COURSE
Meditation for Psychedelic Journeys
Four weeks of meditation practice for safer and more vibrant journeys.
• Four 90-minute classes
• Location: New York City and Online
• Dates Coming Soon
Taking psychedelics can seem like a double-edged sword: we’re attracted to the powerful possibilities yet scared that something could go wrong.
Although we can’t predict the terrain of a journey, we can cultivate the inner skills to meet it with intention and care.
Meditation is a way to skillfully work with your own mind. This four-week course teaches a targeted set of meditation practices for meeting your experience—before, during, and after a psychedelic journey—with greater kindness and steadiness.
You’ll Learn
Self-compassion and mindful awareness
Qualities that emerging research associates with more beneficial journeys.
Evidence-informed practices
Drawn from contemplative traditions and adapted for the unique states of mind common with psychedelics.
How to meet whatever arises with warm curiosity
Practices to maintain openness amidst intensity—while keeping your boundaries.
The Four Weeks
WEEK 1
Kindness as the Foundation
Build a kinder relationship with yourself
We’ll practice self-compassion, soothing touch, and the “Circle of Care”—a felt sense of the people and beings who hold you, so you can call on their support as you enter a journey. We’ll also explore the important journey skill of bringing warmth and compassion to whatever we meet.
WEEK 2
Cultivating Mindful Presence
Practice staying present, and re-grounding when needed
We’ll practice mindfulness of the body, deep listening to music, and simply letting be. You’ll learn to lean in and surrender to what’s unfolding, one of the most valuable capacities on a journey. We’ll explore when it helps to soften resistance to an inner experience, and when it’s wiser to ground yourself, pause, or seek support. (Openness never means giving up your boundaries or consent.) We’ll also practice connecting with anchors of safety that you can return to when the energy becomes strong.
WEEK 3
Holding Thoughts Lightly
Learn to treat your thoughts as visitors and examine insights carefully
Some thoughts on a journey can lead to deep psychological insight, while others pull us back into old, unhelpful story lines or anxious loops. We’ll practice noticing thoughts without immediately either believing or fighting them. It’s possible to drop the story line and rest in the awareness in which thoughts come and go. Then, as an integration practice, we’ll work with three filters for sorting wisdom from delusion: the sober filter (does it make sense with a clear head?), the community filter (does it hold up with people you trust?), and the dharma filter (the filter of Buddhist teaching and ethics: does it lead to less grasping and more kindness?).
WEEK 4
Trust, Connection, and Your Journey Plan
Bring it all together in a personal plan for preparing, journeying, and integrating
A deep sense of connection—with yourself, with others, and with the larger world—is a gift journeys often bring. Researchers have identified it as a key way that psychedelics support wellbeing and healing. We’ll explore inquiry practices that strengthen this connection, on journeys and in everyday life. Then you’ll put the course together into a personal plan, including your intentions and your own journey mantra.
How the Course Works
We’ll meet for four 90-minute live sessions. Each one includes guided meditation, teaching, and time for conversation and questions. You’ll receive a workbook with short readings, journaling prompts, and guided practices for home use. I suggest 15–30 minutes of practice a day. There’s also an optional weekly 30-minute office hour. I’ll send out a pre-class survey to better understand your background, interests for the course, and needs.
All practices are invitations. You can keep your eyes open, change position, shift your attention to something that feels more grounding, or stop. You will not be asked to push through distress.
This is a substance-free course. No psychedelics are provided, used, or arranged as part of it.
Who It’s For
This class is for people curious about how meditation can support their psychedelic journeys. It’s suitable for those preparing for an upcoming journey, as well as for those who want to strengthen the inner skills that support meaningful psychedelic work.
No prior experience with meditation or psychedelics is required.
The practices draw on Buddhist traditions, but you don’t need to be Buddhist or adopt any religious beliefs. People of all faiths and none are welcome. We’ll explore the practices together, and you can discover what’s helpful in your own experience.
This course is educational in nature. It is not individual or group psychotherapy, and it is not a substitute for support from a qualified mental-health or medical professional. If you’re working with a therapist, you might talk with them about which of these practices could support your work together.
Note that these practices do not make psychedelic use safe or replace medical or mental health assessment, appropriate support, or substance-specific safety information.
About Tomas
I’m a longtime Buddhist practitioner and co-author of Emptiness and Joyful Freedom. A founding member of Psychedelic Sangha, I co-organized the Psychedelic Buddhism 2025 conference and facilitate the Speaker Series with leading voices in the field. At Psychedelic Sangha I taught the class Awakening with Psychedelics.
I’m now writing my second book Psychedelic Awakening: A Buddhist Guide to Safe and Vibrant Journeys (working title).
Why I teach this: Meditation helped me enormously on my own journeys, and I believe it’s one of the most valuable tools you can bring to them.