Clinical research is impressive, but the experiences real people have had with 5-MeO-DMT and how it has impacted their lives are just as meaningful. Describing these experiences, particularly in the higher dose range, can be challenging. Not only are our perceptual systems disrupted, but our relationship with language and ourselves are either temporarily offline or radically altered. This produces an overall effect known as “ineffability,” meaning that we may struggle to articulate what happened during the actual experience using our words.

5-MeO-DMT is an extremely fast-acting compound. Within a few seconds, the user can enter into a state that is known as non-duality. Non-duality takes the individual into a space that is void of self. This means that there is no subject or object. There is no this or no that. There is only emptiness and infinite boundlessness all at once. As the peak experience results in a temporary loss of self, the individual can experience themselves as all of the totality, likening the experience to the religious or mystical experience, which must be experienced to be truly understood.

While there are many ways the body can experience 5-MeO-DMT, some individuals who retain a sense of self during the experience report varied bodily sensations. These can include tactile enhancement, where our sensitivity to touch is significantly increased, and feelings of increased gravity or bodily heaviness. Spontaneous physical sensations can also occur, with no apparent trigger for us to feel them. These can be exceptionally intense, with some people describing the experience as a full-body orgasm. A sensation of rushing, acceleration, or motion during the onset of effects is a common experience, which can become stronger at higher doses. It is not uncommon for people to relate a feeling of being “shot out of a cannon” in the early stages of their 5-MeO-DMT journey.

Unlike other psychedelics, in higher doses 5-MeO-DMT does not produce particularly visual experiences. Instead, it can be better understood as the user reaching a level of inner knowing beyond human understanding, where the unknowable becomes known. The peak experience is the definition of a true awakening that results in deep wisdom, knowledge, and healing that is unique to the participant.

Where 5-MeO-DMT excels is in reliably allowing us to experience differences in how we think about and experience ourselves. People have reported being aware of their whole lives from a perspective outside of time or as something that they deliberately construct. They may experience oceanic boundlessness, where there is a timeless sense of being one with what we usually perceive as the external world.

At higher full-release doses, people may not only completely lose awareness of their bodies and direct surroundings, but their sense of self—of an “I” that is doing the thinking and feeling which may utterly dissolve. We can lose our sense of being separate from other people, our environment, and the universe. It is this dissolution of our everyday duality our mental model that “I” is apart from the world that is perhaps 5-MeO-DMT’s most profound and unique effect. The experience of non-duality where everything, including the thoughts and experiences that are happening, just is, can radically change our perspectives on the world and our place in it.

The root idea of transcendence is to “go beyond.” Non-duality in a 5-MeO experience is an event that happens without a distinct sense of self to “have” that experience as there is no “I” present. This is a temporary form of self-transcendence— going beyond the self. Self-transcendence is the common theme that connects virtually all religions or schools of spiritual thought, for example, unification with the God that underlies all existence or realization of Nirvana and moving beyond suffering and worldly desires.

Whether at lower doses or in fully ego-less states, the 5-MeO-DMT experience can be one of profound bliss and freedom from concern or worry.

The benefits associated with 5-MeO-DMT appear to be vast. The peak experience of 5-MeO-DMT allows participants to temporarily experience non-duality, which transcends all human understanding. As a result, when they return to their normal waking state, they may return with a profoundly shifted perspective, affecting how they view the nature of existence. This shift can act as a catalyst to inspire change on many levels of their human experience, including emotional, spiritual, and psychological well-being. Nonetheless, it’s also true that our mental health profoundly impacts our physical well-being. These effects can be physiological, for example, how stress damages our bodies. Improvements in mental health can also enable people to make positive behavioral changes around things like diet and exercise.

Anecdotal reports detail a wide range of improvements after 5-MeO-DMT use. These include increased motivation and a sense of purpose, better quality sleep, higher energy levels, better self-image, positive changes in perspective, feelings of rebirth or renewal, increased ability to concentrate, and greater ability to “be present.” 

The results of research on 5-MeO-DMT are consistent with these experiences. In one study, 80% of participants who had been diagnosed with depression and 79% of participants who had been diagnosed with anxiety reported an improvement in their symptoms. Similarly, a single dose of 5-MeO-DMT has been shown to produce persistent reductions in depression, stress, and anxiety, as well as increases in awareness, life satisfaction, and mindfulness.

Journeying with 5-MeO-DMT is a big deal. In preparation it’s important to prepare yourself for the work that you are about to embark on. It is recommended for the week prior to your ceremony to step into practices that bring you into alignment with yourself. Examples are eating clean, journaling about what you are hoping for from your 5-MeO-DMT experience, meditation, etc. It’s also recommended as part of the preparation to prepare your integration container for when you arrive back home.

The amount of preparation taken before 5-MeO-DMT has been shown to directly correlate to one’s ability to surrender during their medicine experience. It is the master key to allowing the psyche to feel a sense of safety in understanding what it is about to embark on, what can come up and how to move through it. This process allows the mind to release its attachments to its fears about what might happen and instead feel secure in all that it has learned. Thorough preparation can drastically reduce the chance of a challenging experience and even eliminate it completely.

Source: F.I.V.E.