Altered States Of Mind

States of Mind Through the 5 Senses Ceremony

Saturday March 8, 4-630pm

In collaboration with Ingrid and Mother

This ceremony explores reaching different or altered states of mind, without using any substances, through the themes of communal presence, nature, and ceremony. The 3 hypotheses that helped form the structure of this event are listed at the bottom. 

General Notes

• Everyone is invited! Please RSVP so we know how many people are coming.

• For the outdoor part of this event, please wear warm boots, double-layer socks and clothing, gloves, hats and winter jacket.  

• Please bring drums if you have them.

• You can park along Butterfield Rd.  

Pre-Event Sacred Fire (3:45-4:00 pm)

• For anyone who wants to chill before the event, you are welcome to come and hangout and help start the fire.   

Outside Ceremony (4:00-5:00 pm)

• Introduction: Mother will begin the event with a mantra and Ingrid will provide a general overview. Vivek will go over the hypotheses. One  objective is to enter into the present moment and joyously feel Nature through all of our senses.  

• We will forage for kindling (for the fire) and pine needles for the tea.  As we harvest and explore we will focus on our senses.  People are encouraged to connect with and touch trees if they wish.  

• Each person will offer kindling to the fire. Mother and Ingrid will share about fire offerings from Hindu and Peruvian cultures.  Then, people will place the pine needles into the pot to make the tea.  

• Around the fire we will practice a very simple drum beat that will be used for the next part. 

• Group Photo

Inside Ceremony (5:00-5:30) 

• One of the objectives is to see if we can experience a different/altered state of mind. 

• We will enter into the darkness of my Basement Of Wonder and we light a few candles so that it is just barely visible (vision)  

• We will drink our tea (taste) and smell sage and/or palo santo (smell)

• We will perform the rehearsed drum beat (sound) and we all drum for 15 minutes (touch)

Discussion (5:30-6:00, then 30+ minutes)

• Discussions are open to anything, including thoughts on the 3 hypotheses

• The initial discussion will end at 6pm…anyone who wants to enter into deeper discussion is welcome to stay for 30 more minutes of exploratory conversation. 

The Hypotheses (we didn’t have time to check the literature, so these hypotheses were organically reached):

• Hypothesis 1: To reach flow state, you have to have some level of competency 

  • To obtain competency, proficiency and comfort, we will rehearse a very simple drum beat before the main session.  

• Hypothesis 2: To reach an altered state, you need some catalyst that makes reality feel different than normal reality. 

  • We will make the environment in the basement such that each of the traditional 5 senses are activated in a different way than usual.  

• Hypothesis 3: Feeling of synchronicity with a community can lead to feeling of oneness and perhaps an altered/different state of mind.  

  • We will drum together, a rehearsed drum beat, with the community in the basement environment that uniquely activates the 5 traditional senses.