Different ways to alter consciousness without the use of psychoactives?

[bagelcamera]

I'm working on a project detailing my experiences with altered states, with and without psychoactive drugs. So far I have read up on the following methods:

-Meditation
-Yoga
-Fasting
-Sensory deprivation
-Sleep deprivation
-Endorphin release
-Music
-Brainwave entrainment (binaural beats, etc.)
-Hypnagogic induction
-Biofeedback
-Hypnosis

Does anyone have any more suggestions?

 

[ararat]

you forgot sex

where do you draw the line of altered consciousness? anything and everything alters consciousness, taking a walk in nature, talking with a good fried or a stranger or reading a book: all of it is revealing of the psyche. strictly speaking, even potatoes are psychedelic, if only mildly so do you restrict your criteria to things we do to purposely alter our consciousness? or things that help us to get a clearer view, a more conscious one, rather than doing things as an escape?

 

[bagelcamera]

you forgot sex

where do you draw the line of altered consciousness? anything and everything alters consciousness, taking a walk in nature, talking with a good fried or a stranger or reading a book: all of it is revealing of the psyche. strictly speaking, even potatoes are psychedelic, if only mildly so do you restrict your criteria to things we do to purposely alter our consciousness? or things that help us to get a clearer view, a more conscious one, rather than doing things as an escape?

The altered state experienced during orgasm is caused mostly by endorphin release, which is mentioned here.

And I agree that "altered state of consciousness" is hard to define; after all, the state of the mind is transient and ever-fleeting, and therefore it is hard to say just what is "different" and what is not. However, I would consider an altered state anything that is markedly different from normal experience, usually including perceptual distortions and/or an altered mood.

 

[Styloplume]

There would be "singing", well, mantras and the like. Also, dancing, wich is active meditation. This all goes in the "meditation" or "music" category, anyway... Well, those are pretty unprecise categories, actually. Is praying a meditation? Singing mantras is praying, so it is meditating as well...

Ah! I forgot one very important: isolation from other humans. This is obviously the case in sensory deprivation and meditation, but isolation is one very typical point in spiritual fasting.

I'd simply precise that all those technics are almost everytime combined. Fasting goes along with isolation and meditation and can be very well combined with other technics, in order to induce altered states of cousciousness.

If you want to make a report about your experiences, I suggest you get your categories a bit more precise. Otherwise, well, great job. Keep reporting about your stuff!

 

[lepoiraut]

Fever :twisted:
(and of course a lot of symptoms from other, less common, diseases)

But fever is pretty common. Kinda hard to trip, but it's doable though.
I occasionally enjoy a good fever once or twice a year :-D

 

[Styloplume]

Oh I forgot breathing! aka Holotropic Breathwork by Grof.

 

[LonelyFairy]

Bonjour !

Personnellement je sais qu'il m'arrive souvent ces derniers temps d'avoir de légères modifications de la perception le soir, tard, sans que je sois spécialement fatiguée mais quand je suis très lasse et que j'ai alors un comportement et un état d'esprit totalement détaché. On pourrait dire du dépit en fait, quand je suis vraiment "blasée" si on peut dire ça comme ça, et que j'arrête juste de penser continuellement comme c'est le cas d'habitude, il m'arrive alors d'entrevoir un point de vue différent sur les choses qui m'entourent. C'est assez difficile à expliquer mais je dirais que je remarque chez les gens et sur le monde qui m'entoure des choses que je n'avais jamais décelées auparavant. Je leur trouve des caractéristiques auxquelles je n'avais jamais pensé. Mais ce n'est pas mon esprit qui réfléchis et qui donc émet un raisonnement non, c'est un type d'information beaucoup plus "direct" qui vient à moi, sans le philtre du mental, c'est comme si je "ressentais" mon environnement au lieu de l'analyser de manière logique et raisonnée. Tout ça pour dire que à mon avis, quand on devient totalement détaché du monde qui nous entoure, qu'on arrête de juger les choses selon une notion de bien et de mal, quand on parvient à regarder son environnement de la manière la plus neutre possible alors je crois que là aussi on peut avoir une modification de la perception.

Personnellement je suis convaincue que notre jugement modifie directement notre manière de percevoir le monde.