Among adults who regularly meditate, nearly 3 in 4 felt that psychedelic use had a positive impact on the quality of their meditation, according to a new study.
The research, published last month in the journal PLoS ONE, surveyed 863 adults who meditated at least three times per week over the past year. Among them, 73.5 percent said the use of psychedelics was beneficial to their meditation practice.
Researchers found respondents were more likely to report positive effects of psychedelics if they used the substances more regularly, actively set intentions around their psychedelic use, had agreeable personalities and had previously consumed DMT specifically, among other factors.
“Results suggest that most meditators found psychedelic use to have a positive influence on their meditation practice,” authors wrote, noting that both meditation and psychedelic substances have attracted increasing public and scientific attention, with both potentially tied to “significant therapeutic benefits.”
“Thus, there is growing scientific interest in potential synergies between psychedelic use and meditation practice,” they continued, “with some research suggesting that psychedelics may benefit meditation practice.”
For example, the study points to a recent experiment in which 39 meditators received psilocybin or a placebo over a five-day mindfulness meditation retreat, with those who received the psychedelic reporting a greater sense of ego dissolution during the retreat and more positive changes in psychosocial functioning afterward.
Another qualitative study looked at written accounts of people who’d combined psychedelics and meditation, finding that “most participants perceived that simultaneous use enhanced either their meditation practice, psychedelic experience, or both.”
For the new study, researchers surveyed adults ranging in age from 18 to 81, most of whom (79.4 percent) were male. They then used machine learning to analyze associations between participants’ various traits and their response to the question: “Overall, do you believe that your psychedelic experience(s) have influenced the quality of your regular meditation practice?”
Participants could answer that question using a range from 1 to 7, corresponding with a strong negative influence and a strong positive influence, respectively. Responses had a mean of 5.49 with a standard deviation of 1.24.
“Across all approaches used to assess feature importance, we found that greater psychedelic use (i.e., frequency of psychedelic use; lifetime/12 month) was the variable most likely to be associated with the perception that psychedelics benefit meditation practice,” the study says. “Setting intentions for psychedelic use was also associated with the perception that psychedelic use is beneficial to meditation practice.”
“Additionally, we found that two other variables: agreeableness (ΔR2 = .006) and exposure to N,N-DMT (ΔR2 = .005) were associated with the perception that psychedelics were beneficial to meditation practice,” it continues, “albeit more weakly than psychedelic use and setting intention.”
Other factors showed more minor, but still significant, associations. “Factors such as exposure to cannabis use, higher levels of openness to experience, and retreat practice had small but statistically significant positive associations with the perceived benefit of psychedelics on meditation,” the paper says.
Notably, the study did not ask whether participants used psychedelics during meditation itself.
“Focusing on the four variables that were consistently found to be most important across all approaches,” says the report, “a profile emerges of individuals who are most likely to perceive their psychedelic use to benefit meditation practice. These individuals may be those who see psychedelic use as a practice—one that is done regularly and intentionally. They may also be higher on agreeableness and may have exposure to N,N-DMT.”
The new paper was authored by a 10-researcher team, including from the University of Wisconsin, University College London, Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospigal, University of California San Francisco and Institut für Psychotherapie Potsdam, in Germany.
A separate study released in 2023 found that people who practiced yoga after consuming marijuana experienced heightened mindfulness and mysticality, indicating that setting and behavior also played an important role in modulating a person’s experience.
The study’s results “generally indicate that what you do while you experience cannabis effects matters,” that paper concluded. “Mirroring psychedelics, this study supports the concept that set and setting during cannabis use may significantly impact the therapeutic benefit of the drug.”
Another study, published last year, found that people who’d used multiple different formulations of psilocybin—including whole mushrooms, mycological extract and a lab-synthesized version—typically preferred whole mushrooms, which they describe as not only more effective but also “more alive and vibrant.”
Another study from last year, which explored the role of psilocybin mushrooms in the evolution of human consciousness, said the psychedelic has the “potential to trigger significant neurological and psychological effects” that could have influenced the development of our species over time.
Meanwhile a recent paper by Johns Hopkins University researchers on the effects of psychedelics found that—contrary to some earlier evidence—a single psilocybin experience isn’t likely to make an atheist believe in God or dispel someone’s sense of free will. It may, however, inspire the belief that animals, plants or even objects like rocks and robots have some sort of consciousness.
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