3 Ways To Bring Your Microdosing Practice to the Next Level

Microdosing (or taking teeny-weeny, non psychoactive doses of a psychedelic drug) has become renowned for its numerous benefits. These include:  

• Improved mood
• Improved cognitive function
• Increased energy
• Boosted creativity
• Enhanced relationships

There is a wealth of stories about how microdosing has changed people’s lives. From overworked parents, to professional athletes, to those with Long COVID, microdosing can be a powerful tool — often acting as a catalyst that helps a person turn their life around. 

3 Ways To Bring Your Microdosing Practice to the Next Level

Moreover, there are some people who believe that you can enhance the efficacy of your microdose routine even further. This is done by combining microdosing with other wellness practices, namely breathwork, meditation, and yoga. 

Breathwork

Learning breathwork is an effective way to regulate your nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system is what allows our body to relax after periods of stress, slowing our heartbeat and respiration, and increasing digestion. Deep, slow, mindful breathing is a simple and quick way to enter the parasympathetic mode. 

Why Should You Combine Breathwork With Microdosing?

Holotropic breathwork, developed by Stanislav Grof, can itself be a psychedelic experience. When done properly it can amplify and clarify emotions, introduce new perspectives, and increase self-awareness. Microdosing psilocybin in combination with this technique would enhance these effects.

Alternate nostril breathing (Nadi Shodhana pranayama in yoga) is an effective method to calm the nervous system and refocus the mind away from negative thoughts. This is especially useful if you experience anxiety when you microdose. 

The Wim Hof breathing technique is another popular breathing technique, which consists of deep and rhythmic inhales and exhales. It is said that Wim Hof-style breathing allows greater intake of oxygen and can boost immunity. This is an ideal add-on if your microdosing aims are increased fitness. 

There is sure to be a breathwork technique that supports your microdosing aims. We recommend trying out different techniques to see what works best for you. 

Meditation

Meditation is an ancient practice, whose benefits have been observed for millenia. Contemporary research that explores the mechanisms behind these benefits has found that meditation increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF is a super-powered protein that stimulates the production of new brain cells, while strengthening already existing ones. Basically the higher your BDNF the faster you learn, the better your memory, and the slower your brain ages. 

Why Should You Combine Meditation With Microdosing?

Studies have found that both meditation and psychedelics increase BDNF and enhance neuroplasticity by enhancing connectivity between brain regions. This means that practicing microdosing alongside meditation could work synergistically to improve neuroplasticity, which in turn increases potential cognitive and mood benefits. 

Some Meditation Practices to Consider

There are numerous different ways and techniques of meditation, but basically speaking, meditation involves clearing and freeing your mind. This can be done by focusing on:

Your breathing

Your body

A mantra

Positive emotions/feelings

Deciding which meditation technique works for you is made easier if you consider the aims of your microdosing journey. 

For example; if your journey is based on reducing stress, and focusing on the here-and-now then mindfulness meditation could be for you. This involves focusing on your breathing and the sensations in your body, dispelling worries about the past and future from your mind. This is known to reduce negative thoughts and feelings, and increase wellbeing. 

If you are aiming to strengthen your relationships then loving-kindness (or Metta) meditation could be a perfect addition to psilocybin microdosing. In this technique you focus on sending love to yourself and others, focusing on messages of acceptance, happiness, and compassion. 

The best way to find which practice works for you is by trying out a few different ones. You may find a combination works best, you may find one mantra is for you — either way it is deeply personal and can change and develop overtime. 

Yoga

Why Combine Yoga with Microdosing?

Research has found that, similarly to meditation, a regular yoga practice may also increase neuroplasticity. This suggests a potential synergistic relationship with psychedelic microdosing. And, the data supports this; for example, a recent study that investigated the effects of both yoga and microdosing on well-being found that those who microdosed and had a yoga practice had lower levels of anxiety and depression than those who only engaged in one of these practices. 

Additionally, yoga boosts your ability to switch on to the aforementioned parasympathetic mode. This is also known as our ‘vagal tone’. By enhancing the ease with which we can switch from the sympathetic to the parasympathetic nervous system, yoga can help us to deal with any microdosing-related anxieties.  

Which Yoga Practice Should I Choose?

As with both breathwork and meditation, your intentions will also direct which yoga practice will work for you. 

For example, if you are working on your mental health specifically, a slow, restorative practice such as yin yoga may work best for you.

Alternatively, if you are more fitness-led you might choose a more rigorous technique, such as ashtanga. Again, experimentation is key!

How to Incorporate These Practices into Your Lifestyle

When introducing a new wellness practice into your life, starting small and gentle is often best. Ten minutes of yoga may be better than jumping straight into an hour long vinyasa class, for example. This way you can gradually increase your practice as you become more comfortable. Starting too big may be overwhelming, and thus off-putting, leading you to quit the practice before you feel the positive effects. 

Popular microdosing protocols such as the Fadiman method or the every-other-day method include off days between your microdosing days. It is in these off days that your meditation, yoga, or breathwork practices can become a synergistic link in your journey.

Despite the benefits of these practices, especially when combined with microdosing, it is important not to put too much pressure on yourself to immediately reach your goals, and transform into that mythical ‘new you’. Remember that microdosing isn’t a quick fix, it is part of a holistic and nurturing journey that you are taking charge of.