She is revising her “guide manual,” directed toward
outlining the methods of guiding psychedelic sessions in the research
setting.
She wrote the first one in 2014, for our work with guiding
volunteers in a safety and pharmacokinetics study of psilocybin.
Now she is revising the manual in light of the newer
publications and expanded knowledge that has unfolded in the past 4 years.
The question came up, “Are we guides or sitters?”
Both terms have been used.
I said ,“I think that from sitter to guide is a continuum… “
When we are sitting, we are doing less…
We are more “being…”
We are being present, paying attention to what might be
going on in the room.
We are predominantly paying attention to the volunteer, but
we are also monitoring what is going on within ourselves, with our
co-guide/sitter, and with any other study personnel who may be around.
The other end of this spectrum is when we are guiding…
Then we are more active, more “doing…”
The range of what we do starts early in our interactions
with the volunteer.
The first meeting sets the stage.
Warmth, friendliness, openness…
A listening presence...
Many qualities are important…
We also want to be careful…
We do not want to be overwhelmingly warm and friendly…
We start to explore the question of who this this person
coming into our study…
What might they need…
And they want to know if they can trust us…
It is a dance…
We usually have 2-4, several hour, preparatory
sessions.
We instruct them on the details of what may, or may not,
happen during sessions.
We inform them about possible drug effects.
We practice “safe touch…”
We practice non-verbal signals, for when they might have
difficulty verbalizing during a psychedelic session.
We ask them many intimate questions, including “what don’t
you want us to know about you…”
We have them practice lying down with headphones, music, and
eyeshades…
Then during a session, we might start out with light
conversation as the drug is taking effect.
As the effects rise, we might suggest that the volunteer lay
down with music and eyeshades…
We may be quiet and just being present for many hours… This is my definition of pure sitting.
During the session we may attend with water, going to the
bathroom, encouraging them to go back to eyeshades and headphones…
That is mostly sitting with a little guiding.
Or, there may be a crisis, with screaming and yelling,
active movements, groaning and crying…
Sometimes tears of joy and sometimes of sadness…
Sometimes speaking about what they are experiencing, or
wanting us to take notes…
Or, they may be resisting the medicine…
Here we may be doing much more guiding…
Hand holding, hugging, speaking…
We may have to remind them that they took a medicine…
This horror or terror will pass…
We may have to reassure them that their body is safe…
These medicines are powerful…
This method of giving psychedelics in this particular set
and setting is even more powerful…
We often need to remind ourselves to do less, be less of a
guide…
Be more of a sitter, being present with whatever
arises…
Wisdom arises independent of our drives to do
something…
Independently of whatever skills we may have in our treasure
chest of psychological methods…
We tend to be a doing society, we have more problems with
just being…
Our loving presence is important…
We also may have to remind ourselves to get out of the
way…
The disclaimer is we are not encouraging illegal
activity.
However, let us all work toward legalization of these sacred
medicines…
These sacred methods of unfolding together in these sets and
settings…
It is not only the volunteer who benefits…
The sitters/guides, and our whole society, rise up these
evolutionary scales…
Let us all travel there together!
Namaste
