DOSE: T+ 0:00	2 g	oral	Mushrooms - P. cubensis	(dried)
T+ 0:15		smoked	Cannabis

BODY WEIGHT:

200 lb

I have been a student of yoga for ~6yrs., having learned it in the first place as a regimen for substance abuse recovery (alcohol and nicotine). As a result, I was leery about use of other substances, esp. since yoga has done so much for me already, I felt that I had no need for these things--but a certain curiousity remained...

Anyway, last summer I was attending a music festival in western NY when my camp mates announced to me at dinnertime that they had procured some mushrooms and asked if I cared to share some, as I had shared some of the curried dal that I had prepared earlier in the evening. I was reluctant at first, yet I was still curious and one of them whom I had developed some rapport and trust with offered to help guide me, should I have any difficulties. At that point, my initial fears allayed, I agreed. She then proceeded to give me a breakdown of onset experiences, and made some allusions to peak experiences, which she said were unlikely due to the lower dosage that I would be ingesting. She then pointed out that marijuana would take the 'edge' off of the onset fears and I was welcome to partake with her. I was dubious, but since I had developed some trust for her judgement, I agreed.

Arrangements thus made, I proceeded to ingest the mushrooms in some of the leftover curry and at T+15, after cleaning up the dishes with my guide, proceeded to smoke a bowl of very strong marijuana with her. We sat back around the fire, our campmates having left to go see the music act up on the main stage. We drifted in and out of conversation, simply letting our attention drift where it would.

At T+45, she got up to go off to the loo, reassuring me that she would be right back. 'Fine' I said, feeling just fine and relaxed due to the full meal and fine pipe we had just had, 'take your time.' Right after she left the fire started to become incredibly vivid and I started to lose track of my physical bearings. Hmm, I thought, gravity doesn't normally act this way...I sat bolt upright at this point, panic creeping up my spine like a cold hand. I noticed that my breathing had become very shallow and fast at this point and my yoga training kicked in. I consciously took control of my breathing, bringing it lower into my belly and slowing it down. I straightened my posture still further and applied mula bandha, root lock, as a way of maintaining my meditative state.

I closed my eyes at this point since the fire, though low at this point, was still too much too look at. What I got, though, was *something* else...I was suddenly visually aware of my body as an energetic system, seeing my chakras, sensing correspondences, sensing imbalances...wait a minute...imbalances? Taking a deeper breath, I 'sent' my breath through the connection that was imbalanced and felt my posture straighten further. Encouraged, I sought still more imbalances and repeated the process...Every time I did so more energy was 'freed up' and my interior view brightened further and I saw/felt more correspondences.

'Ahem' my guide said, 'are you enjoying the ride?' I then opened my eyes to look up at my guide who had returned to find me sitting in the damp grass in full lotus posture facing a fire almost fully out. 'As a matter of fact, yes, I have been' I replied, giggling. 'I'm really sorry I took so long to get back but I got sidetracked...' she started to say, '...and then I looked up at my watch and it said over two hours had passed and I rushed back here...'. 'Not to worry,' I interrupted, 'I've been just fine...'

Exp Year: 2001	ExpID: 11138
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Oct 18, 2019	Views: 1,874
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Mushrooms - P. cubensis (66), Breathing (470) : First Times (2), Combinations (3), Therapeutic Intent or Outcome (49), Festival / Lg. Crowd (24)