What is Microdosing?
This blog article includes a shortened transcription of Eleanor Bramwell’s webinar: “What is Microdosing?” for those who prefer to read content rather than watch it! You may also access the webinar recording below.
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“All right, everybody, welcome! My name is Eleanor Bramwell, and I am one of the co-founders of Innerpath Psychedelic Center. I am excited to be here with you. Microdosing is a profound journey, supporting people hanging on by their fingernails and those ready for leveling up and spiritual awakening. It's magical how this practice meets people where they are and offers tremendous support. I'm extremely passionate about it and glad to be here with you all, answering questions and sharing more about the modality.
This is an introduction to microdosing, or microdosing 101. It feels important to note that psychedelics, when used responsibly and with proper caution, could be for Psychiatry what the microscope is for biology or the telescope for astronomy. These medicines, with the appropriate set and setting, have the opportunity to change our entire culture and inner landscape. We are fortunate that things are legalizing, and we are gaining safe, legal access to these medicines.
The word "psychedelic" is interesting, coming from the Latin roots 'psyche' and 'delos,' meaning to reveal and mind. So, it's a mind-revealing or mind-manifesting practice, or making the unconscious conscious. It's a beautiful word. A microdose of a psychedelic is 1/10th to 1/12th of a normal dose. For instance, discussing psilocybin tonight means 0.1 to 0.2 grams of psilocybin. This also means there are none of the classic psychedelic effects. It's sub-perceptual or non-hallucinogenic. This means that people are able to engage in normal activities. For example, if you're a parent and need to drop your kids off at school, you can. You can go to work, go about your life, and that's really important for some people.
Other people choose to work with psychedelic therapy and receive a macrodose journey, whether that's with ketamine or psilocybin. Macrodosing psychedelics can be incredibly beneficial, and it has a very different impact. For some people, they are not able to take off multiple days of work to go in and have a full-on journey and the integration. So, a microdosing protocol could be a better fit for them. A macrodose, depending on where we are, is one giant, large experience. For some people, having a tiny bit of change over many days and weeks creates a more sustainable shift, whereas for others, the macrodose, having a profound experience, is what they need for the next step of their transformation. So, it's important to differentiate between microdosing and macrodosing.
Our program, our microdosing program, is a nature-based program. We understand that everything in nature knows itself through everything else in nature. For example, the Lesser long-nosed bat in the Sonoran Desert has a tongue that's exactly the shape of the saguaro cactus blossom. They have co-evolved. The apple evolved in such a way that we found it more attractive, and we populated it. The squirrel and the acorn, we are no different. We have co-evolved to be in a relationship with mushrooms. This co-evolution is evidenced throughout history. Almost every single land-based people have a strong relationship with psychedelic plant medicines. For example, the SVA Pasquala cave drawings, which are six to 8,000 years old, show archaeological evidence of almost every single land-based people having worked with psychedelic medicines. There are mushrooms and a bull depicted, suggesting the relationship between them, as mushrooms often grow in cow or bull dung.
The Stoned Ape Theory, developed by Terrence and Dennis McKenna, suggests that psilocybin mushrooms are key in our transition from Homo erectus to Homo sapien, impacting the development of our brain significantly. We'll talk more about the action psilocybin has on our brain later in this module or webinar. It's very interesting what happens when we ingest psilocybin and the branching that occurs in our brain.
Aztecs used low-dose psilocybin for many purposes, evidenced in their rituals. Richard Evans, an American Anthropologist, researched this extensively, and it was published in a notable journal. In more recent history, there has been a psychedelic renaissance, which I'm sure you are all aware of, which is part of why you're here. Johns Hopkins began researching psychedelics again a few decades ago after psychedelic research was reopened, and Inner Path happens to be in Baltimore, so we feel a strong gratitude for Hopkins for reopening that door. But psychedelics are now being researched across the country and really the world in a lot of very cool research.
Microdosing has been popularized differently. It really started gaining popularity with Albert Hoffman, and then the awareness of it picked up in 2015 when Rolling Stone magazine and Forbes Magazine published articles about the third wave. Dr. James Fadiman was involved in this renaissance as well. He popularized microdosing in his book 'The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide'. Currently, there is research on microdosing for conditions like ADHD, hormonal imbalances, cluster headaches, traumatic brain injury, and inflammatory pain. The resurgence of interest in microdosing began in 2015 when Tim Ferriss started discussing how microdosing changed his life on his popular podcast, which has over 900 million downloads. Tim Ferriss has also donated millions of dollars to psychedelic research.
