Psychedelic Yoga

The following article originally appeared as an uncopyrighted set of mimeographed sheets sometime during the late 1960’s, which was freely distributed on a limited basis, probably in San Francisco.

Psychedelic Yoga

The Application of Yoga Meditation Techniques to the Use of Psychedelic Sacraments

By Sri Brahmarishi Narad

The fact that psychedelic drugs induce a greater sensitivity to subtle spiritual and psychic energies, and speed up the influx of impressions from deeper levels of consciousness, raises the immediate question of how these energies can be properly understood and handled. Obviously, if these energies are not guided, they can do more harm than good. The application of traditional Yoga meditation techniques while under psychedelic experiences, can provide a constructive solution to this problem.

According to Yoga philosophy, the most spiritual and powerful aspect of man's nature is the faculty of attention or consciousness. The most fundamental aspect of man's free will is the choice as to what he allows his attention to dwell upon. The attention always has to be on something, but we can choose what we allow it to dwell upon.

The goal of all Yoga practices is to discover and directly experience what the attention or faculty of consciousness in man is. The yogi seeks to know that principle by which all else is known. Observing the observer or placing the attention on the attention itself achieves this goal. This may at first seem very abstract and hard to grasp in terms of practical application; but there are workable, time-proven methods for achieving this state of pure consciousness, which when consistently applied and practiced are bound to yield results.

It should be constantly remembered during a psychedelic session that whatever perceptions, thoughts and even hallucinations occur -- they are all the creations of one's own mind and consciousness, and are filtered through one's own instrument of perception. These perceptions are patterns of our own psychic energy. We give energy to whatever thoughts and feelings we allow the attention to dwell upon. Wherever the power of attention is focused, it generates mental and emotional energy in the form of its own lower overtones, thus feeding and energizing the thoughts and emotions that the attention dwells upon. It becomes clear that the key to remaining in control of a psychedelic experience is in controlling the flow of attention. Distracting experiences can be avoided in the first place, and the flow of attention can be properly directed by the use of Raja Yoga techniques of meditation.