Psykedelisk Praksis

12/09/2025

A note on high-dose psychedelic experiences, inspired by Sam Harris' account of his high-dose mushroom trip (link in comments)...

Putting words to an ineffable mystical experience is very difficult, as Sam starts out by stating - after which he proceeds to do a remarkably good job of describing his own, and I highly recommend listening.

From my perspective, both personal and having facilitated a number of such high-dose experiences, there is a high degree of variability to the kinds of journeys that people have. And not everyone will access the "mystical territory".

So while his account is of total and permeating cosmic love, that falls on a spectrum of possible outcomes. And some will embark on such a journey hoping for (or worse: expecting) such an outcome, but there really is no guarantee, and I think it depends more on the psychology of the journeyer than on the substance and dose.

I think a crucial factor is the ability to accept, let go, not to fight the natural course of the experience. It's a cliché, but that's because it's true. So in Sam's case, you have the kind of experience that someone will have as a very experienced mindfulness practitioner. Whereas others might take a similar dose, and not reach the escape velocity of the ego, and the *whole journey* will be one of resistance and egoic struggle for survival.

In Roland Griffith's groundbreaking work with psilocybin in 2006-2008, about two thirds of the participants qualified for a "complete mystical" experience. So that leaves one third who probably could not relate Sam's account to their own.

And this was in a population of "healthy normals"; from my own observation I don't think the statistic improves in a population who might already be suffering from an unhealthy ego structure, such as severe depression. In one clinical study (Brudner et al 2025, source in comments), less than 30% of treatment-resistant depressive patients qualified for a full mystical-type experience on the first session - climbing to about 50 and 60 percent on subsequent trials.

As a practitioner, while Sam's account describes fairly well the promise of a "good" journey, I think it's important to manage expectation. Ineffable cosmic love and unity is great, but the road there is not predictable and may lead through a lot of tension and learning to let go on the way.

06/09/2025

Jeg synes dette her er fedt. Wixarika-folket har kæmpet for deres hellige land, som stor-industrien også er interesseret i. Jeg var selv i Wirikuta på pilgrimsrejse i 2023 og ønsker dem alt det bedste 🦌🌵

Marakame Don Venado kommer iøvrigt til Danmark i slutningen af september. Det kunne være rart at reconnecte!

This is a massive win for the Wixiárika and other Indigenous communities across the Americas.

16/04/2025

Subjektive effekter af psilocybin vs placebo

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Subjective-rating-scale-items-selected-after-psilocybin-blue-and-placebo-red-n-15_fig2_323345114

08/03/2025

Psychedelics As Medicine 2025

After 2 years, I returned to this conference in Iceland.

Before the conference, I was wondering a bit about my own motivation to male this travel. Last time was a magical journey, and on some level I hoped of course that it would be again. On another level, maybe I was just kind of habitually doing the thing that I do.

It turned out to be different, but still at least as magical as the last time. More than a conference, it was also a psychedelic pilgrimage for many people.

I did present on behalf of the Psychedelic Society of Denmark, in the context of the foundational meeting in the Nordic Psychedelic Consortium. In this way I also represented the community-level grassroots view of the movement, as well as the PsychedeliCare initiative and Global Psychedelic Society. That went well.

My real contribution to the conference though was to take the lead on organising the afterparty. That was great fun and turned out a certified banger. If there's something that the psychedelic movement *should* take pride in, it's having some epic parties! Thanks to the DJs - Sigurd, Michael Rasa, Carl Enholm and Frímann Kjerúlf, Almar Freyr the VJ, the crew, and not least the White Lotus venue.

I return from Iceland with a revived sense of connection with colleagues from across the Nordics, the psychedelic movement in general, as well as the spirit that animates it and id manifesting through it.

Also, in Iceland I also was fortunate to participate in a ceremony with Huni Kuin. That brought a renewed connection with my own soul, which I believe is fundamentally the essence and promise of the kind of healing such conference is about. Much gratitude to these wisdom carriers, very happy to see different indigenous perspectives and traditions given space and respect.

17/01/2025

Lovely experience speaking my mind to the crowd of Psykedelisk Aarhus yesterday!

In this talk titled "Working With Psychedelics", I gave a brief theoretical outline of the focal areas of beneficial practice, as well as leaning into what lessons have arisen in my own experience in the past decade.