In 2016, a best-selling book titled 'A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life' was released. My colleague Paul Stamets has been instrumental in this conversation. He produced a documentary on Netflix about fungi, particularly psychedelic fungi. People often ask what microdosing is. Is it just psilocybin? Are there other medicines that are microdosed? People can microdose anything. Anytime you take a small amount of a substance regularly, you are microdosing or drop dosing. However, most people microdose LSD or psilocybin. In Silicon Valley, there are companies that encourage microdosing as a part of their culture, valuing its benefits for inspiration, creativity, and performance. LSD is often used by high-level athletes because it increases acuity and sharpness. Again, microdosing has no classic psychedelic effects. You're receiving a very small amount of medicine which allows you to experience the same action in your brain and nervous system without interrupting your life.
There are various protocols or dosing strategies. The Fadiman protocol is microdosing one day, taking two days off. Stamets stack for four days on, three days off. Mology psychology suggests five days on and two days off. This is really individual for different people. I'm a consultant for Mology psychology, and one of the reasons we use the five days on and two days off strategy is to introduce the body and system to the medicine. This may require more consistent medicine to start experiencing benefits. For those who have had a heroic journey or a macrodose, we tend to start on a protocol where they're receiving psilocybin less often, like once every three days.
The choice of protocol depends on factors like metabolism speed and sensitivity. Working with a coach can help you figure out which dosing protocol sets your individual system up for success.
If anyone has questions, we will have space for them later. Let's talk about stacking. Stacking is combining the microdose with other functional mushrooms, medicinal mushrooms, or herbs to support the body. For example, some may stack their psilocybin with ashwagandha for the nervous system, or Lion's Mane and Niacin, known as the Stamets stack, which supports cognitive function and neurogenesis. This helps the brain become more neuroplastic.
Someone asked about the stacking dosing schedule. The reason you take time off is to prevent building a tolerance to the medicine while building a relationship with it.
Preparation for microdosing is crucial. It's a time to identify your goals and learn tools that maximize the medicine's benefit. Working with a microdosing coach is a great idea. They can help determine your dosing protocol, the right blend of psilocybin, and practices to support you in integrating the experience. Observing what happens when you're microdosing is beneficial for creating change. Tracking your experience by journaling can help observe changes in mood, perception, mental state, and feelings. Calibration is important because as you build a relationship with the medicine, you may need to adjust your dose or change psilocybin strains. There are many factors contributing to your dose schedule, dose amount, strain, and whether you're stacking with any other medicinal or supportive herbs.
Integration research demonstrates that an integration protocol should last a minimum of six weeks to create lasting change. Research suggests that to create lasting change, you have to do integration work for about 12 weeks for it to last after you stop. Integration practices will vary based on what is happening in your life. For some, it might be beginning an exercise practice, while for others, it could involve deep inner work and exploration around life patterns.
Harvard Medical School has conducted research on psilocybin. In a randomized study with 34 patients, half received a placebo, and half received psilocybin. The study found intriguing subjective effects because those receiving psilocybin felt happier and more creative, with changes in brain waves recorded on an EEG machine. Another study compared 953 psilocybin microdosers with 180 non-dosing participants, finding improvements in mood consistent across gender, age, and mental health concerns.
When we receive psilocybin, the brain becomes incredibly active. It floods the brain with BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor), akin to miracle growth for the brain. Research shows that 30 minutes after receiving psilocybin, hemispheres of the brain begin communicating with others that normally do not communicate at all. This period is very alive, active, and conducive to neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity denotes the brain's tendency to keep developing, changing, and potentially healing itself. This understanding has evolved significantly. For instance, intensive physical and occupational therapy is now employed for stroke patients, helping them use new regions of the brain for basic functions. MRI scans of taxi cab drivers before and after learning the streets of London show completely different neural pathways, illustrating the brain's ongoing evolution and adaptability. The brain constantly makes new cells, and activities like microdosing can increase the brain's ability to change itself.
