The story of the guy who pitched a no hitter on acid:
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An interesting review of a book called “Tripping with Allah” that discusses the use of intoxicants in Islam (which most Orthodox Muslims consider to be forbidden) and the authors own experience with ayahuasca.
The Sufis seem to be a bit looser about this, as I have a Sufi friend who spent time doing Sufi practice in Istambul a few years ago. He reported that after their ceremonies at night that many of them would smoke hashish and converse. He also discussed his ayahuasca and other psychedelic experiences with his spiritual teacher and he didn’t seem to have a problem with it.
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This incident was the theme of a painting I saw at an art gallery once. Dock Ellis was crying while in a pitcher’s wind up with a psychedelic swirl behind him. That’s actually how I first learned about this.
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I remember that game . . .
Just had a medical procedure this morning. I asked the anesthesiologist if she used ketamine and she agreed to add it to the mix. Don’t remember much except being in Japan.
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“This is your brain on drugs.” Looks much more beautiful than an egg in a frying pan! 
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how are doing beloved @_Barry ?
Wanna share more about how it was all about?
(a friend of my father was also on a medical procedure yesterday… to his back.)
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A good essay about the mindful use of psychedelics on the spiritual path and the dangers of depending on them too much, without other spiritual practices.
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Psychedelics and meditation both turn down the default mode network in the brain (the place in the brain where your ego lives) but with sustained meditation practice it becomes an ongoing state of consciousness.
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So how about hypnosis?
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Good question! I don’t know if that has been researched. I have some training and experience in hypnotherapy so I know that for some folks it works better than for others. But it would be interesting to put someone who can go into a deep trance into an MRI and see what is going on in their brain. I suspect that it is a very similar state to some of the deep states of meditation. I also think it has some similarities to lucid dream states in that the person is very relaxed (close to sleep) and getting vivid imagery of whatever is being suggested to them. In my experience of doing hypnotherapy, results really vary. Many folks (especially if they’ve had a fair amount of trauma and have a lot of anxiety) can’t relax and surrender to the experience very well but I’ve had other folks go quite deep. I’ve even been successful at doing past life regression with several folks.
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found this…
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Interesting to see new brain research on hypnosis. The decrease in activity in the default mode network (part of the brain connected with usual egoic thought patterns and rumination) in hypnosis is interesting. The default mode network activity has also been shown to decrease in psychedelic drug states and in advanced meditators.
Hypnosis has a long and checkered history in the field of Western psychology. Some of the first psychologists, even pre-dating Freud were very interested in it. And using hypnosis to plant suggestions, such as quitting smoking or loosing weight, is an interesting tool, but it’s very different than exploring altered states just for more general healing or exploration, such as psychedelic exploration, shamanic journeying or meditation practices. Also, in the 80’s and 90’s there was a big controversy in the psychotherapy field over hypnotherapists who were uncovering “repressed memories” of abuse. Hundreds of clients were guided through hypnosis to uncover various memories of sexual and physical abuse. This led to law-suits and counter lawsuits from those who felt they had been abused and those who felt they had been falsely accused. Hypnosis is a powerful tool and has to be wielded carefully. Many folks are very suggestable in these states and false memories can be created just by asking questions. For instance if you are in a deep trance and then guided back into your childhood and then asked “Did your father do anything to hurt you?” The question alone can be a hypnotic suggestion. Suddenly you’re remembering him hurting you.
“And is he doing anything sexual?”
“Yes!” Suddenly you get strong imagery and feelings about this based on hypnotic suggestion.
I have used hypnosis to help people explore their past, or even past lives but I am careful to keep the questions very neutral, so as not to suggest anything. Just asking “What are you experiencing now? Ok, now what’s happening? And what happens next?”, etc.
There are some interesting books out there on hypnotic regression and past lives, or even between life journeys between lives. I’ve looked at some of these books and some seem better than others. Again, I look for how much suggestion was given to the subject and sometimes in reading these books that isn’t clear. The books about between life journeys are interesting but don’t always correlate with traditional sources like the Bardo Thodol. And again, it’s not always clear about the exact methods used and how much suggestion is given about these hypnotic experiences.