Much emphasis in the psychedelic community has been placed on harm reduction. Behavioral and therapeutic stacking during a microdosing protocol focuses on optimization of the experience.
One of the purposes of the protocol is to break old habits and start new ones. In particular with psilocybin and the presence of nerve growth factor this is of special interest. Because psilocybin is a non-specific amplifier it’s important to give it something to amplify. Rather than coming to the microdose looking to get rid of your depression instead make a list of five things you can do that make you feel happy and do one of those things for half an hour when you take your microdose. That feeling could also be peace or courage but the point is to give them microdose something to amplify when you take it.
Whether you are microdosing psilocybin or Amanita the most common behaviors to stack include yoga, meditation, taking walks in nature, self-care, and creativity with visual and performing arts.
Various forms of therapeutic contact can also be helpful when stacked in a protocol.
For chronic pain stacking massage, chiropractic care and cognitive behavioral therapy can be miraculous.
With CPTSD it can be very useful to stack NLP, hypnotherapy or gestalt coaching because these techniques help resolve emotional conflicts.
For insomnia depth hypnosis, dream work and sleep hygiene practices can be very helpful.
Here are a few of the most common practices to hack the way you feel:
Notice your body: take a breath and notice your body. Notice the surfaces that support you, the floor or the chair that is holding you up. Notice how you were feeling and give it a name. Notice where that feeling is in your body and acknowledge it.
Basic practice: five minutes of silent seated meditation, eyes open or closed, with the focus either on the breath or on the listening. This fundamental exercise allows you to settle into your awareness.
Continuum of awareness: for five minutes simply name what you are noticing, silently or out loud, outside or inside of yourself. this is a powerful exercise to do with a partner who simply listens. This exercise can help you perceive the quality of your own awareness.
Orienting: look around you and notice three similar things. They could all be the same color or the same shape or the same kind of object. This exercise is used for getting present in here and now and can be done without anyone else in the room knowing you’re doing it. The purpose of this exercise is to break whatever trance you are currently in with her that is catastrophize Ing about an imagined future or wallowing in a painful past and get you here, now so you can decide what kind of transept you want to be in.
Heart coherence: close your eyes and take a few deep breaths into your heart. Trigger a memory or an imagination which has a strong positive emotional content. The contents could be love or peace or joy, safety courage or gratitude depending on what it is you are personally working with. The more you practice this exercise the more your endocrine system will physiologically respond to this stimulus.