A Watched Mind Does Not Roil

Well, maybe it still does, hopefully less than an unwatched mind…  

For me at least that seems to be the results of meditation.  

Not that we are trying to achieve anything…  

Or are we?  

The Buddhist literature is filled with “non-achievement.”  

Well, actually, if you Google “non-achievement,” you mostly get links to “non-attachment”…    

You only sometimes get links to “non-achievement.”  

https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/bt_52.htm

This title came to me during last night’s meditation, a usual 3 am awake mind, up to sit, always starts off with a thinking mind, thoughts slow their appearance with attention, watching thoughts, letting them drift away, sometimes a bumper sticker saying arises…  

I laughed at that one, so I grabbed my phone to write it down, then I can get back to sitting…  

 This Blog title is just an excuse to put down some thoughts arising out of this quarter’s Tricycle Fall 2024.  

On page 40 there is a Meet the Teacher, Phra Ajan Suchart Abhijato, interesting story, does a little teaching, but mostly practices.  I went on his website and looked at a few of his teachings, came away with the idea that he was mostly a classic “Monk on a Mountain.”   

Reminds me of Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge, where the protagonist realizes it is easier to be a monk on a mountain than it is to come back and practice in this messy world.  

I guess I resonate more with Maugham’s protagonist…  

It is not easy to live in this messy world.  I recently read the article in the Atlantic about the migrants trying to come to the US over the Darien Gap, what awful lives they must be having to attempt such a miserable trek.  I contemplate the current wars in Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, Sudan.  How can we each sit with such misery…  

Then there is the article on page 33 by Mark Van Buren on sitting with suffering, the bodhisattva vow to free everyone from suffering.  He then goes on to write how that vow can be overwhelming.  He then tells the story of a young girl throwing starfish back into the sea after a big storm, and a man telling her she was wasting her time, and she retorts “Well, I made a difference to that one!”  He ends with “So go ahead, take the commitment to save the world, but please don’t forget to help your mother do the dishes.”   Make a difference to the everyday lives you touch along the bodhisattva way.  

On page 46 Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi (that is a mouthful!) writes “…each sitting has an unlimited ripple effect.  The simple repetition of that which is unrepeatable allows us to respond from the hara (lower belly), from the heart, with trust.  There is no formula!  Each situation demands complete awareness, the clear mirror of mind that is free from prior convictions and karmic patterns.  Thus, we can discern right action.”  

Peter Coyote on page 61 writes “Try to pin down the source from where your internal speech and bizarre little narrative daydreams arise.  Meditating allows the apparent boundaries of distinctions to dissolve and the place from which new thoughts and impulses arise to express itself.  When our boundaries are wide open and anything can be included, we really don’t know with certainty who’s sitting on our cushion or who or what is orchestrating our breathing, and surprisingly, it is more interesting not to know.”  

My overall take on this Labor Day 2024 is that there are many ways to surf this wild world, be satisfied with your individual path, and realize it may change…  

You may choose to be a monk on a mountain or wash the feet of the poor…  

Personally, I enjoy the blessings of the material world, if you embrace and enjoy the material world, do so fully, drop guilt and “shoulds,” don’t should yourself…  

I agree with living a life of contribution and non-harming.  

I embrace a life of practices to continue self-evolution, a never-ending practice…  

Follow “The 3 Commandments.” 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-second-commandment-love-everything.html

If that resonates with you…  

Remember that you are the sensory organs of Source...   

Source needs you to Experience Life, ‘cause sometimes it is less fun to have dinner alone…  

Namaste

If You Can Keep It

McHenry records the events of the last day of the convention, September 18, 1787, he wrote: “A lady asked Dr. Franklin Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy – A republic replied the Doctor if you can keep it.”

https://blogs.loc.gov/manuscripts/2022/01/a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it-elizabeth-willing-powel-benjamin-franklin-and-the-james-mchenry-journal/

Much is being written recently about the great divide in our, current, seemingly, not so United States.  

Additionally, historians are writing about other times of comparative great divide, some write about how our country survived the Vietnam war, despite that great divide.  

Others are writing about the failures of our Constitution which was designed for 13 colonies, and not for 50 very different States.  Particularly, mentioning the domination of minority political populations due to the failures of the electoral college system of voting, but also the possibly unbalanced power of the Senate and Supreme Court.  