It was interesting to speak to a crowd that in most cases already had some personal experience. There's a lot of "beginner advice" that's important to share, but I also feel that we are ready to advance the discourse - it seems at least that this audience was ready and interested 😊

11/09/2024

Internal Family Systems, an interesting therapeutic paradigm I've been investigating recently.

I've witnessed it in sessions guided by a colleague, and in those cases it has been very powerful. Applying it in my own direction it illuminates well why I do like I do in certain situations, acting from this or that aspect or "part".

This breaks with the idea of one's self as monolithic; we are not one specific person, but rather a system of parts that have their own more or less (dys)functional internal relations.

In my case, I have for example recently given a lot of agency to the therapist me. He does well enough, it helps people and is meaningful. However unchecked he might well spend all our the whole Martin system's time and energy in his role, and other parts might be neglected. Another (protector) part might step in, taking the agency and protect me from being overwhelmed by spacing out on youtube. That too can spill over, and other parts can have grievances about this. In this way the emotional charges and psychological functions can be illuminated, explored and maybe processed.

16/08/2024

^^ Traditionelle medicinceremonier i efteråret ^^

Jeg har fået nys om forskellige traditionelle ceremonier og retræter der finder sted til efteråret. Det er i forskellige traditioner, fx Wixarika (der arbejder med pe**te), Huni Kuin (ayahuasca plus det løse, eg. kambo, rapé, sananga), og Shipibo (ayahuasca).

Det er nogle tilbud jeg selv er nysgerrig på, og synes jeg kan stå inde for, på den måde at jeg kender de forskellige arrangører og har fidus til dem. Jeg kender ikke nødvendigvis de speficikke medicine carriers der faciliterer, men har dog et (godt) indtryk af de traditioner de bærer.

Jeg kan ikke bare dele detaljerne, da det med vilje ikke annonceres offentligt. Priserne varierer fra €250 for en enkelt ceremoni til €900 for et retræte over 5 dage. Lokationerne er i Danmark, Norge og Sverige. Men hvis man er interesseret, vil jeg gerne vejlede videre og evt. formidle kontakt hvis det virker som en god idé.

06/08/2024

Jeg holder et foredrag til The Adventure Festival, om at finde op og ned i den psykedeliske jungle - med hvilken jeg mener de mange forskellige traditioner, mediciner/substanser og tilgangsmåder der findes.

Der er traditionsbårne ceremonier, som med ayahuasca og pe**te. Der er den moderne psykonauts udforskning a sind og virkelighed. Vi har moderne Dionysiske fejringer i form af raves og visionære festivaler. Og så er der den terapeutiske brug, som i sig selv er bredspektret. Hvad er psykedelisk terapi overhovedet?

Foredragene er henvendt til den nysgerrige som synes at psykedelika lyder spændende, og som godt kunne tænke sig at danne sig et overblik over hvad det indebærer.

Psykedeliske Talks til Adventure Festival (Free event)

🦋 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧 𝐊𝐮𝐟𝐚𝐡𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: 𝐃𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐬𝐲𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐞 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 / 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 🦋

🇩🇰 Martin Kufahl har mange års erfaring med psykedelika i mange kontekster, foruden at være Cand. Scient. i Nanoscience, ManuVision kropsterapeut, har været formand i Psykedelisk Samfund i 4 år, og er i færd med uddannelsen Psychedelic Therapy Training på 3. år. Tilbyder psykedelisk vejledning på psykedeliskpraksis.dk.

🌿 Hvis man er nysgerrig på at begive sig ud på en psykedelisk rejse, kan det være svært at finde op og ned i den jungle af mediciner og tilgangsmåder som findes. Dette foredrag tilsigter at give et overblik over hvad det er for en verden, der åbner sig, og at klæde folk på til at kunne tage informerede og forsvarlige valg hvis man ønsker at begive sig ud på et sådant eventyr.

📅 Sæt kryds i kalenderen d. 23-25 August og find os i det psykedeliske telt. 🕒

🇬🇧 Martin Kufahl has many years of experience with psychedelics in various contexts. In addition to being a Cand. Scient. in Nanoscience and a ManuVision body therapist, he has served as chairman of the Psychedelic Society for 4 years and is currently completing the 3rd year of training in Psychedelic Therapy Training. He offers psychedelic guidance at psychedeliskpraksis.dk.

🍄 For those curious about embarking on a psychedelic journey, navigating the jungle of medicines and approaches can be challenging. This lecture aims to provide an overview of the world that opens up and to equip people to make informed and responsible choices if they decide to embark on such an adventure.

