According to new research published in the journal Scientific Reports, psilocybin can boost insightfulness during meditation.
The study explored, for the first time, “a dataset of functional magnetic resonance images collected during focused attention and open monitoring meditation before and after a five-day psilocybin-assisted meditation retreat using a recently established approach, based on the Mapper algorithm from topological data analysis,” the researchers wrote in the abstract.
“After generating subject-specific maps for two groups (psilocybin vs. placebo, 18 subjects/group) of experienced meditators, organizational principles were uncovered using graph topological tools, including the optimal transport (OT) distance, a geometrically rich measure of similarity between brain activity patterns,” the researchers wrote. “This revealed characteristics of the topology (i.e. shape) in space (i.e. abstract space of voxels) and time dimension of whole-brain activity patterns during different styles of meditation and psilocybin-induced alterations.”
Perhaps most striking of all, the researchers “found that (psilocybin-induced) positive derealization, which fosters insightfulness specifically when accompanied by enhanced open-monitoring meditation, was linked to the OT distance between open-monitoring and resting state.”
They said that the “findings suggest that enhanced meta-awareness through meditation practice in experienced meditators combined with potential psilocybin-induced positive alterations in perception mediate insightfulness.”
“Together, these findings provide a novel perspective on meditation and psychedelics that may reveal potential novel brain markers for positive synergistic effects between mindfulness practices and psilocybin,” they wrote.
The research was based on findings involved with 36 “experienced meditators,” who “completed two fMRI brain imaging sessions one day before and after a 5-day psilocybin-assisted meditation retreat following a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study design.”
“Placebo or psilocybin (315 body weight; absolute dose, 21.82±3.7 mg) was administered on the fourth day of the retreat, and the 11D-ASC questionnaire for ratings of altered states of consciousness (see Methods ) was administered 360 minutes after drug intake as …
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Author: Thomas Edward / High Times