David French wrote a provocative book, “Divided We Fall.”  There he outlines several scenarios that might result in another succession between the States.  

And then there is the 2024 dystopian film “Civil War.”  

Thoughts about this blog started after reading a provocative thought-piece written by my friend Harvey, he titled this “Men Are Oppressed – By Men.”  My general gist of his words is that men who have been bullied and abused, can result in a syndrome of giving power to a dominating individual, and then being satisfied with the crumbs of power.  He was particularly writing about this young man who tried to assassinate Drumpf, without having a clear anti-republican philosophy, as well as Drumpf’s vice presidential candidate.   That young men “identify with and take on the power of their oppressors.”  He outlines that the real oppressors are the plutocrats and corporations, operating out of greed, that result in loss of jobs and autonomy.  I wrote back that I was reminded of the many movies depicting the evil leader and their crony subordinates.   

Harvey's full article:  

https://www.icloud.com/pages/038toXbk5s3DO_qRO_g2uK5fg#Male_Oppression

So how do we address this Great Divide?

David French, as well as others, lament the ability of social media to feed you more and more information to support your political point of view, no matter how factually wrong it might be, and that is true for both the Right and Left.  Perhaps the cure for that is to read more widely and spend time with more diverse groups.  

French posits in Chapter 15 that the way through may be within Pluralism and the Bill of Rights.  Where neither the Right nor the Left wins or loses.  That the States do not have to be uniform “let Tennessee be Tennessee, let California be California,” and let rural areas be different from big cities.  Where we can allow for different cultural backgrounds, whether based on religion and/or geography.   He argues in chapter 16 we must “Rediscover Tolerance.”  

French then writes on page 250, “Yes, there is the right/left culture war that we are long familiar with, but there’s now an even deeper struggle – between decency and indecency.”  He then argues that our “Our nation is built from the ground up to handle political disagreement.  It is not built to endure mass-scale dishonesty and vindictiveness.”  Page 256, he writes that we need to embrace “three cardinal virtues:” justice, mercy, humility.   And there does not seem to be a call for politicians that embrace these qualities.  

In my words we need more kindness and compassion.  

My wife this morning pointed out an article in the Summer 2024 Tricycle, pages 53-54 and 104, by Segall, “The Wheel Turns Slowly.”  In his Buddhist view, we must:  By individual action spend our dollars wisely, join in collective action to change public opinion, avoid arguing, and, as the title says, be realistic about how change occurs slowly, over “decades – perhaps lifetimes”.  He also quotes Churchill on liberal democracy which may “allow diverse social groups to live side-by-side (and sometimes together) without killing each other.” as “the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried.”  

Sebastian Junger wrote a book “Tribe:  On Homecoming and Belonging.”  His thesis is that modern Western society is intrinsically “unappealing.”   Page 22 he writes: “human beings need three basic things in order to be content:  they need to feel competent at what they do; they need to feel authentic in their lives; and they need to feel connected to others.  These values are considered ‘intrinsic’ to human happiness and far outweigh ‘extrinsic’ values such as beauty, money, and status.”  

Much of the book is about war and PTSD, and how early childhood abuse increases risk for PTSD and how the lack of society support contributes to PTSD.   This connects to what my friend Harvey wrote.  

What I took away from Junger’s book is that we live in a society that is too large.  Many of us no longer live in manageable groups where we can feel competent, authentic, and connected to community.   

We need to elect leaders that demonstrate kindness and compassion, so that we can strive to emulate these kinds of leaders.  We need to enact laws that rein in the plutocrats and corporations that accumulate wealth without giving back to society.  

As an optimist I believe we can evolve toward these goals.  As a realist I worry that there will be much destruction before we reach these goals.  

Namaste

The Reflex Gets Rusty

In the distant past I identified as a lazy individual…  

I would procrastinate until the very last minute, putting off those tasks I did not want to perform.  

In high school, along with smoking cannabis, and skipping classes, that resulting in my barely graduating.  

After contemplation, through meditation and psychotherapy, I realized what I was seeking was to be efficient.  

I did not want to waste my precious time on worthless tasks, such as homework… 

I would rather be out hanging with friends listening to music and discussing deep philosophical ideas, driving around town with my friend Neil who had a car, walking or swimming at the beach, bicycling around town, or spending hours reading about science and reading science fiction.  

