Activation Instructions Included: Starting Your Creative Microdose
Minimal side effects. A little lore. A lot of possibility.
My entire life orbits around this idea that non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOSC) and creative practice are essential tools for healing and participating in basic aliveness as a human being. It’s what our ancestors have done for thousands upon thousands of years and it’s what we should continue to do so long as we’re alive on this planet.
My clinical (and personal) expertise has been on psychedelic drugs as vehicles for non-ordinary states of consciousness, however, it’s important to name that many other types exist.
Here is a list of roles, titles, and responsibilities that bounce around my world right now: transpersonal art therapist, psychedelic therapist, lead study therapist, co-therapist, private practice owner, mentor, consultant, educator, author, co-founder of the Psychedelic Art Therapy Network and Album cover artist.
I cannot tell you how proud this list of titles makes me. I might have no idea what free time is, but I am truly fulfilled. It really is a lot of subtle code switching, identity shifting, and identity performances.
Your Creative Microdose is also an attempt to create a space where I can be my whole self and publicly staying in relationship with a few questions and goals:
How can I support you in having a creative practice?
How can I show you alternative models for relating to creativity and/or NOSC?
How can this be interesting, accessible, and attainable?
Can I help you understand why one or both of these ways of engaging with yourself and the world might be helpful for you, your clients, your greater community?
My goal is to share ideas and practices that are both engaging and informative, all in service of helping people deepen self-awareness, heal, grow, and cultivate greater resilience and fulfillment — through creative work, non-ordinary states of consciousness, or an integration of both.
Under the Umbrella of my therapy private practice (based in Portland, Oregon) Psychedelic Art Therapy and a new organization, Psychedelic Art Therapy Network, I find myself in a leadership position practicing and educating on the intersection of these two tools. My gratitude for my professional opportunities, I do feel saddened by how gatekept my wisdom and expertise becomes under the structure of capitalism, state licenses, and training programs.
Your Creative Microdose (YCM) will double as a way to increase accessibility to this information and help me flesh out some things taking up major real estate in my brain.
Who is this for? What symptoms in my life would let me know that this is right for me?
Folks who are interested in any intersection of: Creativity, psychedelic healing, research, science. It’s for those who value learning from non-dominant voices, who are harm-reduction minded, and who want practical, playful ways to reclaim or deepen their creative expression. The wildcard will be whatever is currently bringing me creative spark.
You might find yourself here wanting to free yourself from creative stuckness, in burnout recovery, in bed death with your imagination. You might be yearning for a sense of connection—to yourself, to imagination, to something beyond the default. You might also be exploring altered states (with or without substances) as a way to shift perspective, heal, or spark insight.
Where does the micro part come in?
Great question.
If you’re unfamiliar, Microdosing is colloquially understood as the practice of taking sub-perceptual doses of consciousness altering drugs, such as LSD or Psilocybin, to experience perceived benefits in areas of one’s life such as mood, mental well-being, cognitive function, and/or mental flexibility without the significant physical andperceptual effects of a threshold drug dose. It’s important to note that even though microdosing has been gaining popularity in the cultural zeitgeist, we are still learning about long term effects and safety of frequently ingesting psychedelic medicines in any dose.
I should be extra explicit here: I am not encouraging you to take drugs. But I’m also not a cop, y’know? I’m using the phrase “microdose” in a tongue in cheek, metaphorical type of way. As a licensed therapist, can I stay within my scope of practice and tell you that getting high and making art is good for your mental health? honestly, yeah. It should be up to the individual and dictated by their biopsychosocial history, but mostly, yeah! I do really want this to be a place where people who do not use substances, but still yearn for non-ordinary experiences If you’re interested in support around building a microdosing practice, you can find that information in other places. But I’m not your guy.
As for this Substack, The relevancy of “micro” will come in the form of the length of every free post after this one. I have to find my true rhythm, but my goal is no more than a 5-10 minute read each time for the long form “micros” (which Sasha Shulgin would likely call a Museum Dose, but I don’t know if you guys are *that* type of drug nerd….) If I can be really succinct and disciplined, it might be a few paragraphs. Who knows. This is all an intention, not hard and fast goals. I’ll use the shorter “post” feature for true micros, but those will likely be less planned out and more in the moment. The intention behind this will be for me to practice a sense of mastery through succinct, digestible musings and practices. We’ll see how it looks from there. May the effects be objectively beneficial for you too.
Some examples of what this intersection *might* look like in practice:
Tips for starting or sustaining a creative practice.
