Gabriel Mohr

is spreading positivity and conscious information!

On Oxytocin

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Quick Facts

-Oxytocin is our love chemical! It makes us feel amazing, it enhances trust and empathy with our partner, it stabilizes our overall psychological stability, trust, and relaxation levels, it reduces behaviors infidelity, particularly with women who have a lot of interactions with strangers of the opposite sex… And more!

-Oxytocin can encourage favoritism and prejudice, envy and dishonesty! If we love one, we are more than likely to feel the opposite towards another.

Intro

Oxytocin is becoming much more popular and well-known as time goes on! It’s considered the love hormone because of how it’s produced, however, I’ll love to shed some light on what it does and how it’s very good for us.

What Is Oxytocin?

Oxytocin is a hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter. It’s often considered to be connected with love and pleasure, and it’s produced in the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. 

What Does It Do?

It does a lot of things for us:

-It’s in the same ballpark as serotonin, dopamine, and your endorphins in the sense that it makes you feel amazing! Oxytocin is a pleasure chemical, and that’s one of the main reasons I’m writing about it right now 🙂

-It has many positive effects on our relationships including enhanced trust, empathy, positive relationship memories, getting to it, and positive communication with your partner.

-It greatly increases our overall psychological stability, trust, and relaxation levels. It definitely reduces stress and anxiety in our bodies!

-Oxytocin helps us be more sociable, and it may help autistic people to be more socially aware. That’s pretty cool!

-A healthy level of oxytocin helps the mother through labor, and it greatly helps the mother bond with her baby. It’s released when the baby attaches to her breast, which releases the milk.

-A healthy level of oxycontin in the father encourages him to point out certain objects to the baby and encourage them to explore.

-It probably encourages males to keep a greater distance from attractive strangers and engage in social/sexual activities with their partner, which makes them feel good, thus creating a behavior loop.

-Oxytocin reduces behaviors associated with infidelity, particularly with women who have a lot of interactions with strangers of the opposite sex. 

-It decreases the novelty of interacting with a stranger. I’ve personally experienced this!

-Oxytocin can encourage favoritism and prejudice, envy and dishonesty. This makes sense since we associate certain people and activities with feeling good, and we can treat the activities and/or people that don’t make us feel good as if they “have to be dealt with” so that we can get back to feeling good. This can be remedied with understanding that we can produce oxytocin and other feel-good chemicals whenever we want with meditation!

How Can We Produce More of It?

That’s a lot of positives when compared to the other pleasure chemicals! So, if we feel like we want more of it, how do we get it?

Romantic interactions with a singular partner seem to be the best way to do this, although I wouldn’t be surprised if those of you who are in open relationships experience oxytocin as well! Cuddling, engaging in conversation, doing things together, and sex are all ways to increase both of your oxycontin levels. Having children and bonding with them is also a great way to produce oxytocin!

You can produce it through meditation, and particularly while thinking the thought, “I choose to produce more oxytocin” over and over again. I personally vouch for this because I’ve been doing it all day today, and it’s been working!

Yoga, listening to and making music, massages, spending time with friends, empathetic and deep conversations, cooking and eating (healthy) food with the partner you love, doing nice things, and petting animals all increase our oxytocin levels 🙂

Final Thoughts

I wouldn’t be surprised if oxytocin is the feeling of love that everyone wants to feel! What’s interesting to me is that we can feel it on our own without anyone else if we want to, and perhaps this is a way to revive relationships that are sinking – that is, both partners individually choose to produce more oxytocin with themselves and each other on a consistent basis. It’s very important for well-being anyways, even if you’re single 🙂

Conclusion 

Thank you for reading my article! I’m deeply grateful that you’re joining me today and swimming in the sea of knowledge, and I’ll see you in the next post!

Sources

This post was written with some help by:

Healthline, twice!

On Endorphins

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 Quick Facts

-Endorphins work as a “natural morphine,” relieving pain and making you feel good! Producing a healthy level of endorphins is extremely healthy and helpful for our well-being!

-Exercise, sex, dancing, laughing, meditation, and more produce a higher level of endorphins!