It is hard to know who you are when you are young…  

It takes a lifetime of specific work to start to know yourself…  

I first learned to meditate in the 1970’s as part of my training in martial arts at our local community college.  I went to community college first because I barely graduated high school.  

I learned that meditation allows the monkey mind to get out of the way, so that your martial art was more efficient.  

Several trips on LSD at about age 15-16 further clarified the way my mind worked.  

I had an early experience of psychotherapy at about the same age when I was caught rolling cannabis by my parents, and, therefore, sent to someone to make sure I was not “crazy.”  He did some standardized testing and counseling sessions and told my parents I was not a danger to myself and was just a smart teenager terribly bored by school.  

I was an on and off meditator until the 1990’s when I was working hard trying to gain tenure at the UW-Madison.  That stressor had me waking at 3 am and going to the bathroom to meditate sitting on my folded bathrobe.  

I eventually started meditating with Vipassana groups, sitting for longer periods of time.  

It would usually take the first 2-3 days of a 7-10-day retreat for the mind to calm down.  

After many retreats and continued meditation, the mind could slip into “Calm Clear Mind” just by stopping for a moment.  I have written about “keeping a toe dipped into” this mind state at most times.  

That is what I call “The Reflex.” 

When I avoid meditating, labeling myself as too tired, too busy, I feel that monkey mind arising…  

Meditating can feel like a chore, it takes time to sit…  

On the surface, it can feel like a waste of precious time.  

Of course, sitting in meditation makes me more efficient.  

This last time I lapsed in my practice, when I sat, I came up with this thought of “The Reflex Gets Rusty.”  

It becomes a little more difficult to slip into the calm clear mind state.  

It no long feels like having a toe dipped in this mind state.  

I don’t berate myself for not sitting…  

I find it amusing…  

This uncovers the various selves that make up our personalities, in this case, that part that thinks that sitting is not efficient and that part that knows that sitting makes me more efficient.  

It is a dance of this current mind…  

Contemplation allows a deeper and more complete uncovering of how the mind works…  

May uncover formerly unconscious information…  

And the mind will continue to change and evolve…  

Part of the Beauty and Mystery of existence…  

Enjoy the ride… 

Namaste

Do We Create Reality?

Watching the Apple TV plus series Dark Matter.  

I have read a few of Blake Crouch’s books, not read this one.  

What I have read, usually deals with the nature of reality…  

Warning:  Spoiler Alert ahead…  

Currently watched the 4 released episodes, last one May 22, 2024. 

The current premise is that scientists built a box that can allow travel to different dimensions on earth.  What we just learned, is what you are thinking about at that moment allows you to open a door to that dimension.  

The antagonist built this box to travel to an alternate reality where he did not leave his pregnant girlfriend, and so can return to a loving wife and 16-year-old son, he did have to get rid of the protagonist, his alternate self, but did not kill him, instead sent him back to the antagonist’s alternate reality.   You can read or watch the rest yourself, if interested.  

I am more interested in the idea that we have a hand in creating our own realities.  

On one level, what we think, sometimes, results in what we do.   

For example, on a population level, if enough of the US population thinks that Trumpf is a good choice to be president, and goes out to vote for him, then that may turn into a (dreaded) reality.  

On an individual level, if we bank or invest money on a regular basis, investing in our future self, we may be able to live a life with more ease, maybe even retire before we die.  That of course also depends on the state of the economy, and factors that may have allowed us to have enough income to bank or invest our money.  

There are those who think we have no choices, that we have “No Conscious Will.”   

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2017/05/

It is possible that all our actions and behaviors arise from our genetic tendencies altered by our environmental experiences.  

However, I like to paraphrase Ramana Maharshi, “There is no Destiny, There is no Free Will.”  

Truth in paradox…  

I like to think we have a responsibility to act at the highest levels…  

Perhaps we might follow the precepts of our religion of origin, or an adopted set of precepts…  

There are:  The 10 Commandments, Jewish 613 Mitzvot, Buddhist precepts, and I assume many more…  

I like my “Three Commandments”  

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-first-commandment.html

Or it can be very simple, such as, “Be Kind”  

I like to think that I can choose to be kind and compassionate, I can make choices to invest in my future self, I can be a force to make the world a better place through my actions and behaviors.  

