DMT-harmine combination elevates transcendence and insight during meditation | Meditators who received a combination of DMT and harmine reported greater mystical experiences, non-dual awareness, emotional breakthroughs, and lasting increases in well-being compared to those given a placebo.
DMT-harmine combination elevates transcendence and insight during meditation
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From the article: A recent study published in the [Journal of Psychopharmacology](https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811241282637) highlights the potential synergy between meditation and psychedelics. Meditators who received a combination of DMT and harmine reported greater mystical experiences, non-dual awareness, emotional breakthroughs, and lasting increases in well-being compared to those given a placebo.
DMT (N,N-Dimethyltryptamine) is a powerful psychedelic compound that induces intense, short-lived experiences of altered consciousness. It is naturally found in many plants, including those used in the traditional Amazonian brew ayahuasca. DMT is known for producing vivid visual hallucinations, profound mystical experiences, and a temporary breakdown of the sense of self.
However, when consumed alone, DMT is quickly broken down by the body, limiting its effects. To prolong these effects, harmine, a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI), is combined with DMT. Harmine slows down the breakdown of DMT, allowing it to remain active longer in the body.
Meditation and psychedelics are both known to promote psychological insight, emotional regulation, and well-being, but they have typically been studied independently. Prior research has suggested that psychedelics can enhance meditation, but much of this research has focused on psilocybin. Given that DMT, when combined with harmine, can produce long-lasting effects similar to those reported in ayahuasca ceremonies, the researchers wanted to investigate whether DMT-harmine could enhance meditation in a similar way.
“Meditation and psychedelics have attracted increasing interest from science and society over the past few years, mostly for their respective potential benefits for mental health and well-being,” said study author Daniel Meling, a cognitive scientist affiliated with the Psychedelic Research & Therapy Development group at the University of Zurich.
Meditation is the separation of thought from self. Seeking an experience is a distraction. Distractions can be great and helpful. But tripping balls is gonna be a much more intense experience than achieving absence of thought. The mind will usually prefer to be entertained than bored. Just as Doritos are gonna be a greater taste experience than toast with butter but no one can say it is better.
I heard some guys in the jungle discovered this a really long time ago. But thank you for this “news”!
I always feel weird about these kind of papers.
Obviously it’s incredibly difficult to have a robust placebo-controlled study when investigating psychedelics, but I don’t 100% agree with the authors’ choice to use a completely inactive placebo.
They lay out their reasoning well, and I can see where they’re coming from, but I’m not sure if using an inactive placebo when investigating something as intense as DMT is the right move. At least some of the old psilocybin studies used Ritalin as a placebo.
> While the use of an inactive placebo was motivated by establishing a clear baseline to allow for the measurement of the absolute effects of DMT-harmine through minimizing confounding variables, the different expectations and the high rate of participants breaking blind represent an important limitation of the present study. Another major limitation of this study is the absence of a control group for meditation.
Also this is a more minor nitpick, but the authors’ never mentioned if they controlled for prior psychedelic use. They state that they excluded participants that currently use psychotropic substances, but nothing about previous use. I think it would be neat to see a follow-up.
Also, this isn’t a dig on the meditation community, but the experimental cohort they recruited was very…homogenous
> Participants had a mean age of 43.73 years (27–60, SD: 10.30) and 82.5% had postgraduate degrees. 95% of the participants were White.