Intro

People love to talk about serotonin and dopamine, but endorphins and oxytocin get left behind more often than I like! Since they help us feel good (and give a variety of other benefits) I’ll be shedding some light on them today!

What Are Endorphins? 

Let’s start with the word “endorphin” itself. It comes from putting together the words “endogenous,” meaning from within the body, and “morphine,” which is an opiate pain reliever, together! Since endorphins are the “original morphine” they attach to the opiate receptors, the same receptors that are targeted with opioid drugs. Isn’t that interesting? I think it is.

This doesn’t mean endorphins are bad for you, quite the contrary. Our bodies wouldn’t produce them if they harmed us! 

What Purpose Do They Serve?

While we don’t understand endorphins as much as we want to, we know they make us feel amazing. They’re a reward chemical like dopamine, and feeling a healthy amount of euphoria contributes to alleviated depression, reduced stress and anxiety, a higher level of self-esteem, reducing your weight, and helping you with pregnancy and childbirth. 

If we don’t have a healthy level of endorphins in our body we can expect the opposite of what I’ve mentioned above, and we can add impulsive behavior into the mix as well… While the role of the endorphin seems very simple, it’s very important, and I recommend producing more of them if you feel down more often then you should.

How Can We Produce More Of Them?

And now for the best part! 

Exercise and sex are two big producers of endorphins, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re the most effective ways to produce endorphins ever! 

Dancing, laughing, and getting a massage is right up there as well. If I didn’t laugh as much as I did I’d be a lot less healthy than I am today! 

Meditating, creating art, acupuncture, saunas, and aromatherapy do the trick as well, especially if this is what you’re into! I can personally say meditation works, especially when combined with the conscious choice to produce more endorphins (repeating “I choose to produce more endorphins” over and over again).

Try eating something spicy, spicy foods can help.

And, you can volunteer. If you try this and it helps you out I recommend being with more people who are of your kind, that will most likely help as well 🙂

Final Thoughts

While fairly unknown and simple, I feel like endorphins play a critical role in our wellbeing, and that they’re right up there with serotonin and dopamine. Perhaps they’re psychologically-based like dopamine, perhaps not, but either way, producing more of them on a consistent basis is easy and healthy enough!

I’ve also been thinking about physical health in relation to mental health, and it seems like some of us think we’re mentally unhealthy when our cure can be started at the biological level. Perhaps we’re mentally and physically unhealthy, but my thought is that starting from the ground up and producing more serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins first before going to the mental side of things may be a good idea; I almost wish I did that instead of the other way around.

Conclusion 

Thank you so much for reading! I’m glad you’re here and learning along with me, I’ll see you in the next article 🙂

Sources 

This post was written with some help by:

Healthline

The Physical Effects of LSD

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Quick Facts

-LSD increases communication within the different networks in our brains! 

-LSD is extremely neuro-regenerative, even more so than psilocybin!

-We can reduce the potential risk of consuming LSD by taking the necessary precautions!

Intro

LSD is one of the main psychedelics we have access to in America, and many a report has been made about its wonderful effects! Personally, I’ve experienced a huge relief in depression after ingesting LSD for the first time, and it’s prompted me to write about it and share it with you!

I’ve always wondered what the physical effects of LSD are. Many people who write about it online put an unnecessary and untruthful negative spin on it, so I’m going to enjoy clearing everything up and finding the truth of the matter!

LSD Makes Us Trip

Those of us who have firsthand knowledge of the effects of LSD may even be wondering why I’m writing this post in the first place! After all, the mental effects of LSD are so positive and so profound (even the “bad trips”) that only talking about them almost always justifies its usage. 

It makes us trip, we begin to see the world through an “enhanced color filter,” we can see fractals when we close our eyes, maybe even the white light at times. We interact with people with an extremely amazing attitude, and when we meditate on LSD, what we experience can definitely be described as enlightening.

But What About The Physical Effects?

Perhaps you’re like me and you’re wondering, “how does it affect my body, anyway?”

We know some things, but not as much as we’d like to. There are some surface effects such as pupil dilation, reduced appetite, wakefulness, sweating, increased blood pressure/heart rate, tremors, and nausea. I always eat a hearty meal before taking LSD and I’ve never felt sick, so I’m not sure how often you would actually experience nausea unless you’re afraid and the fear makes you queasy.