I could be correct, or I could be fooling myself…   

Perhaps, in the end, this world is mostly a Mystery…  

Namaste

Thoughts on Totality

I have seen partial eclipses several times in my lifetime.  

Each time felt quite amazing. 

This past April 2024, my wife and I took a trip to visit my sister brother-in-law in upstate NY, and then traveled with them further north to my nephew and his wife in Colton, NY, to try to see totality.  

We lucked out, despite some high clouds, we had a magnificent view!  

Traveling on the way back, my wife mentioned it was better than any psychedelic experience.  

I agreed, greater than any of my own psychedelic experiences.  

In the psychedelic literature one of the measures of importance has been to cite the psychedelic experience as:  “Among the Top 5 Personally Meaningful Experiences of a Lifetime.”  

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3050654/

I would agree and rate this short 4.5 minute experience of totality as “Among the Top 5 Personally Meaningful Experiences of a Lifetime.”  

Why would this view of the new moon completely eclipsing the sun result in what I could label as an amazing, even spiritual, experience?  

The rays spanning out were stunningly beautiful, there was an intense red dot of a solar prominence at the bottom of the eclipse. 

The sudden darkness was interesting, the temperature dropped, and we all donned more clothing.  

It was not the experience of the mosquitos suddenly coming out to bite…  

I like my toys, I had a solar telescope, image stabilized binoculars and a binocular telescope both with glass solar filters, lots of eclipse glasses for viewing.  

Seeing the sunspots and the solar prominences using the solar telescope is always beautiful.  

Watching the slow progression was amazing.  

At totality we all removed our eclipse glasses, seeing this sight with the naked eye was something else.  

Although, I am writing a lot here, the experience is truly ineffable…  

Why?  

There has been much written through the ages about the significance given to solar eclipses, particularly before we understood the science.  

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231012-how-solar-eclipses-have-shaped-history

In 1919 expeditions to view the solar eclipse confirmed Einstein’s generalized theory of relativity.

https://www.astronomy.com/science/a-history-of-solar-eclipses/

Some become “addicted” to seeing totality repeatedly: 

https://beingintheshadow.com/publications/total-addiction-the-life-of-an-eclipse-chaser/

Humans are interesting creatures.  

As humans we can find beauty in unusual places, sometimes we find beauty in symmetry, in the structure of molecules, even in great ugliness:  

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-three-beauties.html

Perhaps, this breathtaking beauty of totality, is the basic spiritual experience of Source, G-d, All-That-Is, and All-That-Is-Not. 

You are the Totality…  

You are experiencing the beauty of being human, and being the Totality…  

Perhaps, instead of chasing eclipses, we can slow down, and perhaps begin to see the magnificence in our everyday experiences.   

Namaste

Heretics Against Fundamentalism

Maybe a bumper sticker?

Maybe on a T-shirt?

One of those thoughts that came up in meditation…  

Been reading John McWhorter’s “Woke Racism:  How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America”  

He is a great writer… 

And, I believe, with great ideas.  

He is a Heretic…  

I’m not here to discuss whether he is right or wrong, read it, then make up your own mind…  

Inequity exists, I agree with him that current DEI efforts do not work, I wrote about inequity before:  

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2020/08/black-lives-matter.html

However, I am more interested in how individuals develop and evolve, and how that reflects into how societies develop and evolve…  

Humans are prone to racism, this is because humans are naturally xenophobic, therefore, have a tendency toward nativism.  Xenophobia is one of the survival instincts of being human. 

Humans tend to band together with those that they think are like them, then they find “the Other,” and then make this “Other” a scapegoat, enslave, or kill, this “Other.”    

Banding together often evolves into a Religion…  

Religions tend to fundamentalism…  

Heretics, those who question the fundamentalistic ideas, also become “The Other.”  

Evolution allows one to see the errors of fundamentalism, allows the development of a larger view, like climbing a mountain and seeing the bigger picture.  

I’ll link back to the 3 Commandments and the “Mistakes of Love Everything.” 

Particularly the mistakes of:

“Idiot Compassion”

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-second-commandment-love-everything_20.html

And, “Unfair Punishment”

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-second-commandment-love-everything_26.html

To quote myself:  “Remember, the higher we are on the evolutionary scale, the greater percentage of persons we consider to be “family.”  Family is defined as those we are willing to care for emotionally, and economically if needed.  

