10 Rules for Psychedelic Journeys

Welcome to the Psychedelic Blog. I write about the Impact of Psychedelics on Grieving, Relationships, Culture & Death.

This week: 10 rules for traveling with Tier 1 Psychedelics — where the risks are as real as the rewards.

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“The path to the sacred always passes through the dangerous.” — Mircea Eliade

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Intro

Very Important Disclaimer: this article focuses exclusively on Tier 1 Psychedelics. Let’s define them upfront:

• Bufo (5-MeO-DMT)

• DMT

• Changa

• Ayahuasca

• Peyote

• Ibogaine

This is not about a microdose of Psilocybin, taking some LSD, doing MDMA with your partner, or experimenting with 2C-B with friends. Those can be used recreationally. Safely and with intention, of course. These substances serve as far healthier replacements for alcohol…which I am all for.

But Tier 1 Psychedelics hit different. The risks loom large. It ain’t all sunshine & rainbows, no matter what the bearded guys in wide-brim hats tell you.

So, without further ado, here are the ground rules for approaching these potent journeys.

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Rule #1: Be an Adult.

I am not talking maturity, I mean, be of age. A proper adult.

I don’t know enough about brain development in younger people to weigh in definitively there. But I’m adamant that potent Psychedelic journeys are unequivocally not for young people.

What exactly are you analyzing at 21? What deep introspection needs doing? We shouldn’t therapize young people, and we shouldn’t be handing them potent Psychedelics either.

If you’re young, go live. Fall in love. Travel. Start a career. Get heartbroken. Get fired. You will lose people you love. Life will wear on you a bit. Then, and only then, do journeys like Ayahuasca or Bufo make sense — when you’ve got some life to look back on, not just abstract trauma you read about online.

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Rule #2: Respect the Medicine, Not the Marketing.

No, Ayahuasca isn’t “calling” you.

It’s one of hundreds of plant medicines…a single thread in a vast lineage of indigenous use that includes Brugmansia, Toloache, Yopo, Jeruma & countless more. The only reason Ayahuasca looms so large in the Western imagination is because celebrities made it fashionable about a decade ago. You’re not being called. You’re being primed by culture.

There are countless medicines, each carrying benefits & risks. Research them. Think critically about why one in particular is at the top of your mind. How did it get there, and why? This reflection helps ensure you’re not choosing a medicine just because it’s trendy.

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Rule #3: Chase Truth, Not Vibes.

If you’re in it for pretty colors, you’ll get wrecked. Powerful Psychedelics deliver surreal visuals, euphoric body highs, or a fleeting sense of cosmic unity. But if that’s all you’re chasing, you’re missing the point.

The real gift of these medicines isn’t aesthetic entertainment — it’s clarity. It’s the uncomfortable insight that cracks your ego open, the truth about your relationships, your choices, your patterns. Sometimes it’s bliss, sometimes it’s brutal.

Chasing vibes is escapism. Chasing truth is transformation.

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Rule #4: Set & Setting > Everything.

I got this message from a subscriber recently:

“I unfortunately had one really bad experience with Ayahuasca. The retreat center was nothing like the pictures, so maybe the setting was overwhelming for me. Wouldn't mind trying again but it scared me.”

Set & setting are everything. Some might argue more important than the medicine itself. Me, I might argue that. Do your homework. Avoid journeying with people that make you feel unsafe. The wrong room, the wrong guide, the wrong energy — these can all turn what should have been a profound experience into something you now need to heal from.

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Rule #5: Don’t Journey When Life is Good.

Listen, I’m rarely prescriptive (with the exception of this article), but this is something I believe with conviction: we shouldn’t work with Tier 1 Psychedelics when life is going good. If you just landed the house, the promotion, the partner, the kid…enjoy that shit. Life itself can be Psychedelic. There’s no need to destabilize reality when reality is good.

But there are moments when it does make sense. When we’re hurting, searching, or stuck. As long as we don’t rush into ceremony too soon after a major life event, these medicines can bring clarity. And if you integrate those lessons properly, they can help you live better.

Powerful Psychedelics are best reserved for when we need them.

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Rule #6: Abstain from other Substances Pre-Journey.

