PSYCHEDELIC CANNABIS

Journey Prep & Integration Resources

Prep Videos

This video is focused on a 1:1 guided format but also applies to group experiences. In a group experience, there will be minimal guiding intervention. We’ll offer general guidance and support, but not as in depth as a 1:1 session.

Prepare your Cannabis

Methods and Devices

We recommend vaping or smoking high quality, organic and live-soil grown cannabis flower. This allows for you to experience the full terpene profile of your blend, which will enhance the psychedelic quality of the experience. Vaping or smoking also allows you to feel the effects of the medicine quickly, so you can calibrate your own appropriate dosage in the moment and easily take more during the journey as needed.

If we meet in person, I will provide you with a PAX vaporizer to use with your own flower, and a mortar and pestle to create your blend. I am happy to provide recommendations for local dispensaries as well. If we meet remotely, you can purchase your own PAX here, or use whatever other methods of smoking or vaping your flower blend you prefer. If you get a PAX, the Plus is preferred because it holds more flower and has easier temperature controls. You can find good mortar and pestles online for mixing your blend.

Creating A Psychedelic Cannabis Blend

Find a high-quality dispensary and buy flower with the following guidance:

  • Buy organic cannabis grown in living soil

  • Go for high THC (ideally an average of 20-25% or higher) and zero or negligible CBD

  • Get at least 1 gram each of 3 individual strains of flower: one indica, one sativa, and one hybrid

    • When we mix these different strains together, an entourage effect occurs that enhances the psychedelic quality of the experience and also mitigates the potential negative side effects of any individual strain (i.e. a sleepy indica or a racy/heady/anxious sativa will have their negative side effects canceled out when blended together while maintaining their positive aspects).

    • I like to ask the budtenders about their favorite strains, and also smell them (if the dispensary allows you to) and choose the ones whose smell I like. Trust your nose!

    • Make sure you are mixing equal proportions of each strain together. One gram each of indica, sativa, and hybrid will be more than enough for a few journeys.

    • If you are feeling adventurous, you can create a larger blend. Pick 6 or 9 total strains (2 or 3 from each category). Try to pick unique points distributed on the imaginary indica-to-sativa spectrum (i.e. one super heavy indica, one normal or hybrid leaning indica, two hybrids, one normal or hybrid-leaning sativa, and one super intense and heady sativa).

Optional Supplemental Cannabis Products for Psychedelic Journey Work

The following supplemental products are optional to support and/or enhance the experience, but are by no means required for a transformational journey. Both are cannabinoids that are best taken through a sublingual spray.

  • CBN: Enhances the psychedelic quality of the experience when taken 10-20 minutes before taking the medicine.

  • CBD: When taken after taking the medicine, CBD can soften and relax the experience (perhaps quieting the mind or relaxing the body just slightly) without hindering the psychedelic effects. At large quantities it can also serve as an antidote to a negative or overwhelming experience. Do not take it before taking the medicine, however, as CBD taken before THC will inhibit the body’s uptake of THC.

If we are meeting in person, I will provide both CBN and CBD for you to use if you would like.

If you are remote and interested in procuring one or both of these products, email clinic@medicinalmindfulness.org for ordering information and let them know you are working with me (I am part of their credentialed guide community). As of 2022 they cost $125 per bottle and can be shipped anywhere in the US.

Prepare Your physical Space

If we meet remotely, take the following steps to prepare your space:

  • Comfortable place to lie down where you will be undisturbed and have space to move around (involuntary movement is a sign of a powerful journey and we want you be able to allow that easefully and safely).

  • Blanket, eye mask, and good quality headphones with a microphone function so we can communicate during the journey. The music is a key element of the experience, so if you have the option for headphones with good sound quality, that is ideal.

  • Take any steps you would like to set the energy of your space in a good way! i.e. Clean, organize, smudge with sage or other purifying elements, pray, dim the lights, light a candle (just make sure it is a safe distance from you and won’t accidentally be knocked over), etc.

Prepare Your Body and Mind

To enhance the power and depth of your experience, we recommend abstaining from using cannabis or any other mind-altering substances for at least 1-2 weeks before your journey. In addition to leaving your body and brain “fully loaded” for a big experience, this is an opportunity for psychological and spiritual preparation as you turn your attention and your energy toward your upcoming journey.

Do your best to get good sleep and take good care of yourself in the weeks leading up to your experience, and plan to leave some spaciousness on your calendar for at least a day after your journey completes so that you can be with and begin integrating whatever emerges.

From a still, silent, and centered place within, begin to tune into your intention and hopes for this experience (see intention setting resources below).

Protect Time and space for integration

You will be in a sensitive and vulnerable place post-journey. This comes part and parcel with the terrain of doing deeply transformative work. To help the transformation stick and to make things easier on yourself, it’s best to not have any plans or need to do anything for at least the day or two after your journey that requires the ego identity to be online.

You’ll be like a newborn babe coming back into the world as a fresh version of yourself so it’s not friendly and can be counterproductive to jam yourself right back into situations that might require you to be “on” in some way or pressure you to slip back into old persona patterns.

Please hold a very high bar on this and do everything in your power to protect deep and nourishing space for you to simply be present, take it easy, and attend to whatever momentary needs or spontaneous inspiration arises from within you post-journey.

Intention Setting + Integration Resources

Below are some wonderful resources from the Center for Medicinal Mindfulness to support your preparation and integration process.

Please spend some time with the Intention Setting Worksheet before we meet for the journey, and journal your responses. Answer as many of the questions as feel resonant for you, and skip the ones that don’t. Use the questions as a starting point and see where your journaling takes you.

See you soon!