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I have heard countless people talk about reaching a highly altered state of consciousness through non-chemical means. Being the type of person that I am and being a big fan of becoming altered, I have ventured into this arena myself. The results have been mixed at best. Some of these techniques have been little more than rumor and some were outright lies but a handful seem to have some "there" there and I would like to discuss those things honestly from my own experience. 

I don't want to spend too much time writing about things that have no effect at all but I will point out that there is a lot of "bunk" information, pseudoscience, and pseudo-spirituality floating around. Some people will inevitably corrupt any pursuit, no matter how noble, and the quest for psychological or "spiritual" self-discovery through altered consciousness is no different. Some good rules to go by are to question anything that requires you to spend a lot of money and avoid anyone who promises a sure thing. Right about now, you may be thinking that "drugs do cost money" and "you have argued that they are (almost) a sure thing." That is true but the difference is we know that many drugs do work exactly as advertised. If you eat enough mushrooms, you absolutely will cause a profound change in consciousness regardless of past experience or training. In that sense, the claims that are made about psychedelics are well justified. Other things don't have the same reliability and it is easy for some charlatan to say "it didn't work because you didn't believe hard enough." However, there are a few techniques that seem to be effective (to a point, at least).

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Meditation works for some people but I have had little success in reaching the "visionary" state that I would like to. Quite a few respectable individuals have argued that meditation can take a person to a state of mind that is remarkably similar to a psychedelic experience. Unfortunately, I can't say that I have been able to achieve that but the logic follows. An altered state only requires a change in brain chemistry. Like drugs, deep concentration can also alter brain chemistry so the potential seems to be there, despite my own disappointing results.  This is not to say that I don't feel a little different as a result of meditation. I do, in fact, feel vaguely altered after spending a few hours trying to reach that state of mind but it is still less than I would expect from a very light dose of an actual psychedelic. I can call up what I would describe as the shadows of hallucinations. I can tell there is life in the darkness of the void but I can't make it out. It never forms solid shapes and it lacks the "intelligence" that one senses with the use of psychedelics. That is enough to let me know that there is something to meditation but I, personally, can't say that I have ever gotten much out of it. There is one exception that I can think of, however, but it is questionable. I had been mediating for quite some time (an hour, maybe more) and I was struggling to stay awake. For a moment, I felt a rushing sensation as though I was falling through the floor and I briefly "saw" something that was very detailed and very solid. It was a blue building, like a fantasy castle, made of ice or crystal and it seemed quite real for a few seconds. Sadly, I can't confidently attribute this to meditation. As I said, I was near sleep and hypnagogic hallucinations are pretty common in presleep so that may be the the real cause. 

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Since the goal is alter the way my brain works, there are other types things that I have tried. Whether these non-drug "drugs" do anything is questionable, but one of the most promising, in my opinion, is a technique that uses flashing lights. I heard about this one recently and tried it (kind of) immediately. The idea stands to reason. We know that light patterns can cause seizures in people with epilepsy, so saying that they can have other neurological effects is not a stretch.  Anyway, I was listening to a podcast that Dennis Mckenna (Terrance Mckenna's brother) was a guest on and he mentioned something called Ajna Light. Essentially, you sit under a strobing light and it can induce a DMT like experience. The actual machine is rather expensive and I have no idea where to find one so I had to settle for a recording of the light that I found on YouTube. Doubtlessly, some of the efficacy was lost but there was a "something" that I got from using it although, I would say that it was very weak. Like with meditation, I had what I would describe as a shadow of a trip. The extremely slight visuals were a little more defined and a bit sharper but they were very short lived. Five minutes after the lights ended so did the "trip." There are risks to using these lights too. If you are prone to seizures this is not something you want to try because you could be hurting yourself. That hazard makes me hesitant to recommend this to anyone since mushrooms and several other psychedelics are known to be rather safe and work far better. If Ajna Light sounds appealing to you, the videos can be found for free but be sure that you are okay with the risk that you are taking.

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I have heard people say that certain sound frequencies can induce a trip and that seems to have some potential, plus it is easy enough to test. I found some of these tones, fired up the surround sound, and gave it a go. The idea works on the same principal as Ajna Light but uses sound to attempt to change consciousness. This seemed to cause the most "trip" like change but only after "cheating" a bit with, lets say, a medicated brownie. After listening to buzzing noises for a few hours and trying to space out as much as I could, I did notice a feeling that reminded me of coming up on very low dose of mushrooms (maybe a gram or a little less). My thought process was starting to cross that trippy boundary but only by a toe. Things kind of wiggled in my vision and I could see some slight closed eye visuals that had a bit more substance than the ones produced by meditation or Ajna Light. This is an avenue that I am currently exploring and if I can find something that reliably works, I will write about it here. As it stands though, I still can't say that it is a viable substitute for real psychedelic exploration. 

I don't want to sound like I am discounting these things but I have to be honest about my own experience. They don't seem to work very well for me and that is the sad truth. I would love to reach that psychedelic realm without having to break the (unjust) law. If I could conjure up those feelings on demand, that would be a huge breakthrough in my journey as a psychonaut but at this point, psychedelics are still the best option to get to where I want to go. I am curious to hear your thoughts on this subject. Have you ever tried these things and do you have a history with psychedelic substances? Have you had any success with these kinds of non-drug trips? If so, what worked to get you to that altered state?

Peace.

All the images in this post are sourced form the free image website, unsplash.com.