📅 Mark your calendar for August 23-25 and find us in the psychedelic tent. 🕒

30/05/2024

☸️ Emptiness & Non-duality ☯️

The silent meditation retreat came and went.
It contained a whole lot of Nothing.
Sitting very still, doing as little as possible, just observing.

In stillness, the mind manifests itself. It always does, but in the absence of external stimuli, it becomes a brighter signal to contemplate. Mind-manifesting is the technical meaning of psychedelic, although there was also psychedelics used in service of this fundamental inquiry.

In contemplating the manifestations of the mind, be it thoughts or ideas or perceptions, it is possible to recognize their unreality, the illusory nature. The inheretlnt emptiness, as the buddhists would say. "Form is emptiness".

It reminded me of a deep knowing - something that I realized in my very first psychedelic experience. It was an important revelation - I thought it was a feature of the drug, and led me to investigate this particular rabbit hole deeply. If I had had the same insight in another context, I am sure I would have become an acolyte of that particular tradition instead.

It turns out that not everyone that takes psychedelics have awakening experiences. It's not unique - but not exactly common either. And yet, the truths that are intuitively apparent in such states have become spititual clichés. We are One. God is Love. Things like that.

It was a great privilege to have nothing to do but sit and investigate the nature of mind and reality, and contemplate these kinds of ideas. It's true you know. It's of no use as beliefs, and I'm not here to argue them logically, but as intuitive realizations it can be life transforming.

I also saw how it has in fact shaped my life, which have taken other turns than the socially default... My curiosity was sparked in a certain directions, I was trying to make sense of, develop and integrate these sorts of insights, while not being enchanted by the regular social constructs. My hippie phase, you might say.

I listened to a lot of Alan Watts, who introduced a language that helped these experiences make sense. Concepts from buddhism, hinduism, taoism. I got curious about meditation, and on another silent retreat I also had an experience of nonduality, in the sense of my mind being an inseperable part of the world symphony. Solidifying also the idea that this was not a feature of psychedelics, but of the mind.

In the later years, I've felt a consolidation of my identity. I put a stake in the ground somewhere, and decided somehow on "this is who I am". Psychedelic guide / therapist / activist. Other people also know this character, and it's useful in the sense that people come to me if they want services I provide.

This decision also led me to start this training programme, which has deepened a lot of things for me. And ironically, or appropriately, now returned me to the remembrance that this persona is an illusion. An act that is played by the greater I, hopefully convincingly - but I am under no obligation to be that person.

If you've read so far, you apparently aren't repelled by spiritual clichés so I'll just let rip:

The self is eternally changing. Any appearances of solidity are just appearances. Appearances come and go; holding on to them causes suffering.

Love is radical acceptance. Fully inviting in the present experience. In that state there is no suffering, and wounds are healed.

You have the freedom at any point to take a mental step back into witnessing consciousness. This ability IS freedom.

It is possible at any moment to merge with the present moment, and that is bliss. You can just Be the process that's unfolding, whether that's skiing, or drawing, or just breathing. Some call it samadhi, others flow, or full presence. Even things that are considered unpleasant, like sorrow or pain - if you allow it, in fact *become it*, there is no suffering. And because the self is eternally changing, it won't even last long either.

At one point I felt fear. Instead of resisting it, I welcomed it, and learned that what I was afraid of was suffering.

Turning then towards suffering, I said: "Ok then, go ahead. Bring it on. I will become suffering and love the s**t out of it."

And I couldn't find it.

I tried the other way: "No, I don't like it, I don't want it! Go away!"

And there was suffering.

16/01/2024

Dokumentarfilm i Grand Teatret om indfødte folks visdom, dybe traditioner med plantemediciner og deres kampe for at bevare deres fysiske og spirituelle livsgrundlag.

Eskawata Kayawai: The Spirit of Transformation
Huicholes: The Last Pe**te Guardians
Planet Soil: The Power of the Underground

(flex: Det er mig der har fået dem sat op 🍲🌵🐉)

17/12/2023

"Et Psykedelisk Danmark" - En antologi med gennemførte bidrag fra mange rundt om i landet med noget på hjerte om den sag.

Jeg har selv skrevet et essay til værket om "psykedelisk håndværk", som jeg siger noget om her!

11/10/2023

En gos snak med Alexander og Marie-Louise om psykedelisk uddannelse, mysticisme og kosmologisk diversitet!