Intro
For about 3 months, I've spent considerable time and effort learning and gathering meditation resources.
Today was the first day I tried some very light experimentation with dmitri. My mission was to get my bearings on low levels (and how I respond to them) and to start to slowly develop a relationship with the medicine in the process.
Relaxing Into The Set/Setting
My mindset was relaxed but a little anxious of this new experience, particularly as would be doing it by myself without a sitter. You can read until the cows come home, but you don't know until you try it. I performed my various rituals in preparation and burned frankincense (love the stuff!), so the setting was ideal. I ate 4 hours previously, played new age music softly in background. Lights off, with just one candle lit for ambience.
I have zero experience with freebase dimitri. I do however have plenty of experience with ayahuasca in a sacred ceremonial setting. I was really curious to see if there was any similarities.
Getting Ready
I used a Yocan Uni Pro + CCell cart knockoffs, 1:1 mix of 500ml PG and 500mg of slightly yellow spice
The mix gets pretty thick at room temp (it's winter over here) so I have to warm it up a little. Pro Tip - place the cartridge under your armpit for a minute or so and it will get it nice and flowing. No need for fussing around with heaters, blow dryers or hot water : )
So today was a very light toe-dip into the dimitri realm, just to gauge how my body responds to various toke lengths and to build confidence in general. All tokes were straight to lung.
After performing the body relaxation process, I tried a 1 sec toke and 8-10 minutes later, a 2 sec toke holding for 10 seconds. I then I tried a 5 sec toke again holding for 10 seconds. I tried the latter twice and again with an appropriate interval in-between to avoid building on previous tokes. I wanted to see what these toke lengths felt like in isolation.
Short Inhalations
The 1 and 2 second tokes produced an uncomfortable body load, and increased anxiety. Part of me was screaming 'I want out of here' while the other part of me was saying 'just chill and relax'. Body load was heavy vibes and a general weird feeling with minor close-eyed visuals. The anxiety probably has more to do with newbie jitters. The effect lasted for 4-5 minutes. Even with the such a small dose, I was straight away introduced to that 'familiar' feeling, which as surprising at these very low dose levels.
Longer Inhalations
Next was my 5 second tokes. These produced very strong close eyed visuals (CEVs) and body load. The CEVs were very typical serpentine repeating patterns and a strong rushing/vibeing in the body. The CEV were not as strong as my previous ayahuasca experiences, but were very similar in their presentation. Repeating feathers and other organic motifs, geometric patterns, spiraling and serpentine geometries and landscapes.
No interesting or useful insights at this dose.
However, I had a very strong 'familiar' feeling, exactly as I sense on ayahuasca. Hard to describe, but it feels like something ancient, sacred and primal as well as very familiar. Like suddenly remembering that you have an ancient friendship that has spanned aeons.
What was interesting was that both of these tokes showed me a very white wall of a building, but I could not see it in any detail. My view was very close to the wall, so I could not see the building from a distance. It was like the experience was saying 'this is what you will see when you take some more'. The wall was very white and very distinct from the other typical CEV of dimitri. It was like it poked itself into my other visuals I was having.
The body experience was pleasurable. Almost like there was something/someone giving me a full body slightly erotic massage. The geometry was massaging my whole body! I definitely had to breathe through it, it was intense.
Also the music I was playing felt quite distracting. I spontaneously broke into singing my own made-up song and wanted to focus more upon that than the new age music I was listening to.
The first 5 sec toke left me nervous to try again, it had been intense and I was not wanting a full experience today. However, gaining confidence, the second left me wanting more. I had to resist the strong temptation to continue and told myself that the second would be my last toke for the night.
The 5 seconds toke experiences lasted about 8 minutes each.
Conclusions
Couple of notes on the vape. It was a harsher vape smoke than I expected. Started off smooth, but keeping it in for 10 seconds became progressively more difficult. It was not easy to hold the vape in for 10 seconds and I was coughing by the time I was exhaling. It left my lungs feeling uncomfortable. I experimented with Voltage between 2.8 and 3.2 on the Yocan Uni Pro. I think the 3.0 volt was the 'smoothest', but it is too early to tell for sure.
Future experimentation will be with 5 second and 10 second tokes. : )
Finally, on this question of the 'familiar' feeling whilst meditating with dimitri. I'm curious how you would describe that 'familar' feeling? And do you all experience it?