What is ‘Mindful’ About Psychedelic Microdosing?

The word mindful is sprinkled throughout the narratives in the psychedelic/sacred Earth medicine space: Be mindful of your intention, be mindful of your set and setting; be mindful of what comes up, are just a few examples.

Then there is the use of mindful activities such as breathing practices, somatic modalities, and meditations that are included in most offerings. All of these are positive additions to any experience and in any moment in life; however, there is usually a very narrow understanding of the full depth and breadth of the meaning of being mindful.

Understanding Mindful Awareness

Sati is a Pali word and the root of the word mindful or mindfulness. It is usually translated into English as awareness. I challenged myself to see if I could replace mindful or mindfulness with the word awareness whenever I saw it used in the psychedelic/sacred Earth medicine spaces.

In every single case, it was not only possible, but it was also the meaning it seemed to convey. Though the awareness brought to your attitude and any experience helps bring deeper self reflection and meaning, I would like to add a broader understanding when using the word mindful.

New Definitions of ‘Mindful’

In my book Teaching From The Heart of Mindfulness, I referenced a few more of the translations from Pali. They included retention, inspection, and reflective awareness. Two others I hold close are: remembering and recollecting. Rather than “Oh, I noticed this!” as a one-off “awareness” or something you notice, inspection and reflective are dynamic processes that we can engage in. Contemplating all these words together, there may be a greater sense of how the reason behind being mindful is to bring us home to our true selves, our essential nature of love and peace.

People speak of an embodied experience of this love and peace in their psychedelic journeys. Understanding that we enter the space of mindfulness to recollect, remember and retain this embodied feeling of love and peace as our source and wellspring from which we can live adds many dimensions to the use of the word mindful. It becomes the grounding and lens of a mindfulness-based approach to microdosing, specifically, and interacting with psychedelics in general.

An invitation to approach mindful microdosing and psychedelics is offered in The Mindful Microdosing Journal, available for pre-order on Amazon.