Psychedelic Use During Covid-19

Last week I had the chance to speak with an awesome new colleague Dr. Lynn Marie Morski, who hosts the very informative Plant Medicine Podcast. We talked about psychedelic use in the time of Covid-19 and some special considerations in preparing as much as possible for a safer experience. As with anything I write or speak about, I approached this topic from a harm reduction standpoint. That means that I’m not giving prescriptive advice, but rather a series of questions to ask yourself to arrive at your own inherent wisdom on what feels like the best decision.

You can listen here or by clicking the link above to the full podcast. Some highlights from the episode:

1) Its always a good idea to “play the tape forward” and consider your worst case scenario for any psychedelic experience. During quarantine, its helpful to know that you may not have access to a hospital right now in the event of a panic reaction, or if you do, that hospital could be overrun with Covid-19 patients.

2) A body scan or any contemplative practice that allows you to tune in to your physical self can be particularly useful in this moment. It allows you to notice areas of anxiety that you may not be aware of, since the body registers anxiety before the mind does.

3) If you are using psychedelics by yourself and want to connect with others using technology, it can be useful to remind yourself of how you normally interact with technology during a psychedelic experience. Some people tolerate it well, others do not want to be near screens.

4) If you are preparing for a future psychedelic experience, this collective moment of anxiety is a time when many of your ingrained patterns will be showing up. During times of excessive stress, the mind chooses the most familiar pathways to go down. Often these are the ones that were imprinted at a young age. This time of social distancing is an opportunity to look at those patterns (and try not to judge).