Physical effects - Psychedelics |
This article attempts to break down the physical effects contained within the psychedelic experience into simple, easy to understand titles, descriptions and levelling systems. This will be done without depending on metaphors, analogy's or personal trip reports. The article starts off with descriptions of the simpler effects and works its way up towards more complex experiences as it progresses.
Contents
Enhancement of touch
Enhancement of touch can be described as an overall enhancement of tactile sensations and the sensations derived from them alongside of an increase in the person's overall awareness of the nerve endings across their body. At its highest level, this progressively becomes more extreme until the exact location and current sensation of every single nerve ending across the tripper's skin can be felt and comprehended all at once. In contrast, throughout normal sober living our immediate consciousness can only maintain awareness of the tactile sensations which are relevant to the current situation.
This can result in the pleasure derived from tactile sensations such as touching, hugging, kissing, and sex becoming greatly enhanced or it can result in an over-sensitivity of the skin which causes the same sensations to become overwhelming and uncomfortable.
Increased bodily control
Increased bodily control is an which induces a dramatic increase in a person's control over their physical body. This can be described as the feeling of being able to accurately control every single muscle across the entire body with the tiniest of precise mental triggers, leaving trippers feeling extremely active and nimble. It is often interpreted by people as a strangely profound or primal feeling of being put back in touch with the animal body.
Spontaneous tactile sensations
Spontaneous tactile sensations is a component which is commonly referred to as a “body high” within the psychonaut community and can be described as an activation of nerve endings across the body occurring without any obvious or immediate physical trigger. The experience of this results in feelings of distinct random tactile noise and general tingling sensations. These vary greatly in their alternative styles of sensation, depending on the substance consumed but can be broken down into four basic levels of intensity,
- Mild - The most basic form of body high can be described as light and fleeting tingling sensations across the body that do not impair physical motor control and can essentially be ignored if the tripper wishes to. These can feel like cold chills or vague warmth all over the body.
- Distinct - At this level, the body high becomes impossible to ignore. It can be described as distinct tingling sensations which are intense enough to partially impair a person’s motor control and cause a significant portion of mental focus to be directed towards these sensations.
- Overwhelming – The highest level occurs at the point where the tingling sensations have increased enough to become a powerful uncontrollable focus point of attention. This is to the point of completely overwhelming and impairing a person's motor control which consistently leaves them either lying or sitting down, incapable of standing up, and writhing in the all-encompassing sensations.
Variations
The differences between each differing style of body high can be broken into five basic opposites of sensation.
- Moving vs. Motionless – Feelings of tingling nerve endings will either fluidly move themselves up and down various parts of the body in spontaneous directions or they will remain still and consistent in their position.
- Constant vs. Spontaneous – Feelings of tactile noise will either be constantly present throughout a significant portion of the trip or they will spontaneously and temporarily manifest themselves at random points for differing durations of time.
- Sharp vs. Soft – Feelings of tingling nerve endings will either be perceived to feel soft, warm, and gentle on the skin or sharp and cold.
- All encompassing vs. Location specific - Feelings of tactile noise can either be felt across every square inch of the skin or in very specific locations such as the ends of the fingers and toes, up and down the spinal column, or across/within the head.
- Euphoric vs. Dysphoric – At appropriately high dosages, feelings of tactile noise and tingling nerve endings can either be interpreted as immensely and overwhelmingly pleasurable or they can go in the opposite direction and become extremely uncomfortable.