LSD decreases communication in parts of the brain that make up the Default Mode Network, and the DMN is a collection of hub centers that actively work to control and repress consciousness. On the same note, it increases communication between areas of our brain that don’t normally communicate, and over time it can set up new entire connections!

It activates our serotonin receptors, specifically the 5-HT2A subtype, and it “happens to be even better at activating serotonin receptors than serotonin itself, so it essentially increases the normal levels of signaling by serotonin…” It temporarily disables your brain’s serotonin security guards by increasing the level of active 5-HT molecules. It does this by disaffecting your autoreceptors, and the autoreceptors are a safety feature in the brain that reduces levels of certain neurotransmitters, etc. So, not only does it activate our serotonin receptors, it encourages the releasing of more serotonin and changes the receptors (the “keys” so to speak) to be “more receiving!”

It encourages neuroplasticity by increasing the number of dendritic spines on cortical neurons, as shown in the figure below! Loss of these structures is closely associated with depression and other disorders, and the strengthening of these structures is associated with the opposite! The same study found that “the frequency and strength of neural currents were increased for many hours after the psychedelic compounds had been removed.”

LSD creates a tolerance that lasts for roughly 3 days. It usually creates a cross-tolerance with other psychedelics, particularly psilocybin. I personally recommend giving yourself at least 2 weeks to mentally process the experience, or as you deem fit for you. Also, it stays in your body for roughly 1 day.

No, LSD does not stay in your spinal fluid. No, it probably will not make you crazy. Sometimes it can quicken the maturity of a latent mental illness, especially schizophrenia, so I recommend checking yourself and your family history for such illnesses before ingesting it, otherwise, you’re going to be fine with a proper set, setting, and dose 🙂

And lastly, I’ve had a very hard time finding any negative side effects! I’ve been keeping an eye out for a few years and, granted, I’ve seen some bad trip stories, but nothing credible that suggests LSD hurts your physical body. Even overdosing can sometimes have a good outcome, although I do not recommend overdosing! Please, take 60-100mc (1 or 2 tabs) for your first time 🙂

Great! Why Not Take It More Often? 

You may be thinking, “if LSD helps our body so much, why aren’t we ingesting it more often?!”

This is a great question, and there are a few reasons why. It’s illegal, it’s a fairly unknown substance, it hasn’t received the research it deserves, and buying it off of the street can result in ingesting something that isn’t LSD.

I’ve already gone into the absurdity of the law when it comes to psychedelics in my psilocybin post, so I’ll keep it brief here. LSD remains a Schedule I, meaning it has no recognized therapeutic benefits, even though many studies have proven the opposite. The police do not do their research on psychedelics and turn the other cheek when they see someone with LSD/DMT/psilocybin, etc. Therefore, my conclusion is that it’s best to grow/make/obtain these substances and do them behind the government’s back as much as possible, because they clearly do not care about or support our wellbeing in this regard, and because it’s (most likely) healthy for you.

As far as being unknown, information spreads rapidly anymore. I recommend sharing this post with everyone you know, especially if they’re doubters, and show them the scientific studies that prove LSD has therapeutic benefits!

While we haven’t researched it as much as we want to, we’ve done quite enough as it is. We can also fill the gap by talking with people who have taken the substance themselves because they’ll (more than likely) remember the positive experience and/or positive change, even if they had a “bad trip.”

Lastly, the most grounded danger (in my opinion) is buying LSD off of the street and taking it without testing it. Making LSD is quite difficult and involved, so it’s probably impractical to do it yourself, however, buyer beware – you might be purchasing something that isn’t genuine LSD, and I’ve even heard stories of LSD being laced with stuff like meth and crack. That’s why I highly encourage you to buy from people you love and trust and/or test your LSD with an inexpensive test kit.

Final Thoughts

While all of this may sound complicated, I feel as if LSD is something worth striving to obtain and ingest along with psilocybin and DMT. The physical benefits are stellar, the mental benefits are incredible, they’re simply great things to put into your body… With the proper set and setting recommended!

