends and family over the years, supporting them in their psychedelic explorations. In presenting a more complete version here, it is my hope that they can support you too.
Why Listen to Me?
The title of this article is tongue-in-cheek (a professional tripper? ha) but here's some context on why you might consider listening to me.
In 2018, I founded one of the world's first legal psilocybin retreats, developing its protocols based on learnings from personal experience and reading deeply into psychedelic research.
At Atman, I oversaw over 300 medium-high dose psychedelic experiences, many of which were among the most meaningful of people's lives. I was fortunate to work closely with a group of trained, skilled facilitators, and learn much from their collective experience guiding thousands more sessions.
Following this, I joined Odyssey, a company pioneering psychedelic work in the first U.S. states to implement regulated psilocybin access. In a leadership role, I was again fortunate to contribute to and learn from the frontier of legal psychedelic service delivery.
As important as any of this, I've been using psychedelics intentionally in solo, dyad, and small group contexts for over 15 years. All that said, I am just one person, and these are the opinions of that one person. Like everyone, I have much to learn.
Core Principles for Intentional Journeying
Safety
Psychedelics, used intentionally, are generally safe for most people. Potential risks fall into three categories:
Pharmacological: Interactions with prescription medications and supplements
Physiological: Pre-existing heart conditions or hypertension
Psychological: Personal or family history of certain mental health conditions, including schizophrenia, bipolar, and borderline personality disorder
If any of these apply to you, further research for your specific situation is warranted. For trailheads and resources, see "Safety Screening Resources" below.
Preparation & Integration
The essence of preparation and integration is the idea that the journey begins long before the substance is ingested, and ends long after its psychoactive effects have worn off. From this view, the psychedelic experience is the peak of an arc that can last days, weeks, months, or years. Anything you do to support the experience before is preparation, and anything you do to bring its fruits into your life after is integration.
While there are common patterns and best practices, preparation and integration is highly individual. Learning what works for you is a wonderful opportunity for deepening self discovery.
Set and Setting
“Set” refers to mindset, or psychological orientation towards the experience, and “Setting” refers to the physical setting in which the experience takes place. The importance of set and setting has been understood since the 1960s, and borne out repeatedly in modern research.
More practically, one of the primary things psychedelics do is increase sensitivity. This means that small things—both in your physical environment and your psycho-emotional body—can make a BIG difference. For this reason and others, intention and care in preparing the inner and outer space is always worthwhile.
Creating a Ceremonial Container
A ceremonial container demarcates the psychedelic experience from the rest of life by creating symbolic boundaries in space and time. A good ceremonial container is an enabling constraint. By establishing and respecting the boundaries of the container, you commit to the experience of the journey and give it space to fully open, deepen, and flourish.
I’ve found that when it comes to psychedelics, structure and dynamism are not in tension, but complementary. Structure creates physical and psychological safety that supports the vibrancy and spontaneity of the psychedelic experience. Much of the physical and mental preparation described here is part of creating the structure of a ceremonial container.
Preparing the Setting (Physical Space)
Location & Atmosphere
The ideal physical setting for a psychedelic experience is a private, comfortable indoor space with access to private nature. A cottage, cabin, rural property, or retreat center are best. Many an exceptional journey has been had in other settings, but if possible, go with this.
Before the journey, clean the space and make it comfortable. Put things away, tidy, sweep, and vacuum. Have some cushions and blankets on hand.
Keep lighting soft and warm. If you use candles, place them on a surface such that if they burn down, there's no risk of fire. Burning incense can also be nice.
Set up an altar on a surface like a low table. Use the altar to hold items that have personal significance to you, or that are likely to prompt you in directions you want to go during the journey. Add fresh flowers if you can, and pieces of the surrounding natural environment (e.g. a stone, leaf, piece of bark).
Cover any TV screens with a blanket. I don't know why this makes a difference, but it does.
Books of art or books with a strong visual aspect can be wonderful companions in a journey, especially during the later stages. Set these near the altar.
Psychedelics can make us cry, from both joy and sadness, so have tissues (Kleenex) on hand.
Music & Playlists
Music is an important part of psychedelic journeying. Mostly instrumental music is best—avoid music with lyrics in your native language. A good playlist follows the arc of the psychedelic experience: gentle start → increasing intensity → peak → decreasing intensity → calm finish.
Aim for playlists with longer tracks (5-15+ minutes), as frequent track-switching can be jarring or distracting. Download playlists ahead of time to enable offline listening. See “Further Reading & Resources” below for some playlist options.
Use good quality over-ear headphones or a speaker if you’re solo, and a speaker if you’re with others.
