Yup! I meditate each day, 20 minutes, to help me get back into the present moment that LSD opened up for me. Honestly, for me, 20 minutes is where my mind and breath starts to slow down, and other than a calming effect, it's not very noticeable. I only do 20 minutes most of the time because of time restraints.
If I continue, I start seeing colors swirl around the 30min mark, reminding myself not to get attached to it. After 40 min, the cognitive changes are VERY noticeable when I stop. Food tastes great, colors are vivid, and I can even feel the individual water drops in the shower.. I liken it to cannabis effects without the racing thoughts.
Unfortunately, I'd like to keep that to myself because it's super personal to me, but one of the biggest things I learned is that by healing myself, and leading by example, I can also help my family because they've also experienced some traumas growing up.
LSD, at least for me, was forced meditation.. you're in a mental state where the present moment is all there is. That was a complete opposite of the ADHD mental state, where I resisted being in the present, but lived in the future to look forward to, the past to avoid things I didn't like or could potentially hurt me, and just uncontrollable urge to understand how everything works.
The truth is, we only have so much time left on this earth, that it's impossible to understand everything that exists.. we can only try our best with the situations we're in and given.
Anyway, once I realized the importance of the present moment, it made it easier for me to do things I've always wanted to do, and neglected to do. I felt like my mind did a disk-defrag, completely nuked my old self, and started with a clean new slate to relearn things.
Bumping into objects, living in my head all day, failure to follow up on appointments, messy room, always lost things, moved around constantly, and more.
LSD helped me significantly; it alleviated my ADHD symptoms, and helped me get over my substance dependency issues over few low dose trips.
Psilocybin helped bring clarity, motivation in my life, love for nature, and helped purge out some negative emotions by crying.
Ayahuasca has been the most therapeutic; it allowed me to revisit very early childhood memories I've completely forgotten about, which later helped my interactions with my family and friends. It also showed me why I was born, which helped give me a sense of direction, purpose in life.
Forever grateful for psychedelics and the guides that help facilitate a safe space.
It doesn't sound like your definition of spirituality and my definition match at all. IMO, spirituality is understanding the significance of you, all of us, and the universe; it's empowerment of self, and understanding that we're all essentially "gods", able to change reality as long as we put our mind, and actions to it.
The shaman by him/herself won't do anything. Neither would the Ayahuasca on it's own. It's having the right combination of both (setting), and your intention (set) that leads to an amazing experience.
The funny thing is, the experience itself is not the most important thing.. it's what you do after the ceremony with your life, and how you change your lifestyle to make you happy.
Obviously, if the shaman isn't giving you the real tea, mixes stuff in, doesn't take care of you, and such, I'd call it a straight up scam.
I've taken Ayahuasca more than a handful of times and it's been the most therapeutic experiences of my entire life.
Not only was I able to recover some of my traumatic memories when I was a toddler, it's revealed so many things about myself that I've repressed, like sexuality, and didn't know.. and taught me how the universe may work. It's given me a direction in life, and my attitude towards others have significantly improved compared to before the experiences.
I took a small dose of shrooms few months ago; it made me closer to nature, and it got rid of my porn/fapping addiction. I really think that psychedelics have the potential to "round" people out.
I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 12. Classic, "textbook" example of one. I felt like it was a curse until I was about 20. I was put on Focalin, Ritalin, Adderall, Vyvanse over those years.. they all made me calm and focused. Without my meds, I used to live in my head all day, theorizing how the universe and neurons work.. playing with ideas, twisting shapes in my mind. I was also prone to depression, anxiety, and I hated dealing with emotions.
Then one day, when I was about 23, I did LSD and cannabis together. My whole world came crashing down, and I realized that ADHD was a label that limited my true potential, and made me judgmental of "neurotypicals". After my trip, I realized that I lost about 75% of my visual-spatial ability (I felt out of it for a year or so as I missed having that ability), but I also felt more at peace, open-minded, and in the present moment. I also became a "doer", rather than a "thinker". I do not use any meds at all now; I meditate in the morning for at least 20 minutes, and try to run at least once a week.
With that said, I still like variety, and am a jack of all trades. Last time I did freelance, I loved doing marketing research, design, coding, programming and social media.
>Well he decided to take mushrooms one day due to peer pressure
Well, that was definitely mistake #1; psychedelics require the right set & setting. That with the possibility of him not knowing he had a mental illness is probably what did it. Also, there is a possibility that he was given a different kind of mushrooms, like amanita.
Drugs, food, anything for that matter, when taken to excess can be damaging, like what happened with your friend.
Personal anecdote, which you've been relying on so far.. LSD helped my depression and allowed me to quit adderall and weed. With shrooms, my anxiety got better and I quit my fap/porn addiction. I will be going to Peru in 2 weeks to do Ayahuasca (DMT) to help me get over my childhood sexual trauma. You can't lump all drugs into one category; psychedelics might as well be called "medicine".
If I continue, I start seeing colors swirl around the 30min mark, reminding myself not to get attached to it. After 40 min, the cognitive changes are VERY noticeable when I stop. Food tastes great, colors are vivid, and I can even feel the individual water drops in the shower.. I liken it to cannabis effects without the racing thoughts.