Like I mentioned in the psilocybin post, I’m a little scared of putting the law in a negative light when it comes to psychedelics, but the truth will be told – I don’t care if their intentions are malicious, indifferent, or if they’re simply unaware, I’m not going to let them keep these things in the dark if I can help it!

Conclusion

Thank you so much for reading my article! I’m truly grateful that you’re here, and I hope this information helped you in one way or another. I’ll see you in the next post!

Sources

This post was written with some help from:

Wikipedia

The Third Wave

Reddit User ‘Gaywallet’

The Beckley Foundation

Way of Leaf

IFLScience!

The Physical Effects of Psilocybin

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 Quick Facts

-Psilocybin has been proven to regenerate our brains and be very beneficial to our bodies!

-The mental effects of psilocybin are often seen as incredibly healing and eye-opening, among other things!

-We can reduce the potential risk of consuming psilocybin by taking the necessary precautions!

Intro

Psilocybin is the psychoactive molecule found in ‘certain’ mushrooms that some of us consume! It’s been the initiator of many psychedelic, loving, playful, transformative experiences that often permanently change people’s lives for the better.

However, something I’ve wanted to know for a long time is how the chemical physically affects our bodies. I’ve come across some information over the years but I’ve purposely withheld from researching until I decided to write this post. Let’s go on an adventure together, shall we?

Magic Mushrooms Are Best Known For… 

…their mind-blowing effects! These kinds of mushrooms are special in the sense that they can show us some very deep and wonderful parts of the mind, and because they can show us what enlightenment is really all about. I wouldn’t be surprised if 50 years of meditation cannot bring any of us to the kind of enlightenment that 5 grams of magic mushrooms produce, although I haven’t meditated for 50 years so I can’t confirm from first-hand experience 😉

I say ‘can’ because psilocybin mushrooms don’t do the enlightening for you – you do. The experience just helps you a little bit, kind of like a mushroom in Mario Kart. You get a good boost but you still drive around the track yourself.

But, How Does Psilocybin Biologically Affect Us?

I argue that the physical effects of psilocybin are just as important as the mental experience itself! Partly, of course, because the ingestion of the physical molecule is the reason the experience happens in the first place. 

It’s interesting because, when we ingest psilocybin, our body turns it into another chemical called psilocin. Psilocin has almost the exact same molecular structure as serotonin, so you can guess what happens when our body converts psilocybin to psilocin – it attaches itself to our serotonin receptors, specifically the 5-HT2A receptor. It has to pass through the blood-brain barrier to do this, and it also invites itself right into your bloodstream.

This is the moledule structure of serotonin
These are the molecule structures of psilocybin and psilocin

Psilocybin mushrooms generally feel good to consume, like how it feels good to produce a balanced amount of serotonin. This seems to be the nature of the chemical itself! Also, psilocybin has been proven to initiate neurogenesis and neuroplasticity which helps depressed people since their neurogenesis and neuroplasticity are often impaired. These two reasons are good enough to assert psilocybin as an alternative to SSRIs for curing depression, and this assertion is not farfetched in the least! I speak from personal experience 😉

It’s well-known that they make your blood pressure increase for a short time, so beware if you’re ingesting psilocybin with high blood pressure. Fear makes your blood pressure increase, so relaxing before and during consumption is very ideal, and I recommend avoiding high doses (or perhaps, psychedelic mushrooms entirely) if you have chronic blood pressure problems until you do some research. 

It amplifies all of our senses, including our physical senses, which is great for doing physical activities!

You may experience nausea when you eat psychedelic mushrooms. Eating a raw vegan diet 3 days before the experience and eating nothing the day of the experience greatly lessens the possibility of being sick!

This is all I can find, but to be honest, the fact that psilocybin has physical effects that are this amazing along with the mental and emotional benefits is astonishing to my eyes! It really makes me wonder why we haven’t accepted these little things like we’ve accepted oranges and apples, with a little more caution, of course.

If It’s That Good, Why Don’t We Ingest It Regularly? 

That’s a good question, especially if we’re depressed and the conventional methods aren’t working for us. 

The primary reason, from what I can tell, is because it simply isn’t in our minds or part of our intentions. And beyond that, even if we’ve heard of the amazing effects of psilocybin we may be suspicious of whether or not it’s actually good for us.

