6 Ways Microdosing Psychedelics Can Support Eating Disorder Recovery
Can mindful microdosing practices provide support and healing for people navigating eating disorders?
Plant medicine and psychedelics can offer a window into a life without an eating disorder, helping people envision and embody a state of being that is free from the repressive, controlling, imposing eating disorder voice, and contracted somatic organization.
Microdosing can begin to open up that window, little bits at a time, through the ingestion of small amounts of a psychedelic (usually with psilocybin - or magic mushrooms) over the course of a few weeks.
The subtle effects of microdosing can support the arc of self-discovery, transformation and healing. I consider microdosing to be a relatively safe and kind practice, when combined with somatic-based healing modalities, time in Nature, creative outlets and support from trusted others.
Microdosing psychedelics brings us to the root level of why we might struggle with body insecurities, overwhelm or confusion around food or emotional dysregulation. These plant medicines go beyond the symptoms and help us excavate what is happening underneath the surface.
This means we might explore core beliefs and hidden assumptions or expectations and how our bodies have shaped to these beliefs, and how our behaviours around food and body stem directly from these deeply rooted places within us.
Here are the 6 ways microdosing can support eating disorder recovery:
1. Micro-dosing enhances our interoceptive awareness (aka our ability to feel and identify internal bodily sensations).
2. And because of this heightened inner clarity, we feel more connected to our biological impulses that support homeostasis, safety and regulation. When basic biological processes are in flow, our ability to flow with emotions becomes easier.
Biological impulses include hearing hunger and fullness cues, signals to rest, move, get into nature and sunshine, go to the toilet instead of holding it in, connect with a friend, or hydrate.
3. Refined interoception helps our capacity to discern and identify needs and wants. We are able to then ask for support and ask for what we want more clearly because that information is more easily accessible. Getting our needs met in resonate ways brings a sense of contentment, fulfillment and empowerment.
4. As we connect with body, we might come across feelings. Feelings that were hidden, suppressed, ignored or forgotten about are be more easily accessed and expressed with the support of the medicine.
When emotions are able to digest because they have been processed, we inevitably feel more spacious and with greater capacity. This enhances our emotional intelligence and ability to self-regulate.
5. Patterns of thought and rigid mental loops have more space around them as the medicine helps us sit in a more observer role. Instead of getting swept up and sucked into another ruminating narrative, the medicines give us capacity to see more clearly.
With a wider perspective, we can see the thought patterns with more distance and compassion. With a lighter grip, they can move.
6. This wider perspective shifts us from a narrow mind to a more open mind. With this more flexible lens combined with a more body attunement, synchronicity appears. We slip into a flow, a stream with life, that carries us towards a remembrance of our belonging and interconnection with the greater Earth body.
Overall, microdosing can support us in the process of:
Expanding embodied awareness.
Being present with one’s whole self.
Reconnecting to and trusting the voice within.
Developing inner clarity and refined dicernment.
Practicing how to navigate the unknown with perspective and resilience.
Shining light on areas of one’s life that ask for acknowledgement and acceptance.
Developing nervous system regulation tools to be with big sensations and emotions.
Creating one’s inspired reality that is authentically aligned with the core of your being (through taking aligned and authentic choice and wise action).
How has microdosing supported your reconnection to your body? Has it brought a greater sense of home within and in the wider world? I would love to hear in the comments below!
To dive deeper, get my free Psychedelic Preparation Handbook for People in Eating Disorder Recovery here. Learn how to safely and intentionally prepare how to microdose or for journeys at a larger dose.
Further reading:
Psychedelics Can Help People In Eating Disorder Recovery Establish Self-Trust
Envisioning The Embodiment Of Authenticity With The Help Of Psychedelics [Eating Disorder Recovery]
Soul Nourishment: How Psychedelics Can Support Eating Disorder Recovery
Four Reasons To Work With A Psychedelic Guide For People In Eating Disorder Recovery
Photo by Rob Mulally on Unsplash