Preparing Food
Psychedelics suppress the appetite, so you don't need to worry about getting hungry during the journey. But, you'll probably be hungry at the end!
Whole, unprocessed, natural foods are best. Fresh fruit is ideal. A variety of flavors and textures can be delightful (e.g. fruit, nut, cheese, chocolate board). Something hearty and warm (e.g. thick soup or rice and dahl) can also be wonderful.
Note that consuming citrus fruit (including fruit juice) will intensify the effects of tryptamine psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD.
Prepare the food in advance to have ready when you need it (e.g. cut up the fruit or cook the meal and keep it in the fridge). Trust me, you'll thank yourself later!
See “Journey Item Checklist” below for a list of items mentioned in this section.
Preparing the Set (Mental Space)
Setting Intentions
Set intentions before the journey, and write them down. Intentions provide directionality to the experience by pointing towards anything you’d like to explore. They can include themes from your life, questions, feelings, memories, qualities of experience, and more. Your intentions may or may not be met, but it always helps to have them (even if your intention is just to have fun!)
Write as much or as little about your intentions as feels good to you. I like to note down each intention as a short phrase on the same sheet of paper, for easy reference during and after a journey.
Open Time, Free of Distraction
Have one full day completely free for the journey. Ideally, have an additional full day after as well.
Ensure the time you have for journeying is completely free of any obligation. This includes your own responsibilities (tasks or to-dos) and potential interruptions from others (visitors, deliveries, phone calls, etc.). This is important.
Put your phone on airplane mode or turn it off. A phone timer can be useful during the come up (more on this below), but doesn’t require an internet connection. Otherwise, keep your phone in a different room.
If you wear a watch, take it off. Beyond the early stages, it won’t be helpful to try to make sense of time during the journey.
Physical Relaxation
Yoga, stretching, or any practice that helps you physically relax can be helpful the evening before or morning of a journey. Releasing physical tension leads to releasing mental tension, which both make it easier to deepen into the experience.
Approach the Medicine Like it's a Living Spirit
Approaching the psychedelic as if it is, or has, a living spirit is generally a helpful orientation.
Imagine the journey as if you're going to meet the medicine somewhere, or as if it is coming to meet you. What are you bringing to it? What are you intending to receive from it? It will have gifts for you: how are you orienting towards receiving those gifts?
With mushrooms in particular, it can feel like you're a guest in the mushroom domain. How do you behave as a guest in someone's home?
While many traditions relate to psychedelics this way, it can also feel strange for a modern. Just do as much as you feel comfortable with.
It also doesn’t matter if you “believe” this or not. Using psychedelics will probably make you much less attached to your beliefs anyway. It is simply a helpful way of looking at and orienting to the experience.
The Journey
Opening the Ceremony
Opening indicates the beginning of nonordinary time and space: the doorway to the sacred, transpersonal, and otherworldly.
Invite in the spirit of the medicine, share your intentions with it, and ask it to give you what you need. Ask it to be gentle with you, and to keep you safe. Approach it with respect, and it will treat you with respect in return.
If you are journeying with others, open the ceremony together. Consider sharing briefly about your intentions for the journey. Some like to call in the four directions, or other protective energies or spirits.
In a dyad or group, it can be helpful to set shared agreements for safe and respectful conduct. Common agreements include:
Staying in the space or on the property
Not doing harm or violence to ourselves or others
No nonconsensual touch or sexual activity
Name the agreements explicitly, and agree together.
Dosing and Boosting
The ceremonial aspect of the experience can extend to dosing itself. You might hold the medicine before consuming it, and put your intentions or prayers into it. You might consume it slowly and intentionally; with mushrooms for example, chewing them gradually and noticing the texture and sensations.
Avoid eating for at least 2-3 hours before dosing. If you're journeying in the morning, you can eat a light breakfast (e.g. fruit and oats), or just fast. Eating within 2-3 hours of dosing will delay onset time, and greatly increase the chances of nausea.
If you are taking a boost, it's important to get the timing approximately right, so set an alarm or notification (I like a gong sound). More on boosts and timing in “Guidance for Specific Substances” below.
Onset and Come Up
You may or may not feel the psychedelic effects quickly. Be patient with onset time. For first-timers, it's common for onset to feel slower, and with experience, to feel it faster.
A classic mistake at this stage is to think that the psychedelic isn’t working, or that you didn’t take enough, and then to take more, only for it all to hit at once and make the experience much stronger than intended. Every experienced journeyer has done this at least once (myself included), and while it's never the end of the world, it can be much more than you bargained for. This can be completely avoided by just being patient!
