How Microdosing Can (or Can’t) Change Your Life

Microdosing has become one of the biggest trends in the health food/biohacking/conscious entrepreneur/spiritual speaker space. But what is microdosing exactly? In this article, we’ll explore:

• What is microdosing?

• How can it benefit you?

• How should you use it? And how should you not use it?

• What can you expect when microdosing?

• What’s the difference between microdosing and taking a full plant medicine?

What is “microdosing?”

Microdosing is the concept of taking a small dose of a hallucinogenic compound – usually in the form of psilocybin mushrooms/truffles and sometimes LSD. You can also microdose with Caapi, one of the two ingredients in Ayahuasca. 

So when we microdose, we take a very small dose of a hallucinogenic/psychedelic substance. We don’t take so much that we get into any form of a psychedelic journey, but just enough so that we get a slightly increased state of awareness and connection to ourselves.

Is microdosing legal? (It is in the Netherlands!)

A lot of people wonder if microdosing is legal – and actually, it depends on where you live. Here where I live in the Netherlands, it is 100% legal. Make sure to check the laws where you live before getting into microdosing, because lately the laws have been changing and there are a growing number of places that are legalizing microdosing and plant medicines.

If you are looking to get something out of it – like having a good time, partying, feeling a certain way, or achieving an inner connection – then you’re taking a drug. And this will always be the wrong intention for taking a plant medicine or microdose.

Microdosing, plant medicine, and why they’re not drugs:

Microdosing is done with a plant medicine, which is a major difference from a “drug,” which you can learn more about here. 

But just to recap:

We call plant medicines a “medicine” for a reason; think about it: 

We don’t call plant medicines “creativity boosting substances,” “mindset enhancing substances,” or “flow-generating substances…”

We call them “plant medicines” and there is a reason for this. The first step to microdosing is to understand that you are working with a plant medicine.

Microdosing a plant medicine is about healing and spiritual growth.

• Physical healing
• Mental healing (in terms of mental patterns and behaviors)
• Spiritual/energetic healing (the connection to our soul, what our soul is living, or what is living in our energy field).

However, it’s important to remember that the medicine is always taken as a temporary aid in the process of healing. It is not intended to become another substance to be taken in our everyday life like we would a coffee or tea.

The purpose, in the end, is to NOT have to use microdosing or plant medicine at all. To not need to use them because you have gone through the process of healing.

The biggest mistake people make when they microdose…

The biggest mistake people make when they go microdosing is they take it with yet another expectation:

“I microdose in the morning so I can feel [more creative/more productive/better flow/etc].”

When a substance like Caapi, mushrooms, LSD is taken in a microdose with any expectation, it becomes a drug. It is our intention that makes the difference between whether we are taking a plant medicine or a drug.

If we are looking to get something out of it – like having a good time, partying, feeling a certain way, or achieving an inner connection – then we’re taking a drug. And this will always be the wrong intention for taking a plant medicine or microdose.

This is the only intention with which we can take a plant medicine (even if it’s in a microdose)

The only intention we can have when taking a plant medicine or microdose is to say, “Thank you medicine. Help me connect to what is real. Help me see what I’m not seeing. Help me heal what needs to be healed.”

Even though there are various ways of stating your intention, they can only come with an intention of true surrender to what the medicine will show you.

We work with plant medicines with the understanding that they can deliver something beyond what our mind can comprehend, let alone even think of, in the first place.

Plant medicines tend to give us visions way beyond what we could come up with in our conscious state. They can bring up emotions that you may not have felt in a long time, perhaps they have been buried in your subconscious. For that reason, maybe they need a new perspective or healing. They work beyond what our conscious mind can comprehend, let alone think of before we take the medicine.

For that reason, we should never let ourselves be limited by what our conscious mind can think of before we take the medicine. Working with the medicine should always be done with the intention of true surrender to whatever the medicine wishes to give us in that moment – even if it’s done in a microdose.

Microdosing a plant medicine is about

healing and spiritual growth.

What it means to “work with the medicine”

There’s a reason why we call “working with the medicine” working WITH the medicine: because there is both the part of the medicine and there is our own work that we have to do. (So once again, microdosing or taking plant medicines is not about getting loose and creative – it’s about working together in a healing process).

The medicine, through its infinite consciousness and its connection to everything as a whole, will show you whatever it decides that you need to see in that moment.

It will show you if you are opening up and it will help you open up, if you need it. If you are truly welcoming whatever it provides, it can give you way more than what you expected. 

But then your true work is to really decide: what does this mean in my life? How do I wish to deal with this? This is where we work with the medicine. It then becomes our job to:

• …be truly open to whatever it is the medicine wishes to show us.

• …consciously welcome whatever it shows us. We can have gratitude, saying: “Thank you medicine for showing this to me; thank you for reconnecting me to what apparently lives inside of me.”

• …determine what is next: “How will I choose to perceive this?” Even though the medicine will usually give us an understanding of how we could potentially see something, it is still for us to decide how we wish to perceive it. As human beings, we always have that complete freedom of choice in how we perceive something.

• …explore: “How can I integrate this into my life?” Not necessarily by controlling it, but just by accepting all that lives inside of you while also allowing it to inform your daily life. From this freedom of choice, we still have the freedom of whether we wish to do something with it or not.

That is always a process of working with the plant medicine. It is never something to be forced, and we can not determine how fast it will go. We can only be with whatever the present moment gives us.

This is what working with the medicine is all about.

Microdosing vs Full-dose plant medicine

One last thing to mention is that, because microdoses are essentially a micro-dose of a plant medicine, you are also getting a “micro” experience.

Regardless of the dose you take, you are still working with a plant medicine.

A higher or full dose will speed things up; it will make the trip more intense.

A period of consequent microdosing over a prolonged period of time will bring the same result that a 6-8 hour full dose plant medicine journey might – although in a more subtle way.

Because it’s done in a subtle way, you have to be present with what it provides. You have to be present with the subtle changes, the messages, and the feelings that it brings up.

There will be subtle changes in your thinking and how you deal with other people or situations.

It will bring stuff to the surface – whether you like it or not. Maybe it will bring up joy, but maybe it will also bring up past emotions, angers, or frustrations.

It is always your responsibility to be present with whatever comes up and to own those emotions.

Microdose Plant Medicine: Surrender and be Rewarded

Working with the plant medicine can never be done with an expectation – with a preconceived idea of what it needs to bring. The only thing you can do is to truly open up and surrender. Only then will you be able to invite an infinite world of self discovery and healing. 

If you’re interested in learning more about microdosing, drop a comment below. And if you’re interested to go into a full plant medicine ceremony, check out TruffleHealing.com to reserve your spot!