First and foremost – do not attempt to do this unless you have considerable experience with psychedelics and you feel confident you will be able to deal with what ever comes up.

But why tripsit yourself in the first place?

From my experience, having a solo trip can be an amazing experience. Being alone in a safe environment really allows me to go batshit crazy, just do whatever I feel like, no matter how silly it might feel. Dance, sing, scream, roll on the floor, make strange noises and strange faces, talk to myself and to inanimate objects, etc… I feel like this gives me a kind of freedom that allows me to really immerse myself into the trip and have a much deeper and more wholesome experience.

I’ve had a few experiments with this lately, and I’ve made some observations that I would like to share with the world. This post will probably get updated with time, and I’m really open to feedback, ideas and suggestions. From here on, I’ll try to mention things in the chronological order you will need to take care of them.

Step 1: Preparing yourself – know where you are going and why.

The first and foremost things before every trip should be SETTING YOUR INTENTION. What do you want to get from this trip? Is there a problem in your life that you need help solving? Is it therapeutic? Are you looking for a mystical experience? What are you looking to work on, and what does it require?

Prepare yourself as much as possible for the trip. I usually start thinking about my intention for the trip at least a week earlier, and dedicate at least half a day before the trip to prepare myself. Also, make sure you don’t have any obligations on the day following the trip, so you can relax and slowly come back to reality.

You should plan your set & setting carefully according to the intention you set. If you haven’t already, I strongly recommend going over the article about the 6Ss on The Third Wave.

Step 2: Preparing your tools – make sure you have everything you need.

From now on I’m gonna get really technical, so bear with me. The most important principle in all the preparations is that you have to set up as many things as possible before the trip. The idea behind this is that DURING THE TRIP YOU WANT TO BE THINKING AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE ABOUT ANYTHING NOT DIRECTLY RELATED TO YOUR EXPERIENCE. You have to be able to just throw yourself into the psychedelic abyss in a safe and welcoming space that doesn’t require you to think or make decisions about anything else.

Emergency sitters: Even though your intention is to tripsit yourself, have at least 2-3 people you trust know that you are going to be tripping on your own, and ask them to periodically send you a message checking up on you. Let them know that you will reply only if anything goes wrong, so if you don’t reply – they should assume you are doing fine.

You don’t want to be thinking about “oh, they must be worried, I have to let them know I’m fine.”, but on the other hand, if you are having a difficult experience, you don’t want to have to go over your contacts to find the person you need. That way you can quickly find someone to talk to in case of emergency.

Also, I recommend having a different messaging app for your closer friends. For example, I only have close friends are on Telegram, so that I don’t have to think whether the person that sent me a message is someone I can talk to right now or not – I simply know by the app I got the message on.

You might want to schedule to meet someone during the comedown, in case you might want some company or someone to help you process your experience (probably invite them over). Make sure it’s someone you really trust and feel comfortable with, not someone you might have any kind of tensions with (like someone you are dating\have a crush on etc.).

Preparing your phone: Although some people refrain from taking their mobile phone on the trip with them, I feel like it can be a great tool, but you have to make a few adjustments before going into the trip.

First, have very accessible shortcuts to Flight/Airplane Mode and to your Voice Recorder. Your phone should be in Flight Mode most of the time, but you want to be able to turn it off easily in case you have to contact somebody. The Recorder is amazing if you want to record things for yourself to listen after the trip, or maybe just because it helps you feel more comfortable talking to yourself. I’ve found that recording stuff for myself to listen later can be really helpful, even though sometimes it’s a little hard to interpret. 🙂

Last thing about the phone – Turn off all the screen locks and passwords. You don’t want to be struggling with them when you really need to talk to someone or record some profound thought you are having.

Music: I feel like music has a very large role while tripping. Prepare a playlist in advance with the music you would like to accompany you. It doesn’t have to be perfect and as you get more experienced, it will be easier for you to pick the right music for the right times, but either way I believe the default should be to have music playing in the background, as it can really enrich your experience.

Art: This goes 2 ways – First of all, I really enjoy having stuff to look at during the trip. Last time I downloaded a bunch of images by Android Jones (also the artist behind the blog art) and set them up in a slideshow on my screen. I felt like interacting with them really contributed a lot to my trip. At some point I stopped on one image that I really liked and it was great.

The second thing with art is – have some artsy equipment available for you. I don’t usually draw, but when I put a sketchbook and a bunch of colors on the table in my tripping space, I found myself drawing a lot and really enjoying myself, try it! Don’t stop just at drawing – you can prepare some musical instruments or any other types of arts and crafts you think you might enjoy.

Psychedelic First Aid: In case your trip becomes difficult, you might want to have something to help you with it, or in case a friend comes, you might want them to have some reference. There’s the Zendo manual free on the internet, The Manual for Psychedelic Care and there’s the psychedelic first aid section in Fadiman’s Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide, as well as a bunch of other info on the web. Print it out, or put a bookmark in the book where you need it and keep it in the most accessible place possible. Sure, chances are you won’t need it, but better be safe than sorry.

Step 2: Preparing the space – create a psychedelic playground.