Have at least some complete silence (e.g. 20 minutes) during the come up to settle and open into the journey. Meditation is helpful during this period, relaxing the body and mind and increasing your sensitivity to the oncoming effects. Reading over intentions or journaling can also be helpful. After a period of silence, start your playlist.
Nausea is most common during the come up. If you experience nausea, don't worry; it's normal and will likely pass quickly. Ginger tea or capsules can help with nausea.
I liken the come up to an airplane taking off: there can be turbulence on the way up, but things generally smooth out once you get to a nice cruising altitude.
When you feel ready, try laying down, wearing an eye mask or other eye covering, and going inward.
Journeying & Navigating the Peak
Trust, let go, be open. Float downstream. Rather than clinging to the banks of the metaphorical river, let the current take you wherever it wants to go.
Surrender to the experience. Allow it to unfold, without resisting any aspect of it, as best you can.
Hold your intentions loosely, and let go of expectations.
Focus on sensations first, emotions second, and thoughts last.
Feel it to heal it.
Don't make promises or commitments in the psychedelic state that need to be carried out outside of that state. (Just note it down to return to later.)
Maybe try looking in the mirror.
Challenging Material
If challenging psychological or emotional material arises, see if you can be curious about it. Ask: What is this trying to show me? What is this trying to teach me?
Go in and towards it, rather than trying to avoid it. What you resist, persists.
Psychedelics allow us to engage with challenging material from a more resourced place than usual. You may be surprised at what unfolds from simple curiosity and openness.
If you find yourself "looping" (repetition of mental process or experience), change something about the physical environment or your physical body. Get up (slowly) and move around, have something to eat, or go outside if inside or inside if outside.
Navigating the Physical World
It can be difficult to navigate the physical world during a psychedelic experience. Be gentle and move slowly. If you’ve been laying down for a long time, get up very slowly.
Recall that psychedelics increase sensitivity, and that small changes in the physical environment can make a big difference. Changing the lighting, music, or your physical position (sitting vs. standing vs. laying down, being inside vs. outside) can substantially change the nature of your experience.
Come Down
Once again, have fruit prepared in advance. The body may be energetically and emotionally drained, and not have eaten for 4-6 hours or more. Fruit at the end of a journey can be like the breath of life.
If you notice negative thoughts or emotions for no apparent reason at this stage, blood sugar may be low. Try eating some fruit!
Closing the Ceremony
Closing indicates the transition from the non-ordinary back into regular life. Generally, the structure of closing mirrors that of opening.
It’s normal for the physical space to become chaotic during the journey. and it can help to return it to something approximating its original state. Clean, fold blankets, throw away used tissues. If you're indoors, open the windows for fresh air.
If you’re journeying with others, close the ceremony together. Consider inviting each person to share one word or phrase about where they're at, or how the journey was for them.
As you feel the effects of the medicine leaving, thank it and say goodbye. Thank it for keeping you safe, and giving you what you needed. Perhaps it's not goodbye, but "see you next time!"
Integration
Same-Day Integration
Be gentle with yourself. Transition slowly back into doing normal things.
The afterglow can be as unique and wonderful as the journey itself. Enjoy it!
It may be invigorating to get back into the body with gentle stretching, yoga, or movement. You may find joy in connecting with others. Or, you may want introspective alone time. Be sensitive to and honor your needs.
Journal if you feel like it. Stay off your phone and offline for the rest of the day.
You’ll most likely want to eat after the journey. Hearty, nutritious, whole foods that have been prepared ahead of time are ideal.
If you like cannabis, it can be nice during the comedown. Note that cannabis can reactivate (increase the intensity of) tryptamine psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD.
Depending on the medicine and your dose timing, it might be hard to sleep. Sleep aids are an option, but if you can, just let your body sleep when it’s ready.
Integration in the Following Days, Weeks & Months
Be gentle with yourself (yes, still!) Integration can last for as long as it feels needed.
Common integration practices include:
Journaling
Meditation
Time in nature
Yoga or other movement practice
Dance
Art
Talking with a trusted friend, family member, or practitioner
Generally, practices you already find helpful will likely also help your integration process.
Re-listening to your journey playlist while journaling can help bring the experience back.
Be thoughtful about who you share your experience with. People may expect, or ask for, stories of fantastic visions or profound insights. You are under no obligation to share anything if you don’t want to. It’s perfectly okay to say something like, “It was great, and I learned a lot about myself. I’m still integrating and not ready to talk about it yet.” Trust your own sense of appropriate boundary and respect it. This is important.
