Setting

Setting, a concept developed by Timothy Leary, refers to the physical environment in which psychedelics are consumed. This is distinct from priming, which relates to the mental state before drug administration. While initially applied in psychedelic research, these concepts have also proven useful in studying the effects of substances like alcohol, heroin, Ritalin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and crack cocaine. The key idea behind setting is that the location where a drug is taken can influence its effects, possibly through psychosomatic mechanisms.

Best Practice setting

Extensive medical research has been conducted to establish what are the best conditions for a psychedelic experience. Highlighted areas to address include:

• 

  Figure 1. By increasing external stimulation there is a narrower effect on the brain.
  Music - induces relaxation and stress reduction whilst giving a time dependent medium for emotional expression. However, listening to music decreases entropy and potentially the overall therapeutic effect (see Figure 1).
• Lighting - most prefer psychedelic sessions at night and some it strange to start a ceremony at midday. It has been found that using a blindfold to reduce ambient light increases the intensity of the psychedelic experience.
• Physical attributes of the medicine - much like placebo, size, colour, smell; all contribute to the effect.
• Fasting - to ensure pharmacokinetic stability, patients should fast for an average of 2-4 h (except water).
• Singing - singing, whistling or drumming elicits oxytocin production a neurohormone enhancing calming and social bonding.

Pre

To reiterate, to get on the correct trajectory and enhance the therapeutic effect of psychedelic medicine, priming is of the utmost importance: "Have an objective, don't just go in to get fucked because you will. A great goal is to let go of anger and sadness and to be reminded of beauty and happiness" - Sting

During

Figure 2. How to let go during a psychedelic experience.

Remember to let go, the psychedelic experience will temporarily dissolve the neural pathways which make up how you perceive the world around you. However, it is easy to forget this and feel as if YOU are physically dissolving into the world around you (see Figure 2). Occasionally, time distorts however, remember that it will be over. No matter what, you aren't going to die, you aren't going to go mad and the effects are not permanent.

Integration

Integration is the time immediately after the psychedelic experience, it is seen as a closing window of opportunity to integrate new thought patterns into the software of the brain. By employing various technique during the integration period specific positive effects of psychedelic use can be maintained.

Setting Modulation

Once the basics as above have been covered, it is possible to experiment on an individual basis, below is a list of Psychedelic Visualisation Modulators which can be used to explore the psychedelic effect on the visual field.

Psychedelic Visualisation Modulators

Link	Summary	Settings	Interactive
Hop Along	A never ending orbits visualizer. Use keys and mouse to increase speed and angle	Yes	Yes
Strobe	Stare at the middle for 30 seconds for to experience an optical illusion	No	No
Weavesilk	Generate art	Yes	Yes
Balls demo	Colorful balls that follow your mouse (Enable fullscreen for best effect)	Yes	Yes
Chromoscope	Explore the Milky Way in various wavelengths	Yes	Yes
Particle Dream	Particle visualization with many options	Yes	Yes
Cosmic Symbolism	Never ending cosmic zooming experience (click and drag for speed)	No	Yes
Draw A 3D Mandala	Draw a mandala with different colors in 3d	Yes	Yes
Mr Doob Harmony	Make art by sketching with different materials and colors (many more triptoys at the top of the page)	Yes	Yes
Fluids	Colorful physics demonstration of fluid	Yes	Yes
Water physics	Physics demonstration. Move around, drag the ball, ripple the water.	Yes	Yes
Arkadia	Never ending psychedelic forest	No	No
Puddle	Interact with paint-like soundwaves	No	Yes
A Way To Go	Draw lines and walk through a forest while creating music	No	Yes
Soft Murmur	Create your own mix of background noise	Yes	Yes
MyNoise.net	Ambient noise generator with a variety of themes from rain to black holes to busy cafe to kitten purrs.	Yes	No

After

This is the most important part of the psychedelic experience, afterwards you remain in a neuroplastic state and have the ability to integrate what was learnt during the psychedelic experience.

References