Insights from art therapy on working with different mediums.
Common limiting beliefs that block creative expression.
Exploring your “why” behind making art, being creative, or doing drugs.
Resources and wisdom from luminaries in relevant professional overlaps.
The role of psychedelics in supporting creativity and self-discovery.
People, places, things that inspire my creative eye.
As a somatic trauma therapist, I often talk about this idea of a Window Of Tolerance. Coined by Dr. Dan Siegel, a Window Of Tolerance can be understood as the physiological and emotional state in which one can effectively engage with their emotions and feel minimal somatic (body based) distress. If you see the wavy line between “Social Engagement [green]” and “Sympathetic/Fight/Flight [red]”, that is our desired zone of growth. Just a little stressed out, but open. Maybe curious, if we’re lucky. We’ll definitely spend more time unpacking key themes in somatic psychology and how they fit into your personal “creative microdosing” practice.
In my clinical work, I often see that consistent, small bits of insight and practice are how we avoid leaving people out or flooding their minds or bodies. This is a huge catalyst for why “micro.” In a perfectionist, goal driven society, what if we just did a little bit? What if we just attempted the vulnerability of self discovery in small ways? How can we pay attention to the subtleties that can arise out of this practice?
In a dream world, there can be a call and response between the readers and myself. I want this to serve the community. Being in relationship with others is far more enriching and motivating for me. I’ll always be open to the gift of understanding how this is landing in your life. I don’t want to shout into the void.
Why should you trust me as your little court jester creative instigator?
I have an eclectic and specialized background. I know a lot of resources that focus at the intersection of creativity, art making, psychology/healing, and non-ordinary states of consciousness. I care deeply about supporting folks with finding THEIR version of creativity, rather than learning my method. If you end up doing mixed media art because of me, I’ll be flattered and giddy. But the point is The match of my expertise as an artist and a researcher will hopefully meet a wide variety of dispositions & attitudes towards both of these tools.
I love gathering resources. I’ve had a decade of my life to gather teachers, mentors, books, lectures, exercises, protocols, and materials to bring this content to life. I love sharing. I love teaching.
If you’ve had a conversation with me IRL, I’ve probably said “you might like this…. (book/movie/artist/song)” It also melts my heart when people do that in return. It’s a genuine way that I show care. It’s such a way to say, I see you, and I see you in this world.
I'm not “art school” good at art. I used to feel so much shame about this, but now I see that it’s actually a pretty big ally for relating to people and modeling the idea of process over product. While it seems self-critical to say this, I sincerely mean it.
I switched to Art Therapy because my studio art classes at an undergraduate level were far beyond my capacity. Meltdowns on meltdowns. And even though my professors had good intent, there was a huge gap in how we meet people where THEY are at, versus an inflexible curriculum or a highly specialized art class. I had to find another way to connect to the strong creative current in me.
I’m messy, not always aesthetically pleasing, and true to my inner world. It’s taken me many, many years to find my creative voice. When I invite you into this practice of just tip toeing into creative practice mindful engagement with NOSC, it comes from a lifetime of fucking up, experimenting, getting lost, and ultimately, building a more secure attachment to myself with these tools. I worked for this. Let me share these lessons with you so you can make better mistakes.
What am I asking of you? What is the dosing regimen?
Much like microdosing protocols, there’s no one good answer or consensus. Let’s find what feels good for you. I’m asking you to try & to be curious. It’s just about contemplating, trying, and starting. I’ll try to put these out at least twice a month. Engage with them at your own rhythm. Let it move with the seasons and your innate rhythms.
In my personal life, I try to do something creative at least once a day. It might be flipping open old drawings & adding some new lines on top or it might be taking a new path on a walk. I believe in radical inclusion for the idea of “creativity” or “creative practice,” though I do make physical art on a frequent basis. It can vary in it’s depth of seriousness. But I’m always checking in with myself in this way.
At my core, I do this because these tools saved my life and I want to help yours too. Especially because of…. *gestures vaguely at everything happening in the world right now.* We need grounded, resilient people who can regulate their nervous systems & create a different world. I trust in these tools and their capacity to help us here, in subtle and gross ways. This sounds trite, but I mean it with my whole heart.
Soon, dear reader, if you’ve made it this far, I’ll give you a glimpse into the future. Eventually, we’ll start exploring what a macrodose could be like. This might be a deep dive into a topic, exploring an art therapy-inspired technique, and maybe interviews if we’re really feeling it. But for now, let’s try out small, frequent creative dosing & notice how it changes things.