Optimizing Your Microdosing Practice: 9 Pro Tips for Experienced Users
There are levels to everything, and microdosing is no different.
Helping hundreds of clients begin their journey with microdosing has made that fact abundantly clear to me. It’s important to understand that, what works perfectly for one person might be a total bust for someone else.
With the current buzz around microdosing, it can be difficult to know where to turn for help with basic questions about this new trend.
Back when I started microdosing psilocybin mushrooms there were no guides or websites or podcasts that I could go to for information. It took years of trial and error before I had a good understanding of how to get the most out of my microdosing practice.
Some of those errors were quite memorable and very unpleasant.
Like the time I took 0.8g before a Bikram yoga class… before work… yeesh…
Initially there will always be a certain amount of experimentation required to find your personal “sweet spot”.
My intention here is to provide you with useful information that helps shorten your trial-and-error period.
Although valuable lessons can certainly be learned during that time, picking up best practices from someone else is undoubtedly more efficient.
For most of us the goal is to be focused on the task at hand, whatever that may be, not wondering if the dose you just took is going to make you sprout a raccoon tail that helps you fly like Super Mario.
Our goal with a microdose is find a gentle balance or a sweet spot where the effect of the medicine is almost noticeable, yet not distracting.
The perfect dose for one person will rarely be perfect for another. Similarly, one’s ideal microdose tends to vary slightly from day to day and from situation to situation. Everyone has a different sensitivity to the medicine and threshold for how much is too much.
There are many factors that play a part in our microdosing experience including:
body weight
the speed of our metabolism
genetic factors
hydration
the state of one's mental health
how rested the individual is
environmental factors
and more...
There are countless circumstances that can affect one's microdosing experience.
To find our sweet spot in the most efficient way, we can follow these tips to fine-tune our practice and get the maximum benefits.
Tip #1: Set and maintain an intention.
It’s important to take time in the beginning to think about what we want to accomplish by microdosing. As we go through the process and our relationship with the medicine evolves it is common for our intentions to change as well.
Everyone’s experience of microdosing will be unique and produce different results. That’s a good thing considering no two people are the same. The fact that this medicine can help alleviate a wide range of symptoms is one of its most appealing qualities. Knowing this, it should be no surprise that a person’s approach to microdosing will tend to shift with time.
Despite this natural tendency, it’s important to remain clear on why you are maintaining the practice in the first place. Having a desired outcome that you want to achieve is necessary to measure progress.
Are you taking a microdose because it’s Tuesday and that’s one of your designated days or do you have a specific reason for engaging with the medicine?
When we stop using the medicine with intention microdosing becomes a habit. At that point meaningful results or any sense of progress tends to disappear. Without a specific desired outcome, how can we measure progress?
Tip #2: Get a scale!
Always know your dose, I can’t emphasize this enough.
Having a reliable scale handy is the most effective way to determine the dose that works best for you. Being aware of your dose can drastically shorten the amount of time it takes to find your sweet spot.
Sure, you can nibble off a small piece of stem or take a pinch of ground up mushroom with your morning tea and be just fine…
The problem is, if you have a positive experience there’s no data to look back at next time you want a similar effect. On flip side, if the experience is undesirable there’s no sure way to know what size dose to avoid in the future.
Bonus tip: Get a scale that goes down to 0.00g.
0.18g is almost double that of 0.10g and if your scale only goes down one decimal place you might just be seeing 0.1g for both those amounts.
Tip #3: Keep a journal.
Keeping a journal is an invaluable tool, particularly when beginning to refine your microdosing practice. Writing down the dose size and a brief description of your experience can be useful beyond that specific day. Having data to reference can help you spot patterns in your behaviors and experiences because some patterns may be difficult to recognize in the moment.
It doesn’t have to be a long and drawn-out process, taking a few minutes each day to record your thoughts can pay off in the long run.
I’ve looked at and tried a bunch of different journals myself, but they all seemed to be lacking or felt incomplete in one way or another. So I used the knowledge I gained from my time as a guide and facilitator to create this journal.
This journal is super intuitive, easy to use and takes all the guess work out of microdosing.
My intention in putting together this resource was to help former clients get the absolute most out of their micodosing experience.
Tip #4: Start small and work your way up.
You can always take more, but you can never take less. Gradually increasing your dosage is the easiest and most reliable way to find your sweet spot.
As I mentioned in the post about getting started, the range of a microdose for most people is going to fall somewhere in between 0.1g and 0.3g of dried psilocybin mushrooms.
Bonus tip: A properly dried mushroom will typically loose 90% of its weight and will have the crispness and consistency of a cracker. So, if your grow your own, forage, or happen to get your hands on some freshly picked mushrooms 1.0g to 3.0g would be an appropriate amount.
There’s no harm in starting near the low end of that range, especially if you know that you are particularly sensitive or are dealing with a specific health condition.
When the intensity of the effects become distracting it’s a good sign that you’ve reached the upper threshold of your sweet spot. As a rule of thumb, if you are experiencing visual effects you have gone beyond the microdose level.