Psilocybin also promotes the differentiation of neurons and synapses, even in small amounts like microdosing, not just with macro doses. When psilocybin makes contact with our brain or nervous system, a branching occurs, similar to its interaction with the mycelial network of mushrooms or roots of other plants in the forest. Thus, when psilocybin interacts with living beings, us or plants, this branching happens. Psilocybin binds with one of our serotonin receptors, the 5-HT2A receptor, involved in learning, memory, and cognition. This binding not only improves mood due to a serotonin shift in the body system but also enhances abilities like learning and executive function.
During a coaching protocol, the increased room of tolerance makes us feel better, especially useful during periods of greater stress. But feeling better also provides a sacred window to initiate lasting change. Sometimes, when feeling stuck and unable to self-start, having a bit of support makes it easier to create rewiring and lasting change practices. Learning creates new pathways in the brain. Dr. Eric Kandel won the Nobel Prize in 2000 after demonstrating that connections in the brain double in an area as soon as we learn something. However, these connections prune apart within hours to days if not maintained.
Every thought we have floods the body with hormones. For example, anger is not just an idea; it's the heat in our system, the tensing of muscles, the contraction of the gut. With about 60 to 80,000 thoughts per day, we unconsciously lock in the weather system of our experience. Integration practices literally rewire the brain, changing our hormonal baseline and thus the emotional landscape within our bodies. Research involving gratitude practices showed significant reductions in cortisol levels. Creating new pathways, if grooved enough, becomes the unconscious default, which can have significant implications, especially if they're negative. Psilocybin microdosing gives us a chance to rewire these patterns and create new ones, changing how we feel in our day-to-day life. A lot of this happens autonomously and unconsciously.
We have a microdosing program starting February 13th, an eight-week group healing container with a manual, self-reflection journal, educational sessions, and three one-on-one coaching sessions tailored to support your journey. For webinar participants, we offer a $250 discount promo code. The program adopts a somatic and nervous system-informed approach to microdosing.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is one of my favorite therapeutic modalities and is a significant part of our program. The concept is that we all have an essential part of us, like a diamond. This essential part can be covered with coping strategies and protection mechanisms. IFS helps us remove these and reveal more of who we are. Our sessions include psychoeducation, tools to help regulate your nervous system, and work with sleep, nutrition, and more. Our coaches are IFS trained, providing a beautiful journey to discover who you truly are. We match each participant with the right coach, like a nutritionist or trauma therapist, based on their needs. The group meets weekly for educational sessions, supplemented by a home journal with practices to support creating the lasting change you're ready for after the program ends.
Our program is a discovery path through the guidance of mushrooms, acknowledging the mushroom's consciousness and intelligence. They give their bodies to us in service of our healing and awakening, a journey we approach with reverence and gratitude.
It's also important to explore who microdosing is for and who it isn't. Certain people should not microdose. For example, it's not recommended for those on certain medications, those with a history of bipolar disorder, or during periods of intense emotional instability. Microdosing has very low risk compared to other substances like alcohol or heroin. Dr. David E. Presti of the University of California, Berkeley, mentions that microdosing is safer than taking antidepressants. We advise consulting with a doctor before beginning a microdosing protocol, especially when combining, phasing out, or stopping medications, as research in this area is still evolving.
However, there is a substantial amount of research and anecdotal evidence available about microdosing. This evidence indicates its safety and efficacy, though it's essential to approach it with caution and professional guidance.
To summarize, microdosing presents a fascinating frontier in mental health and personal development. It offers a low-risk, potentially high-reward approach to addressing a variety of psychological and emotional challenges. By harnessing the subtle effects of psychedelics like psilocybin, individuals can navigate their daily lives with enhanced clarity, creativity, and emotional stability. This approach contrasts with more traditional therapeutic methods, offering a unique and often more accessible pathway to healing and self-discovery.
In conclusion, our microdosing program at Innerpath Psychedelic Center provides a comprehensive and guided journey into this practice. It combines scientific research with holistic approaches, ensuring a safe and transformative experience for all participants. Whether you're new to psychedelics or have previous experience, our program is designed to support you in achieving your personal and spiritual goals. We invite you to join us on this exciting journey of exploration and self-improvement.
Thank you all for your attention and interest. I look forward to the opportunity to further discuss and delve into this topic with you. If you have any questions or require additional information, please feel free to reach out or consult our resources for a deeper understanding of microdosing and its potential impacts. Let's continue to explore the boundaries of our minds and unlock the full potential of our mental and emotional well-being.”
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