How Psychedelics Work

Imagine yourself walking towards the same destination and along the same route over and over again. You get to know the route by heart: You know all the cracks in the pavement, the holes to avoid, the trees and plants that line the way, the cranky neighbour who shouts at passersby. Whenever you take that route, you never think about where you’re going. And you always know what you will encounter when you arrive at your destination. It has become a habit, a pattern.

If you follow the same route over and over again, the tracks that you leave in the ground will become deeper and deeper, and so it becomes even easier to always follow exactly the same route. This makes life easier: You don’t need to think about it; you just follow the tracks! There is, however, a downside to this: it limits you from thinking that other routes or destinations are possible!

Now imagine that one day, instead of just heading off in the usual direction, you stop and look around you. As you do so, you realise that there are many other possible routes. You take one of them and discover a whole new way of arriving at your same destination, or maybe you end up discovering an entirely new destination! By being able to see different options and making a choice to explore them, you widen your perspective of what is possible and open up to different experiences that can come up in life.

This story illustrates how our brains usually work and the impact psychedelic substances can have on us, bearing in mind that we still know very little about how our brain works. Our brain creates simple scripts of what reality is like, who we are, how to relate to people, what life is about, etc., in order to make it easier to process the countless amount of information that is constantly bombarding us. This is helpful for energy efficiency as it takes less time and effort to process all of that information.

There is, however, a downside to this efficiency because it ends up constraining our perspective and we end up getting stuck in the patterns that we have created. Similarly to how a muscle grows the more it is used and wastes away when not used, the neural pathways in our brain that are lit up whenever that pattern is activated get reinforced while the other neural pathways weaken ^[1]. As a result, our brain ends up structuring itself in such a way that reinforces what it has experienced and loses the possibility of considering alternatives. We end up knowing very well the road we’re used to taking but miss out on all the other routes.

Psychedelics and Neural Connectivity

Psychedelics are psychoactive substances that temporarily alter the way the brain functions. When under their influence, you enter into an altered state of consciousness where your brain activates different neural pathways than usual. This allows you to ‘see’ more what you might have usually avoided and widens your perspective of reality. This can have an impact on your usual patterns, allowing for change that before seemed either impossible or you weren’t even thinking about.

From a neuroscience perspective, research has shown that psychedelics interact with various neurotransmitters, primarily with the serotonin receptors, leading to significant changes in neural activity ^[2]. Studies have shown that psychedelics increase connectivity between different regions of the brain that typically do not communicate with each other. This results in a breakdown of the usual rigid neural pathways and allows for more flexible and creative patterns of thought and perception ^[3].

One of the most notable effects of psychedelics is their impact on the default mode network (DMN), a brain network linked to your sense of self. Studies have found that psychedelics reduce activity in the DMN, which can lead to a diminished sense of ego and a greater feeling of interconnectedness ^[4]. This reduced ego activity is often associated with the profound spiritual or mystical experiences many people report during psychedelic journeys.

Opening the Curtain to Your Own Stage

Psychedelics are strong facilitators of awareness and change, but the longer-lasting changes comes from inside you. In a way, the psychedelic experience is like going to a theatre knowing that the play is about you but not knowing what you will actually be watching. You might have your preferences – maybe you would like to watch a comedy, a musical, a ballet, or some hip-hop dancing. What psychedelics is draw open the stage curtain and then a stream of actors comes onto the stage, each actor being a different part of yourself. The performance might be similar to the theme you had in mind, or it might be different altogether.

The content that comes up during the psychedelic trip is heavily shaped by your mindset and the environment in which you take the psychedelic ^[5]. This phenomenon is known as “set and setting” and plays a crucial role in determining the nature and outcome of the experience. Research shows that a supportive and intentional setting can lead to more positive and transformative experiences ^[6].

During a psychedelic experience, you may encounter aspects of yourself you have suppressed or avoided. These experiences can be challenging but often provide valuable insights and opportunities for growth [7]. Psychedelics facilitate this process by allowing you to access and process difficult emotions and memories in a non-judgmental and expanded state of awareness.

Creating Sustainable Change

Psychedelics are not a magic pill. While they can create a temporary state of openness and awareness, lasting change depends on how open you are to the experience and how you integrate the experience into daily life. This process of integration involves reflecting on the experience, identifying key takeaways, and applying them to your personal development process. In fact, studies emphasise the importance of structured integration practices in maintaining the benefits of psychedelics ^[8].

Our role as facilitators in the psilocybin retreats that we offer is to provide you with a safe environment for the experience and help you navigate it and do the necessary inner work to integrate what comes up for you in the most fruitful way possible. In this way, we enable you to translate the profound experience of the psychedelic journey into meaningful and sustainable changes in your life.