The space you prepare for yourself must be safe, practical and simple. I recommend only doing solo tripping at home, but if you feel comfortable and safe enough out in nature – go ahead. You want as many things accessible to you, but you don’t want to have too many things accessible to you. Basically, think ahead of all the things you might need. Even if there a really small chance you might want something, make sure to keep it around and accessible.

Setting up the room(s): Clear a large and comfortable space. Make sure you have room to move, dance or whatever you might feel like doing. Make sure you have accessible routes to anything you might need, and make the as safe as possible. Minimize the risk of tripping on stuff (pun not intended) by making 1 clear route to any place you need. Also, having just 1 route means you don’t have to think about which route to take (part of your quest of making as little decisions as possible!).

Food: You want to have food accessible to you in case you go hungry, but you also have to keep in mind the kind of food that you want to have available. I like putting some fruit in a very accessible place, so that I can snack on them freely, and then put some heavier stuff in a little farther position. Also, make sure you have all the tools you need to eat what you have prepared for yourself.

For example, I had bread available to me so that I have something to fill my stomach if I feel really hungry, but I put it far enough from the “center” of my trip space so that I won’t just munch on it for no reason. You don’t want to be thinking about what is there to eat and where, just put the things you might want somewhere close.

Water: Have some water available to you. Then, have some more water. You don’t want to be dealing with taps or water dispensers or whatever – just have enough water available to you for the entire trip.

Bathroom: I feel a little silly mentioning that, but better safe than sorry – make sure you bathroom is clean enough for you and you have enough toilet paper. Yet another thing you don’t want to be worrying about.

Doors and going out: Think you might you want to go out? Think someone might be coming to visit you at some point? Prepare for it. Put your shoes as close as possible to the door so you don’t have to go looking for them. Don’t lock your door with the key, but with the chain or whatever you have – it’s much easier to open and close, and you don’t have to go looking for keys.

Make sure you have everything you might need, but also get all the distractions and things you won’t need out of the way!

Step 3: Make is special!

I think this is a great rule for every trip, but when I’m tripping on my own I feel like it’s extra important – make it special. Turn it into a ritual. Make your tripping space a sacred space, a temple. Don’t just drop the acid or munch the shrooms and then go off to scroll your facebook feed during the come up. Here’s a few things I do to make it special, they might sound silly, I know, but I find that they really make the experience special.

I like starting my trips in the morning, so that I wake up, make some final preparations and go off into the unknown, so that I don’t have time to think about facebook, e-mails, text messages etc.

Light some incense: Since I never do this in my day to day, going around the trip space with an incense stick it really makes it feel unique, like I’m preparing the space for something special.

Have a conversation with yourself and\or the substance: Really, just talk, out loud. Say your expectations, intentions and fears out loud, expressing any thoughts you have about the trip really helps reinforcing your intention going into the trip. Use this to remind why you are doing this and to tell yourself to surrender and be prepared to go wherever the trip takes you.

Meditate: I meditate before ingesting the substance as well as during the come up – I feel it really helps me get in the right mood.

And always remember –

Whatever comes up, move into it.

That’s it, this is what I have so far. Hope you guys find it useful,

Keep safe and make the very best out your experiences, even the difficult ones!

APPENDIX A: Reddit feedback

There are some awesome guys at /r/psychonaut who gave my a bunch of awesome feedback. I’ve tried to collect the most important stuff here. Thanks guys, love you! (Full discussion here)

Elaborations on “whatever comes up, move into it”:

/u/magistrate:”Don’t try to pull away from what the psychedelic experience presents. There is nowhere to pull away to, your entire world becomes enmeshed in the experience. Embrace it for what it is. There is a reason it came up.”

/u/glimpee: “The greatest key in my experience is recognizing that its all me and I’m always in control, but my mind no longer recognizes some of my boundaries (if not most of them) and causes my inner self to put itself in my reality. To have me percieve a situation in a way that will show me whats holding me back, scaring me, or making me worried.

If, when that happens, I simply move into it, as in accept that its part of me and begin to work on it consciously, respecting what my subconscious told me, its goes away instantly.

And then the rest of the night gently reminds me, and if I take that perspective into sobriety, I uncover long and deeply hidden wounds, and I begin to heal.

I suspect many go through a similar process, as I’m sure you have, but many haven’t as well, and they might benefit from a reminder. The challenge is doing that without only speaking to one type of perspective though, isn’t it?”

General comments:

/u/wotonamobae: “One rule always served me well, as someone that’s never used a trip setter and prefer to always trip alone in head w music. “It’s all bullshit.” No matter what tangent your mind gets drawn into, or what things seem to appear, or what worries you have… it’s all bullshit and will fade.

This assumes your setting is safe in the first place of course.”

/u/smallrisktaker: “I think this is missing pretty much the most important tip for maintaining psychological well being: telling myself I’m safe. Knowing how to recognize when fears start cropping up and how to safely de-escalate those situations before they spiral out of control.. and knowing, beforehand, that my bedroom is a safe haven, and that nothing can ACTUALLY hurt me, no matter what comes up in the trip, is key to having a safe trip.

Also preparing a vomit bucket just in case, and knowing the steps of exactly how to dispose of it (you don’t want fresh vomit stinking up your room) because you will probably forget what vomit is.”