The secondary reason is that they’re illegal. Many of us respect the law a little too much and don’t give much thought to the possibility that they don’t know what’s best for us, and so even if we properly inform ourselves as to the amazing effects of psilocybin we may be afraid of getting caught and thrown in jail.

As far as the first point is concerned, it’s no longer a question or a theory – it’s a fact that psilocybin is healthy and helpful for our brains and bodies! Most of the sources I cite below are based on real, credible scientific studies that were carried out just to obtain an unbiased view of the effects of psilocybin. Almost all of them are positive and end with something like “more research is needed in this field,” which is a lot better than “we should never test the effects of psilocybin ever again since they’re harmful to the human body.”

And for the second point, this is often where I become angry – the government keeps psilocybin, LSD, and DMT as schedule I-C substances, and Schedule I-C drugs have “…a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.” Psychonauts already understand the ways in which we can safely ingest these substances, and I’ve explained how we can safely integrate psychedelics into our society here, so they shouldn’t be illegal whatsoever.

However, since they keep them on schedule I status many people assume that these are just more drugs that should be avoided. Many people view psychedelics with a suspicious eye simply because the government, who aren’t necessarily the smartest people, have a certain opinion about them.

Not to mention that if a cop sees you with mushrooms they’ll probably just throw you in jail, they usually don’t stop to think that “gee, since psychedelic mushrooms are good for you and healthy for your body, and since the law should is wrong in this regard, maybe I should turn the other way.” They want to make detective or otherwise uphold the law with no questions asked, and if you can be a stepping stone to their goal they won’t mind in the slightest.

This is where intelligence comes in. Since most of us benefit from ingesting psilocybin we should do everything we can to do so behind the government’s back. It’s kind of like snatching and eating a cookie from your parent’s cookie jar – you have to do it before they see you or else you’ll get in trouble! Grow your own mushrooms, know your local area, know your local police routines (where they go and when, and where they don’t go), take them when you’re least likely to get caught. Why? Because the people who outlawed psychedelics probably did it for nefarious reasons, reasons that we don’t need to adhere to today. We’re adults who can make our own decisions, and I encourage you to make the decision that’s best for you!

I say “most of us” because people who are mentally ill (or who have a family history of mental illness) and people with high blood pressure/cardiovascular problems probably shouldn’t ingest psilocybin. I recommend getting tested if you’re suspicious of one or the other, otherwise, if you’re a healthy person you’re going to be okay 🙂

Final Thoughts 

I apologize for the (probably unnecessary) rant about the law, I’m sick and tired of their corrupt and detrimental ways. 

When it comes to buying psychedelic mushrooms I would be very, very careful. Many people who sell them are shady and afraid of getting caught, I encourage you to only buy them from somebody you trust, love, and respect, otherwise, I encourage you to grow them yourself.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading! I’m so excited that you chose to learn about psilocybin, if you’re curious about other psychedelic substances you can read my post on DMT! See you in the next one!

Sources

Psychedelic Review

Medium

The Beckley Foundation

Dr. Michele Ross

Super FunGuy

Duffy’s Rehab

On DMT

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Quick Facts

-DMT is an important molecule, and it has benefited many people in the past!

-We don’t know for sure whether or not we produce DMT within our bodies, although some experts have used logic and their knowledge of biology to deduce that we do!

-We can reduce the potential risk of consuming DMT by taking the necessary precautions!

Intro

Dymethaltriptamine, otherwise known as DMT, is quite the important molecule! There is a mix of controversy, positive stories, and interesting stories surrounding DMT so I’ll enjoy clearing everything up as much as I can!

What Is DMT, and What Is Its Function?

DMT is a molecule that’s found in many different types of plants because it helps reduce herbivory, which is the consumption of plants by animals. DMT is a defense mechanism for the plant to prevent too many of their kind from being consumed too quickly. 

That’s great and all, but what does that mean for us? 

Well, we humans have been ingesting this molecule for thousands of years in the form of ayahuasca! Ayahuasca is a plant that’s made into a psychoactive drink by combining the plant (since it contains DMT) and a plant (such as marplan) that acts as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) together. The purpose of DMT in this context was to have spiritual experiences that people describe as wonderful, healing, intense, amazing, and life-changing. And also, because we probably produce the chemical in our bodies without any assistance from these plants!