We care for them not with Idiot Compassion, but with Wise Compassion.  We take care of the poor, but we don’t enable sloth and laziness.  Yet, as a society we might err on the side of compassion and generosity.  

We teach people how to care for themselves.  Creating methods and institutions to help people to grow and evolve from the earliest of ages.  We teach people “how to fish.”  We offer them the practices that can help them grow.”  

And we can realize that “Everyone is Doing the Best They Can.”

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2016/10/this-most-precious-gift.html

How Heretical…  

Seems these days both the Right and the Left have tendencies toward disruption and even violence.  It seems that generous listening is passe’.  There seems to be a lack of respect for the other, within conversations, whether in debate, discussions, or dialogue.  

https://depts.washington.edu/fammed/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/3d-HANDOUT.pdf

I would like to see more of this:  “In dialogue, emotions help deepen understanding of personal, group and intergroup relationship issues. Dialogue works to uncover confusion, contradictions and paradoxes with an aim to deepen understanding.”   

I am not seeing a lot of dialogue occurring.  Maybe I’m just not looking in the right places.  That may be a problem of our dependency for information from current media and the internet, we usually do not get the news about the “Goodness of being human,” that is not as sellable as the “Awfulness of being human.”    

What is it about being human that we are more fascinated by Bad News compared to Good News.  

Maybe this is another human survival instinct, you must be aware of the saber-toothed tiger that is hunting you…  

What I see in my clinic is that so much pain and suffering seem to come from unhappy childhoods, so many children grow up either emotionally or physically abused, or grow up with a sense of abandonment…   

Maybe that is just because people come to my clinic due to physical pain, and often chronic pain arises from a history of abuse…  

Then how do we prevent these unhappy childhoods?

Most of those parents who abuse or abandon their children, have been abused or abandoned themselves…   

What allows some parents to deal with their past in a healthy manner and not confer their own history of suffering upon their children?  

How do we construct society so that people can heal, and bring up their children with love and compassion?  

Some people have used religion to get past their childhood traumas, some have used psychotherapy, and some have used psychedelics.    

I think we all wish to be happier individuals…  

There are methods to be happier, these are often methods to help us evolve, I would wish that everyone could practice methods that would lead to greater individual happiness, that would lead to greater societal happiness…  

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-three-emotions.html

However, as one of my insightful psychotherapists once mentioned, for some people happiness is not going to happen “in this lifetime…”  

Maybe a new religion would be helpful?  

I have written, sarcastically, on how we could create a new religion based on the works of Ken Wilber, Integralism…

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2015/05/integralism-how-to-worship.html

However, with additional contemplation, perhaps, any new religion would be a mistake, as they will all tend toward fundamentalism.  

Perhaps even being a Heretic can devolve into fundamentalism…  

Maybe we all must be ever vigilant of our individual tendency toward fundamentalism…  

And, perhaps, “Heretics Against Fundamentalism” is simply redundant.  A product of that part of my mind, “the Department of Redundancy Department.”   

I wish for each of you to find those practices to help you each evolve as far as you can go “in this lifetime.”  

I wish for all of you to find your happiness…  

Namaste

Touch during Psychedelic Therapy

Another interesting conversation with my wife this morning.  

We were involved in a study of psilocybin together, developing a training program for guides as well as guiding together.  I was also one of the supervising physicians, my wife was the lead guide and trainer.  

My wife also worked with MDMA therapy and is a certified guide, trained under MAPS.  She is also an RN, certified yoga teacher, body work therapist, certified in massage therapy and has trained and practiced Jin Shin Jyutsu energy medicine.  

We both share a long-term interest in complementary and alternative medicine.  

We are both comfortable with therapeutic touch.    

We both strongly believe that there should be no sexual touch within the practice of psychedelic therapy.  

We started out discussing, the risks and benefits of touch during psychedelic therapy.

So, of course, I started to write an outline for levels of how we might work with the body during therapy.  

1) Body Awareness.  

