Microdosing Ayahuasca for Insights

DIY recipe to make at home

How to microdose with ayahuasca Though microdosing LSD and psilocybin is more common, microdosing ayahuasca is also entirely possible and effective. However, taking into account the large variety of ways to prepare the brew and highly individual responses to consumption, determining the specifics of dosage and content is a matter of experimentation.

There are a few options when it comes to making ayahuasca at home. One option is to brew the actual tea, but this method is far from ideal. It’s a skill that should be learned from a master and honed, and the quality of the drink will depend on the freshness of the ingredients. If you prefer to go this route, though, we recommend reading our article on homemade ayahuasca.

An alternative to brewing tea is the pharmahuasca route, or making a pharmaceutical ayahuasca analog. This method is not only less time-consuming; it also allows for the precise measurement of the ingredients.

The first part of the recipe involves using an extracted MAOI, most often one of the three harmala alkaloids found in Banisteriopsis caapi or Syrian Rue: harmaline, harmine, or tetrahydroharmine. The second part is extracted freebase DMT. The MAOI is ingested in a plastic capsule and the DMT is taken some 20 minutes afterward, after soaking in lemon juice for conversion to DMT citrate.

Personal accounts have suggested that vomiting may follow this type of intake.

And some suggest that DMT can also be ingested in a pill as long as the harmala contents are properly dosed

To make a microdose of ayahuasca, you first need to make a full-strength brew. The ingredients necessary for this are as follows:

MAOI

• 50-60g Banisteriopsis caapi leaves, shredded;

• (or) 4-5g Syrian Rue seeds, crushed/ground;

• (or) 100-200mg of extracted harmalas.

DMT

• 25g Psychotria viridis leaves, dried and ground;

• (or) 9g Mimosa hostilis/tenuiflora root bark;

• (or) 20g Acacia acuminata/confusa/phlebophylla leaves/root bark;

• (or) 75mg N,N-DMT.

After creating this brew, it’s up to you to determine the ideal microdose. We recommend starting by drinking between a tenth and twentieth of the total volume of the brew. If you don’t notice anything after several hours, during your next attempt you can slightly increase the dose until the onset of perceptible effects. Once you’ve found that threshold dose, roll it back to just under this threshold for a correct microdose.

As mentioned, ayahuasca’s effects (and side effects) vary in presence and strength among individuals. So, start with a low dose. This approach applies especially to the DMT portion; the vines/MAOIs are the actual healing agent and the microdosing should have a more purposeful role if it is geared toward healing rather than tripping. Omitting the DMT contents for starters and consuming a purely MAOI-based concoction is also encouraged, and it’s in line with shamanic traditions where DMT visions come secondary to the vine’s healing properties. What schedule should I follow? As with dosage, timing should be a matter of preference and one’s individual response. Experts in this area suggest different microdosing regimens, but our microdosing course follows James Fadiman’s system.

Fadiman recommends taking a microdose once every three days: Take a microdose on Day 1. Then, do not take a microdose on Day 2 or Day 3. On Day 4, take another microdose. Continue this process for several weeks. For most people, morning is the best time because the beneficial effects will last throughout the day without interfering with sleep. It’s also helpful to take daily notes in a journal to observe the effects throughout this process and adjust accordingly—or just notice the positive changes.

It’s also important to follow your usual routine while microdosing. The purpose is to enhance your day-to-day existence by integrating microdoses into your routine, so don’t change what you normally do. However, when you try microdosing for the first time, take a day off from work and social commitments. This will give you a chance to notice any unusual effects before microdosing in a more public situation.

While it may seem like you would only feel the effects of the microdose on the days you actually take it, try to observe the effect on the two days between doses, too. Many people perceive increased feelings of flow, creativity, and energy the day after they microdose in addition to the day of microdosing.

Since the effects of ayahuasca are reportedly cumulative, 48 hours should be the minimal repetition interval—we don’t recommend taking it every day.

EFFECTS Pharmacology The ayahuasca tea is brewed using two separate plants: B. caapi and P. viridis. The P. viridis plant contains the single major psychedelic alkaloid, DMT. The B. caapi plant contains the MAOIs that allow DMT to have its psychoactive effect. These MAOIs include harmine, tetrahydroharmine (THH), and harmaline, among others.[4]

The concentration of the alkaloids in brewed ayahuasca tea is several times greater than the plants from which they are prepared. In a 200 ml dose, there is an average of 30 mg harmine, 10 mg THH and 25 mg DMT, though concentrations will vary based on the geographical region and preparation methods.

Ayahuasca is notorious for causing diarrhea and vomiting, which could be a contributing factor to the brew’s healing capabilities—researchers believe psychedelics might change your mind by changing your gut. An imbalanced gut microbiome has been linked to several psychological disorders, including autism, anxiety, and depression—the same issues for which psychedelics are increasingly thought to be a treatment.

The science of microdosing While there has been some recent research on microdosing, we know a lot more about what large doses of psychedelics do to the brain.

Much of what we understand about how psychedelics work involves serotonin, a chemical that is among the brain’s most important neurotransmitters. Serotonin affects nearly everything we do, from how we feel to how we process information. It keeps our brains ticking.

Psychedelics such mescaline share a similar structure to serotonin and mimic the chemical’s effects. This is why these substances have comparable effects to a full dose when microdosed, at least in the most important aspects.