Let’s start with my latter assertion first… The controversy of whether or not we naturally produce DMT in our own bodies has been going on for a long, long time, so I went into the wonderful world of the internet to find some answers either way!

I found this post and it introduced this study. They figured out that the rat brain is able to synthesize and produce DMT, and that it was being produced from several parts of the brain including the neocortex and the hippocampus. They came to the conclusion that “DMT is produced naturally from neurons of the mammalian brain and may contribute to some aspects of higher-order brain functions (such as conscious information processing, or learning/memory, etc), though much remains to be explored experimentally.”

Mighty interesting… But even still, no one has directly confirmed that DMT is naturally produced in our bodies other than Borjigin who I quoted above. Borjigin was experimenting with rats, however, and though many have used logic and their knowledge of biology to confirm that DMT is produced in our brains it hasn’t been scientifically confirmed as of the publish date of this post.

As A Psychedelic

Then we have DMT as a psychedelic. Some of us drink the ayahuasca brew and some of us smoke it, but either way, it’s been said that it’s the most powerful psychedelic on the planet, especially when it’s smoked. 

There have been reports of people talking to our ancestors and/or higher beings, seeing and feeling intense geometry, going underground, going to a circus-like setting, and having life-changing experiences. Everyone, and I mean everyone, I’ve come across who took DMT conveys an extremely positive message with tones of love and playfulness, almost as if they felt something so positive and so intense that they just had to share it with me!

This is mostly why DMT is so special. Sure, we may produce it in our bodies and we may be able to produce extra through natural means, but the real meat and potatoes is consuming it from the outside; it’s so powerful and so transformative that it goes far beyond any state provided by open-mindedness, meditation, or religion – and these kinds of states and experiences can be very powerful, too!

Unfortunately, the government (probably) knows this and they keep it illegal. I’m fact, I’m legally obligated to tell you that I do not advocate the use of this substance and that this information is for education and risk-reduction purposes only. Isn’t that sad? Isn’t it sad that the government makes a part of nature illegal (most likely) because they understand it exposes their scheme right down to the very core? I’m disappointed in the people who call DMT a “drug” that has “side effects,” it’s one of the best ways to heal yourself mentally and physically. You don’t get a hangover and you don’t experience any undesirable side effects after smoking it, 99.99% of the time it’s a positive experience that everyone will benefit from doing at least once in their lifetime.

Do We Benefit From This, Or Should We Leave DMT Alone?

DMT is very beneficial to your wellbeing, especially if you’re reading this post, and especially if you have the proper set and setting. The more open-minded, conscious, and able to surrender you are the more effective DMT/ayahuasca will be, and if you combine your set with a good setting (by yourself or with a conscious friend indoors or outdoors in a safe place) you’ll probably have a very good experience.

Also, it’s worth researching and/or getting involved in the search to find if we naturally produce it in our brains. If we do, and if we can produce an increased amount via meditation (like with serotonin) then we’ll be able to go on our own “mini-trips” without any interference from the law.

In my opinion, DMT should only be left alone if you’re afraid of the government’s hand unless you consciously intend to overcome your fear. Generally, this kind of fear is what makes DMT not so effective, and sometimes civil disobedience is exactly the right thing to do.

Final Thoughts 

I wish to mention once more that we’ve been ingesting DMT for thousands of years, and we’re still alive as a species! I also want to argue that our disconnection with DMT and psychedelics, in general, is part of the reason we’re suffering so much around the world. These aren’t party drugs that give you side effects and potentially ruin your life – psychedelics (especially the natural ones like psilocybin, DMT, peyote, etc), when used properly, give you a quality of life that cannot be overstated. And a species that takes psychedelics as a group is a species that is enlightened and capable/willing to work as a team towards a regenerative goal – that is survival, expansion, and enjoyment.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading my article! I’m slightly afraid the law is going to come after me for this one, but I will tell the truth no matter what!

I’ll see you in the next post!

Sources 

This post was written with some help by;

PsyPost

Evergreen

Nature