Heoric Doses of Reality
Peak existence is the new peak experience, says 5-MEO DMT expert Dr Malin Vedøy Uthaug
By Trulee Hall from ‘Plays on Foreplays’, at Rusha & Co, Los Angeles, February 4 till March 11, 2023
The strictest lesson psychedelics taught me, is that they themselves are not important. It’s lived experience that is.
I don’t mean a Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers existence. (Although I am all for that too, especially as part of some ‘path of excess leading to the palace of wisdom’ thing). I mean stuff like Dr Malin Vedøy Uthaug does.
The 5-MEO DMT research maven took up free diving while stuck in, y’know, Egypt during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I believe our society has emotional constipation. We need to get that shit out”
This helped over come her fear of deep open water – ‘thalassophobia’ – and since she’s set two free diving records in her native Norway.
“I believe our society has emotional constipation. We need to get that shit out,” says the firebrand, who’s swift to remind us that “different diets lead to a different psychedelic experience,” certainly according to plant medicine purists.
This is felt on the material plane: “Putting the body back into the equation, is the way forward,” Dr Uthaug claims.
This could mean bioenergetic therapy to encourage consciousness ‘integration’ on a physical level. Or… actually doing things as opposed to just talking about them.
“Changes need to be actively translated into your life,” says Dr Uthaug… which admittedly is likely to mean unexpected challenges, hard truths, and personal growth generally earned the hard way as per usual.
“In the light of day, insights are about lifestyle”
The trip is only part of the healing. You do the rest with the actions you undertake. That the mushroom or whatever told you to do.
“A more holistic framework is what I’d love to see going forward, here in the space,” says Dr Uthaug, “Take an exaggerated example: when an addict take a psychedelic, they realise, oh, I shouldn't be taking this substance anymore because it fucks me up, right? And so in the light of day, insights are about lifestyle.”
