The Parallels Between Psychedelics and Travel
Psychedelics are having a moment in the field of psychology for the first time since Harvard psychologists Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, later known as Ram Dass, dosed undergrads with LSD in the early 60’s. There is research to suggest that psychedelic assisted psychotherapy can treat depression, anxiety, substance abuse, PTSD, and fear of death among those with terminal illness. While scientists aren’t totally sure how these outcomes are achieved, they suspect that psychedelics work because they help us make new neural connections in the brain.
Do you know what else shakes up the snow glob of our neural networks allowing us to move away from unhelpful habit patterns and make new connections? Yes, travel! Researchers have found that travel can decrease depression, improve happiness, enhance creativity, and even improve your personality.
Mental or physical health contraindications, legal barriers, and availability of trusted practitioners prevent many people from being interested in or accessing psychedelic assisted psychotherapy. Or perhaps like me, you may be terrified of having a bad trip. If so, I have good news! Travel can be a powerful substitute for the intentional use of psychedelics for transformation.
Both psychedelics and travel can offer these same four outcomes:
Expansive mindset which opens our eyes to new possibilities, perspectives, and insights
Reconnection to oneself and one’s values, meaning, and purpose
Transcendent states, experiences of awe, and heightened senses
Empowerment through enhanced confidence and courage
All of these outcomes can be particularly helpful for those feeling hemmed in, adrift, uninspired, or worn down by burnout. You might be thinking, “Hey, I went to Hawaii last year and it was fun but I wouldn’t say it did any of that.” And you might be right! A trip, whether travel or substance induced, can simply be a diversion with little consequence or serve as a catalyst for meaningful and lasting change in our lives. The key is to be intentional with your trip. And we can borrow from the intentional use of psychedelics to support that aim.
The protocol for psychedelic assisted psychotherapy, though not standardized across sites and practitioners, shares commonalities and can be applied to travel to help us achieve transformational experiences. The basic protocol is a three step model:
Preparation–An individual considers what to expect on the upcoming journey, makes plans, and clarifies their goals and intentions.
Exploration–The trip itself; an integral but small part of the overall experience.
Integration–An individual makes sense of their experience and integrates insights into their day-to-day lives.
They say the key to having a good psychedelic trip is having the right “set and setting,” meaning the individual's mindset (shortened to “set’) and their physical environment. Psychologists Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner and Ram Dass popularized the term with the help of their 1964 book The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. They write:
“Of course, the drug dose does not produce the transcendent experience. It merely acts as a chemical key – it opens the mind, frees the nervous system of its ordinary patterns and structures. The nature of the experience depends almost entirely on set and setting.”
Similarly, I believe travel is a behavioral key to open the mind and free the nervous system of its ordinary patterns and structures. The mindset with which you approach travel has as much weight as the setting, i.e. where you go, with whom, and what happens while you’re there.
I’m currently in the Preparation phase of a journey. I’ll be going to South Korea at the end of the month and while it can be tempting to jump into planning logistics, I know the best place to start is mindset. And the best place to start with mindset is clarifying my goals and intentions by defining a clear purpose.
Having a clear purpose–one that is specific and unique to our own needs at this moment in time–allows us to make informed decisions with regard to planning our travels. A well-defined purpose can be a compass for guiding decision making on details both big and small before and during your travels. The clearer your purpose, the more intentional you can be. The more intentional you can be, the more you are likely to get what you need out of your trip.
Here are some questions to drill down and define what you are hoping to achieve with a vacation or time off:
What are you fantasizing about and what does that tell you about your heart’s longing?
Give yourself a moment to close your eyes and imagine your perfect vacation. If money, time, and responsibilities were no barrier, what sounds perfect right now? Get real specific: The fantasies we have can reflect imbalances in our lives. For example, someone who fantasizes about beachside margaritas may be overworked and need more rest and relaxation. If possible, by all means, make that fantasy a reality.
What interests but terrifies you? If fear wasn’t present, what would you do?
When I was 22 one of my coworkers told me that she went to Europe by herself for 3 weeks. I was intrigued, impressed, and mostly intimidated by her story. I distinctly remember saying, “I could NEVER do that. I would cry myself to sleep every night.” And yet, one year later I embarked on a one month solo trip to Europe. If I did cry on that first night, safe in a hostel bunk in Paris, it was from joy and pride in the fact that I somehow made it to the other side of the world all by myself. We are much more capable than we give ourselves credit for.
What is the purpose of your travels? What do you hope to do or receive? In what ways do you hope to be transformed? What else? What else? What else? Is there something even deeper than that?
Try free writing, which is the process of writing down all your thoughts without stopping. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar, or any of the “rules.” Sometimes it helps to ask yourself the same questions over and over again while journaling. After some reflection, come up with a vacation mission statement. It’s okay if it shifts with further reflection or over time. If your mission statement is very vague and could describe the purpose of almost anyone’s vacations, e.g. to travel to x place, have fun and relax, get back to the drawing board. Allow your purpose to be unique as you and your needs are.
Hopefully, with the help of the right mindset, I will have a groovy trip to Korea. I will report back next month. Until then…