Psychonaut Readiness Guide – How to Have an Excellent Trip!

good trip

When it comes to psychedelic experiences – I am very particular about how I go about my business. Having over two-decades of psychedelic experience to my name, I have refined my process to ensuring that I will have an excellent trip virtually every time.

I won’t make the claim that I can guarantee a great trip every time because ‘you’ do play a significant role in the nature of your own trips.

Nonetheless, if you follow these simple instructions, you’ll be able to let go and enjoy a psychedelic experience for what it is - a consciousness transformation.

The Benefits of Non-Ordinary States

Non-Ordinary States, whether induced via Breathwork, meditation, or psychedelics can have a profoundly positive impact on one’s life. A Recent study found that psilocybin treatment were four times more effective in treating depression than conventional anti-depressant medication.

However, the use of non-ordinary states for personal transformation goes back thousands of years. Shamans, Mystics and Healers have long known that by accessing these states, individuals can invoke significant transformation in their own lives.

However – considering that these are “non-ordinary states” – people with little or no experience are encourage to consume with more experienced people. This in fact, is one of the first “rules” of having a good trip. More on that later.

A psychedelic state can allow you to see an issue from a completely different perspective, detach yourself from yourself, become something entirely different, shape your awareness into whatever it wishes.

This scares people, however – “You” are always in control…if the drugs are good that is.

Ensuring that you’ll trip heaven not hell

In my 20+ years of journeying through psychedelic planes of existence, I have never experienced what people call “bad trips”. I’ve never had the nightmare trips people refer to. Perhaps it’s because I’m taking too little or my physiology works differently – but “bad trips” don’t happen in my presence.

I think the main reason for my tripping success is that I carefully plan out the experience. I know that once I’m under the influence of a reality-bending substance, I need to plan ahead for “future Reginald”.

There’s a lot of logistics that goes into planning the best of trips.

Let’s talk about SET & SETTING

Set and Setting are terms that refer to your environment and the people that you surround yourself with. Set, we can think of like a “movie set”. Think about your psychedelic experience like a “ride” that will last for X amount of time. Some last 6 hours, I’ve had others that lasted for weeks and even months. [this happened to me due to many different factors but mainly several kilos of peyote and no self-control]

For your Set, you’ll want to carefully plan out what you want where. You’ll want to have food prepared, drinks and snacks available.

You’ll want to have sleeping sectors market off, in the case someone wants to crash they know where it is. You’ll also want to ensure that the place you’re going to be consuming the psychedelics is safe, far away from “non-trippers” and will be secure for the duration of the trip.

Next, “Setting” refers to the people and the frame of mind. For example, it’s a very different experience using psychedelics for “spiritual healing” than for “having fun on a Friday and letting loose a bit”.

The people you surround yourself with is of the utmost importance. If you’re a newbie, get someone with more experience to guide you through the first few goes. Eventually you can do a solo-trip, but just like jumping out of a plane…you’ll need an instructor first.

Once you have your environment secured and have people you like and trust around you, you’re good to go.

Extra things to consider

Weed is your friend! Have lots of weed on hand. If you think you’re buying too much weed for a psychedelic trip, you’re probably not buying enough. I have once smoked through an ounce of hydro at a rave tripping on 2 hits of acid. Every hit re-ignited my visuals and those around me looked at me as if I was some sort of ganja god.

They didn’t know I was on acid though – so I just kept on hitting this poor dude’s stash until it was virtually gone. Not my finest days but if you’re a nub that takes premium weed to a rave and shares it with everyone in a circle – you’re bound to get you’re stash smoked dry.

Anyhow, weed is your friend. Booze is okay too, but only on things like LSD and perhaps MDMA. I personally like some whiskey on my acid trips however for mushrooms, I go full vegetarian.

Get a playlist of music. Search for “music to trip to” or “Acid music” or whatever, you’ll find things like Papadosio, The Big Something, Puscifer and so forth….all are excellent. Add albums you don’t even know and just try to make a large enough playlist of tolerable tracks to put on random and leave for the night.

Another pro tip is to make “Trip Spaces”. A Main tripping space where the music, drinks and food are close. Perhaps this is a fire pit or the dining room table – but it’s usually the most accessible spot in the environment.

Make a few “darker” rooms with low lights, lower music – completely different vibe. Here you can have some Lo Fi playlists or even some smooth jazz to simply level out the vibe. You can easily get “stressed out” on psychedelics, having different spots with different environments helps a lot to endure the trip till the end.

The biggest tip for tripping is this; accept anything and everything that will come your way during the trip. Even if stuff gets a tad bit scary, just take a few deep breaths, smoke a doobie, relax…and have fun. What comes up must comes down, and even in the densest of trips – you can find your way out again.