Psykedelisk Praksis

12/09/2025

A note on high-dose psychedelic experiences, inspired by Sam Harris' account of his high-dose mushroom trip (link in comments)...

Putting words to an ineffable mystical experience is very difficult, as Sam starts out by stating - after which he proceeds to do a remarkably good job of describing his own, and I highly recommend listening.

From my perspective, both personal and having facilitated a number of such high-dose experiences, there is a high degree of variability to the kinds of journeys that people have. And not everyone will access the "mystical territory".

So while his account is of total and permeating cosmic love, that falls on a spectrum of possible outcomes. And some will embark on such a journey hoping for (or worse: expecting) such an outcome, but there really is no guarantee, and I think it depends more on the psychology of the journeyer than on the substance and dose.

I think a crucial factor is the ability to accept, let go, not to fight the natural course of the experience. It's a cliché, but that's because it's true. So in Sam's case, you have the kind of experience that someone will have as a very experienced mindfulness practitioner. Whereas others might take a similar dose, and not reach the escape velocity of the ego, and the *whole journey* will be one of resistance and egoic struggle for survival.

In Roland Griffith's groundbreaking work with psilocybin in 2006-2008, about two thirds of the participants qualified for a "complete mystical" experience. So that leaves one third who probably could not relate Sam's account to their own.

And this was in a population of "healthy normals"; from my own observation I don't think the statistic improves in a population who might already be suffering from an unhealthy ego structure, such as severe depression. In one clinical study (Brudner et al 2025, source in comments), less than 30% of treatment-resistant depressive patients qualified for a full mystical-type experience on the first session - climbing to about 50 and 60 percent on subsequent trials.

As a practitioner, while Sam's account describes fairly well the promise of a "good" journey, I think it's important to manage expectation. Ineffable cosmic love and unity is great, but the road there is not predictable and may lead through a lot of tension and learning to let go on the way.

06/09/2025

Jeg synes dette her er fedt. Wixarika-folket har kæmpet for deres hellige land, som stor-industrien også er interesseret i. Jeg var selv i Wirikuta på pilgrimsrejse i 2023 og ønsker dem alt det bedste 🦌🌵

Marakame Don Venado kommer iøvrigt til Danmark i slutningen af september. Det kunne være rart at reconnecte!

This is a massive win for the Wixiárika and other Indigenous communities across the Americas.

16/04/2025

Subjektive effekter af psilocybin vs placebo

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Subjective-rating-scale-items-selected-after-psilocybin-blue-and-placebo-red-n-15_fig2_323345114

08/03/2025

Psychedelics As Medicine 2025

After 2 years, I returned to this conference in Iceland.

Before the conference, I was wondering a bit about my own motivation to male this travel. Last time was a magical journey, and on some level I hoped of course that it would be again. On another level, maybe I was just kind of habitually doing the thing that I do.

It turned out to be different, but still at least as magical as the last time. More than a conference, it was also a psychedelic pilgrimage for many people.

I did present on behalf of the Psychedelic Society of Denmark, in the context of the foundational meeting in the Nordic Psychedelic Consortium. In this way I also represented the community-level grassroots view of the movement, as well as the PsychedeliCare initiative and Global Psychedelic Society. That went well.

My real contribution to the conference though was to take the lead on organising the afterparty. That was great fun and turned out a certified banger. If there's something that the psychedelic movement *should* take pride in, it's having some epic parties! Thanks to the DJs - Sigurd, Michael Rasa, Carl Enholm and Frímann Kjerúlf, Almar Freyr the VJ, the crew, and not least the White Lotus venue.

I return from Iceland with a revived sense of connection with colleagues from across the Nordics, the psychedelic movement in general, as well as the spirit that animates it and id manifesting through it.

Also, in Iceland I also was fortunate to participate in a ceremony with Huni Kuin. That brought a renewed connection with my own soul, which I believe is fundamentally the essence and promise of the kind of healing such conference is about. Much gratitude to these wisdom carriers, very happy to see different indigenous perspectives and traditions given space and respect.

17/01/2025

Lovely experience speaking my mind to the crowd of Psykedelisk Aarhus yesterday!

In this talk titled "Working With Psychedelics", I gave a brief theoretical outline of the focal areas of beneficial practice, as well as leaning into what lessons have arisen in my own experience in the past decade.

It was interesting to speak to a crowd that in most cases already had some personal experience. There's a lot of "beginner advice" that's important to share, but I also feel that we are ready to advance the discourse - it seems at least that this audience was ready and interested 😊

11/09/2024

Internal Family Systems, an interesting therapeutic paradigm I've been investigating recently.

I've witnessed it in sessions guided by a colleague, and in those cases it has been very powerful. Applying it in my own direction it illuminates well why I do like I do in certain situations, acting from this or that aspect or "part".

This breaks with the idea of one's self as monolithic; we are not one specific person, but rather a system of parts that have their own more or less (dys)functional internal relations.

In my case, I have for example recently given a lot of agency to the therapist me. He does well enough, it helps people and is meaningful. However unchecked he might well spend all our the whole Martin system's time and energy in his role, and other parts might be neglected. Another (protector) part might step in, taking the agency and protect me from being overwhelmed by spacing out on youtube. That too can spill over, and other parts can have grievances about this. In this way the emotional charges and psychological functions can be illuminated, explored and maybe processed.