Psychedelic journeys aren’t spa days. They will drag you through yourself. You might get caught in the throes of a harrowing experience. The best way to mitigate that is to show up clear-headed, with a clean biology.

I like to frame potent journeys like a UFC fight. Fighters don’t walk into the Octagon after a weekend bender. They go through a disciplined fight camp first. I treat journeys the same way. At least a month beforehand, I abstain from all substances. It’s boring but it creates the right foundation. That time becomes about journaling, refining my intention, and crystallizing what I’m hoping to get from the experience — while remaining humble enough to know it might take me somewhere I can’t predict.

Go in with a clear mind, a clean physiology, and a defined intention. That’s your fight camp. That’s how you give yourself the best chance to meet whatever shows up.

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Rule #7: Be Humble. Be Grateful. Be Curious.

You are about to take part in a ceremony that goes back hundreds of years. The most operative feeling one should have going in is reverence. Reverence for the medicine, for the experience, for the facilitator leading the ceremony (assuming they’re doing so in good faith), and for yourself — for demonstrating the courage to commune with the divine.

Going into ceremony with reverence catalyzes humility, gratitude, and curiosity. Which surely beats arrogance, self-importance, and conviction.

The truth is, you don’t know what will happen. You might be gifted bliss, you might be dragged through fire, or both. What you can control is the posture you bring. Humility keeps you from trying to dominate the experience. Gratitude keeps you grounded in the privilege of simply being there. Curiosity keeps you open to whatever arises — without needing it to match your expectations.

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Rule #8: Integration Is the Trip.

If you don’t change Monday morning, you didn’t travel…you just got high. The real value of the experience unfolds in the days, weeks & even months after. Without integration, you didn’t journey, you just played the world’s coolest video game.

Integration practices differ, but the goal is always the same: retain as much as possible. Stay open to insights. Notice changes in your dreams. Hold onto the clarity, the bliss, the connection. Journaling, meditating, breathwork, spending time nature. Ideally, do all of the above.

It’s in truly integrating the lessons that these medicines stop being “experiences” and start becoming teachers. Forever shaping the way we live, love, and move through the world in lasting, profound ways.

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Rule #9: Hold the Water.

Sit with the lessons. Don’t spill the tea. You’ve just had an experience that splits your life in half — everything will look different going forward. But most of the downloads don’t arrive overnight.

One good trip doesn’t make you Buddha with Wi-Fi. If anything, it makes you overly porous to new ideas. Eager to turn every random thought into a revelation. So sit with what you learned. Let the insights come organically. Don’t feel the need to share every half-formed truth.

And whatever you do — don’t start a blog right away. ;)

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Rule #10: Come Back Better.

Otherwise, what was the point?

My biggest frustration with how Psychedelics are portrayed is the obsessive focus on healing. Trauma. Grief. Emotional regulation. Self-discovery. Important, yes — but they’re exclusively inward-facing.

If you want to express gratitude for the medicine unlocking secrets of existence, ushering in unprecedented clarity, and healing you from the worst things that happened: come back better. Tip more. Look workers in the eyes & thank them. Say something kind to someone who needs it most. Show up in the world with more patience, more humility, more love.

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“If you’re going to step into the fire, better know why you’re there.” — Shamanic Saying

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Closing Thoughts

Let me get ahead of the inevitable comment: “I didn’t follow these rules & I had a great trip!” Cool. Fringe cases make for compelling anecdotes, but they don’t make for good advice at scale. Projecting your own experience onto others is dangerous. Survivorship bias should be avoided, not celebrated.

According to one large-scale study, 55% of Ayahuasca users reported a challenging trip. Now, sometimes a “bad trip” ushers in clarity, gratitude, or presence in the aftermath — I’ve written about that extensively. And yes, if you’re suffering, a difficult journey might be worth the risk.

But the data undercuts the gurupreneur narrative that “the medicine always knows” and everything will magically work out. It also doesn’t square with what I’ve heard on the ground — after talking with hundreds of people & reading thousands of trip reports: nightmare stories of people who never fully returned to baseline reality.

These aren’t edge cases — they’re reminders that playing with Tier 1 Psychedelics is not a game. Ignore that, and you’re gambling with the one thing you can’t replace: your mind.

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