Tip #5: Allow for flexibility in your schedule.
There are several well-known regimens out there that are widely used. For beginners they provide a valuable framework to rely on when starting their microdosing journey. Many people get a lot of benefits from having a regular and consistent schedule to follow initially.
My personal view of microdosing schedules is that they function very much like training wheels. While great for support in the beginning, at some point they often become unnecessary or even problematic. I’ve seen this play out numerous times with former clients.
If you’ve found that the consistency of a strict schedule suits you best, then by all means, do what feels right for you... if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Tip #6: Follow your intuition.
For many, once you hit a certain point and have more comfort and confidence with the process, a shift begins to occur. As you progress an intuitive knowing starts to develop of when is the most appropriate for you to microdose. In the same way that the ideal dosage will vary from person to person, so too will the ideal schedule for when to take the medicine.
One critical thing to understand is that psychedelics, even in small amounts, tend to make people more sensitive. This should always be taken into consideration when deciding if it’s an appropriate time to microdose.
For example, I have worked with a couple of flight attendants whose work schedule was six days on and four days off. During those six days of work they were dealing with a lot of energy from passengers, airports, and were in very close quarters with other flight attendants. On top of that, they slept in hotels, had to eat whatever was available, and followed a tight air traffic schedule. In other words, they had to be ON and focused that entire time.
As you can probably guess, during work hours was not an ideal time to be taking a microdose that could increase their sensitivity. Not to mention potentially violating workplace policies and the law.
Focus on taking the micro when it makes sense and when it feels right for you. Microdosing should always be a choice, not a requirement. Forcing it into a tight schedule or a situation where it doesn’t make sense can lead to unintended and potentially unwanted experiences.
Tip #7: Always consider your set and setting.
Set refers to your mindset, or how you’re feeling internally, while setting refers to what’s going on in the physical environment around you. These factors play an important role in your overall experience and shouldn’t be ignored just because the dose is relatively small.
The term “set and setting” is widely used in the world of psychedelics. Especially when considering how the medicine tends to make people more sensitive. Microdosing is like turning up the volume on your senses. It won't change what's around you, but it will make you more aware of details and nuances you might not have otherwise noticed.
If you’re in a positive internal and external space, those are the vibes and emotions that tend to be amplified. The same holds true if you are in a negative space.
I take a deep dive into this subject in my free e-book,The Microdosing Manifesto.
Tip #8: Take breaks.
More isn’t always better. Your body understands this and as a result, will develop a natural tolerance to the effects of psilocybin mushrooms if consumed frequently. This is much more apparent when taking larger doses on subsequent days, but also holds true for microdoses.
One of the major appeals of this medicine is that it isn’t harmful to the body because psilocybin mushrooms are generally considered non-toxic and non-habit forming. But taking mushrooms daily and constantly increasing the dose to experience the same effects is not the best approach.
The psilocybin molecule closely resembles serotonin, the main neurotransmitter in adults. As a result, our bodies have a natural system for efficiently processing and removing the psilocybin after it has served its purpose.
Fun fact: Psilocin (what psilocybin turns into after being broken down in the gut) has a half-life of 50 minutes. This means that after 12 hours less than 5% of the psychoactive component of the mushroom is present in your system. At 24 hours it’s basically gone.
Your body is smart, and it knows when it's had enough. Taking breaks between microdoses can help your tolerance reset and keep your experiences fresh and meaningful. It’s generally recommended to take at least 2 days off every week, and that those two days off are back-to-back.
The best strategy is always to listen to your body. Check in with yourself and your intention and trust what your body tells you.
Tip #9: Assess your progress.
If you have been microdosing consistently for 8 weeks or more, it can be useful to consider taking a break. Most people find it difficult to make an accurately assess their progress while still in the microdosing experience.
It’s like trying to see the forest from inside of the trees.
It's important to give the medicine time to fully work its way out of your system and to give yourself time to be in your own energy. There’s no standard amount of time to put a pause on your practice, but it is necessary from time to time.
After all, isn’t the whole purpose of microdosing to improve some aspect of your life?
This is where having a journal can be extremely useful. Keeping track of your experiences will give you valuable and reliable data to reference. Due to the subtle nature of the microdosing experience, relying on memory alone is not ideal, especially when making an assessment over a longer periods of time.
In conclusion:
There is no right or wrong way to microdose. Every mushroom guru on the internet will have their own preferred method, but microdosing is not an exact science and never will be. Like everything, trial and error will always be a part of when trying figuring out what works best for you, and that’s ok.
We are all unique in every aspect of our lives, so why should we be expected to maintain a rigid microdosing regimen developed by someone else?
Use these simple guidelines and find your own flow.
Be patient, be gentle with yourself, and always use common sense when working with this medicine.
This is not medical advice, and I am not encouraging anyone to do anything illegal. As adults, it is our responsibilities to ensure that we have educated ourselves properly about the possible consequences of our choices.
Be safe and be smart.
