Meditation trains the mind to learn to see when it is falling into maladaptive grooves. It doesn’t prevent it, just a raises awareness. Exercise for me seems to shift the baseline mood forward a bit. Kind of feels like my hormones are in the right place after 25 years.

Psychedelics are very different from the other two tho, just like exercise is very different from meditation.

They are all very worthwhile and can help you grow.

Meditation and exercise are best practiced regularly. Psychedelics are best used for singular cathartic events, saved for special occasions.

Psychedelics can change your outlook overnight, while meditation is a more gradual process. Excercise won't really change your outlook palpably, it will just keep you in a better head and body space.

They all can be difficult and rewarding. Its possible to harm yourself with any of them, but generally you come out well ahead if you do them responsibly. They can all make you a better person.

I do think meditation rewires your brain in a way that’s similar to psychedelics (there’s common themes you experience with both, like ego death), but I think it just takes much longer to achieve similar effects. I’d meditated daily for close to a year straight, and while it helped, I didn’t feel like I got anywhere close to how I felt either during tripping (kinda obviously maybe) or after tripping.

That said, while so far psychedelics seem safe, they’re at the very least more logistically “disruptive” than meditation, not to mention social stigmas, difficulty getting them, etc. Meditation does seem like a more sustainable long-term practice.

Some of the above is why I’ve become interested in trying ketamine therapy instead.

I tried to stick to it but I find it kinda hard to.

Exercise never yielded the benefits I sometimes saw in studies for me but every time I manage to motivate myself to do the healthy/sane/right thing against inner resistance, it leads to a small boost in self-respect that accumulates over time.

I didn’t experience any psychedelic effects, but my mood was significantly improved during the weeks after. Anxiety greatly diminished, confidence greatly increased and I for the first time in a few years, I feel like I have a path to conquering my impostor syndrome.

I’m not yet totally comfortable telling my social circle that I’ve been prescribed horse tranquilizers, but I’ve been an immediate convert to the possibilities of these courses of treatment. I can’t say it isn’t psychosomatic or the placebo effect at work, but I’ve been frankly shocked at how quickly it worked for me and how well it has seemed to work.

Good point.

I wonder what kind of interesting experiments could be designed around psychedelics, skilled counsellors & mediators, and people who've ended up with various "extreme" beliefs, political or otherwise.