For instance, such as Gendlin focusing:  “It involves holding a specific kind of open, non-judging attention to an internal knowing which is experienced but is not yet in words. Focusing can, among other things, be used to become clear on what one feels or wants, to obtain new insights about one's situation, and to stimulate change or healing of the situation. Focusing is set apart from other methods of inner awareness by three qualities: something called the "felt sense", a quality of engaged accepting attention, and a researched-based technique that facilitates change.”  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focusing_(psychotherapy)

We have also been taught and practiced, for me particularly during meditation, directing our consciousness to any areas of which we become particularly aware, perhaps an area that might feel cold or hot, feel pressure, or might be numb or painful.  

Specific body awareness can also be used in various forms of Guided Imagery.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guided_imagery

The guide might ask what it might be like if you touched yourself in a certain, nonsexual, area, or asking what it would be like if someone else touched that nonsexual area.  

2) Self-Touch

Spontaneous Self-Touch.  As a guide we can be aware when someone is spontaneously touching a part of their body.  This may give us information about what is going on either consciously or unconsciously.  We may ask about this at the time we notice the touch or save that questioning for later.  

Directed Self-Touch.  Someone might be experiencing distress, and we might intuit that placing their own hand over a nonsexual area, perhaps, their heart or abdomen, may help to focus or clarify their feelings.  

During Holotropic Breathwork we were shown how to take a rolled-up handkerchief or towel and self-hold it at the front of our neck with some light pressure, to help stimulate the arising of unconscious information. 

Then there are also possible self-touch behaviors that might be disturbing.  For instance, how would you act if a person under the influence of psychedelic medicine started to masturbate?  https://www.counseling.org/resources/library/vistas/vistas06_online-only/McCulloch.pdf

3) Touch by the Guide.  

Here we get into more risky behaviors.  Many therapists have been trained to never touch the client.  

We recommend always obtain consent before, and during, the dose day, and always practice any possible touch before the dose day.  

Within concern for risks, this is also a good reason to have 2 guides present during dose day, and, perhaps, to have consent to videotape sessions.  

We have usually practiced grasping hands to forearms.  This is probably the least risky touch.  

Next level might be to practice the guide touching a client’s shoulder, to see if that is comfortable.  

There can be great comfort and healing with hugs, perhaps feeling cuddled or cradled.  However, this is more likely where sexual boundaries can be crossed.  

It can be even more risky when a client asks you to hold a sensitive, but clearly not a sexual, area such as their neck.  

During Holotropic Breathwork we experienced, with consent, someone applying strong pressure to the back or chest, as a form of resisting body work.  You may wish to use a pillow as part of this kind of therapy.  

You may wish to inquire as to how firm a touch is requested?  A firm touch may be grounding, or a feeling that the guide might be pulling them up from the abyss.  A light touch may be just as helpful and healing.  

As a guide, you may want to contemplate what level of touch is comfortable for you.  Not everyone is comfortable with touch.  Perhaps hugging a client is too much for you.  There are other methods, you could keep a teddy bear or a pillow in the room for hugging.  It might be important to explore your own comfort in depth before entering into this field.  

4) Body Work.

There are many forms of so-called “Body Work.”  Some do not involve touch at all, particularly certain forms of energy work.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodywork_(alternative_medicine)

Non-touch formal types of body work might be Hakomi, somatic experiencing, reiki, qigong.  

Light-touch body work might be craniosacral, Alexander, Feldenkrais.   

Stronger-touch body work might be shiatsu, reflexology, Rolfing, chiropractic, massage.  

These are not complete lists of types of body work.  

One would only contemplate using these techniques with formal training.  

Most would likely use these for integration rather than during a session.  

Again, consent is always required.  

My wife brought up an interesting question of what constitutes “consent” when someone is currently under the influence of psychedelic medicine?  

Drugs such as MDMA, as well as classic psychedelics, may promote a feeling of closeness and warmth for others, this may be a risk for crossing sexual boundaries.  

Also, there is often an increase in emotional sensitivities, perhaps the client might feel they would be causing upset if they refused offered touch.  

Drugs such as Ketamine, at certain doses, may have an effect of damping down skin sensations, your body may feel “wooden.”  How would that effect any possible touch by the guide?  

As always, we do not feel we have the last word on any of these subjects.  

We are most interested in starting and promoting ongoing conversations.    

What we would advocate is attention to touch in any psychedelic training program, attending to risks, benefits, ethics.  

And, as always, we would advocate for further research into the possibilities of using touch during psychedelic therapy.

Namaste