Avoid comparing your experience with those of others (e.g. someone you journeyed with, or an experience report you read online).
Don't make any major life-changing decisions immediately after a strong psychedelic experience (e.g. ending a relationship, proposing, leaving a job, moving city, etc.). Allow a few weeks for integration first.
Guidance for Specific Substances
Tips for Journeying with MDMA
Substance Testing
Depending on your source, you may want to test the MDMA. DanceSafe.org sells easy-to-use and affordable testing kits.
Dosing and Boosting
A boost is recommended with MDMA due to its relatively short duration. Take an initial dose, then boost 50% of the initial dose after one hour and 30 minutes. For example, take 100mg at 10:00AM, then take 50mg at 11:30AM.
Supplements
If you take MDMA, supplement! A few simple, affordable supplements can mitigate both short term (emotional) and long term (neurological; speculative) adverse effects of MDMA. The main supplements are Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA) and Acetyl-L Carnitine (ALCAR). Rollsafe.org has an excellent MDMA supplement guide.
Consider having ginger tea or capsules on hand in case of nausea.
Bruxism (Jaw Clenching)
Jaw clenching is a common side effect of MDMA, and can be intense enough to cause jaw soreness or headaches after, and even chewing of the inside of the mouth (this is why ravers have soothers).
Take magnesium before dosing to help reduce jaw clenching. Chew gum (fruit over mint, generally) to give the jaw something to do.
Hydration
Risk of dehydration with MDMA has been overstated, but even if you're not expecting to move and sweat a lot (i.e. you're not dancing), it's good practice to keep water with electrolytes on hand.
Navigating the Comedown
If you’ve journeyed with others, stay together and connected during the comedown to help with potential emotional lows. Eat, even you don’t feel like it, as this also helps.
Tips for Journeying with Psilocybin (Mushrooms)
Dosing and Boosting
With mushrooms, consider a boost optional. By about an hour, you will have a sense of the intensity of your initial dose. Boost if you want the effects to be stronger and to go deeper into the experience. When deciding whether to boost, listen to your body, and listen to the medicine!
Take an initial dose, then optionally boost 50% of the initial dose after about one hour and 10 minutes. For example, take 2.5g at 11:00 AM, then take 1.25g at 12:10 PM.
Consider having ginger tea or capsules on hand in case of nausea.
Journeying
"If you see a door, walk through it.
If you see a window, look through it.
Trust the trajectory, follow your path.
And above all, trust, let go, and be open.”
Post-Experience Headaches
Headaches post-journey are a moderately common side effect of psilocybin. Have headache medication (e.g. acetaminophen/paracetamol, ibuprofen) on hand in case.
Safety Screening Resources
Professional Consultations
Spirit Pharmacist and the Dharmacist offer consultations on medication interactions and other safety considerations
Substance Testing
Dancesafe.org sells MDMA testing kits
Medication Interactions
PsyCheck.app: Free tool I created for checking interactions between psychedelics and prescription medications
Magic Mushroom Interaction Checker: Paid service for checking interactions between psilocybin mushrooms and prescription medications
For academic reviews of drug interactions, see:
Further Reading & Resources
MDMA
The Art of Rolling: Excellent guide and great resource to read before first time use
Rollsafe.org: Evidence-based MDMA information including excellent supplement guide
Psilocybin Mushrooms
First-time Reddit FAQ: Great resource for first time use
The Safety of Psilocybin: Detailed review I wrote for Odyssey
How To Use Psilocybin Mushrooms (archived): Includes a good description of the subjective effects of mushrooms
Psilocybin Mushroom Journeying Playlists
Playlist we used at Atman Retreat:
Johns Hopkins research playlist (classical-music heavy):
Another playlist we used at Atman Retreat:
Playlist by researcher Kelan Thomas:
Visionary Art & Books (for Your Altar)
Sacred Mirrors: Collection of art by the inimitable Alex Grey
Net of Being: Second collection by Alex Grey
Be Here Now: Fun portal into a previous cultural era and a source of timeless wisdom
Journey Item Checklist
Altar items
Cushions & blankets
Candles
Incense
Books of art
Tissues / Kleenex
Downloaded playlist
Speaker or headphones
Eye mask or other eye covering
Prepared food
Journal & pen
Ginger tea or capsules
Supplements, electrolytes, gum (for MDMA)
OTC pain medication (for potential post-journey headache)
It is my sincere hope that the information here will support you in having safer, more fruitful psychedelic experiences.
Happy journeying!
Nice article. Also, psygaia.org is a great resource with a lot of free information on how to safely and effectively approach psychedelics for healing and growth.