Whether you've been microdosing for some time or you are just getting started, you might be wondering what dosage, strain, and schedule is right for you. With so many strains and protocol options to choose from and virtually no professional guidance, it can be overwhelming and intimidating to get started or make adjustments to get the desired outcomes.
While an important aspect of microdosing is to develop a personal relationship with psychedelic medicines and become active participants in our own healing and transformation process, having the appropriate protocol and supportive lifestyle practices for the individual's unique needs and goals can not only deliver radically optimized outcomes, but it can also mitigate potential undesired effects.
Here are 5 ways a Personalized Microdosing Protocol can radically improve your results:
1. A Holistic Approach To Health
Despite the sensationalized headlines and influencer soundbites suggesting otherwise, microdosing is a practice, not a magic pill that miraculously cures depression and anxiety all while transforming you into a creative genius overnight.
While microdosing can often deliver immediate and noticeable results, these benefits are much more pronounced, impactful, and lasting if they are paired with other supplemental, dietary, fitness, and lifestyle changes in alignment with the desired outcomes. This is especially important when microdosing for mental health.
Often I hear from frustrated individuals who complain that they are not experiencing the desired outcomes from microdosing. Upon closer examination, we almost always discover that parts of their diet, lifestyle, and supplemental regimen are actively contributing to an increase in anxiety.
Unfortunately, the fragmented approach to health perpetuated by mainstream healthcare has reinforced the false narrative that we can approach our health and well-being in a silo and expect to pop a pill and see results without making holistic assessments and adjustments in support of our goals.
For example, sleep is the very foundation of our well-being. Without adequate and restful sleep, every single function in the body is compromised so while microdosing can support a boost in mood, that boost will be limited to non-existent if the individual is struggling to get sufficient sleep and recovery. This is why a holistic approach is critical for ensuring desirable and lasting outcomes.
2. No One Size Fits All
There is a standard of healthy living that applies to everyone: sleep well, eat well, and get enough exercise, right? Not really! This is one of the greatest misconceptions about health and well-being. While the standards of good sleep are universal, what defines a good diet and exercise regimen varies widely from person to person.
Aside from potential medical and physical conditions limiting certain dietary and exercise choices otherwise deemed desirable and appropriate, there are vast variables in supplemental, dietary, and fitness choices most suitable for different mental health challenges.
For example, what's appropriate for ADHD and focus challenges is often not suitable for individuals with depressive and anxiety symptoms. Having the appropriate protocol and supportive regimens is critical for both results optimization and harm reduction.
Personalized medicine is gaining momentum for this very reason; a blanketed approach to health ignores individual needs and overlooks personal, cultural, and lifestyle preferences that impact long-term adoption and therefore efficacy of wellness practices.
A Personalized Microdosing Protocol crafted to address the whole human with their individual needs and lifestyle in mind is an optimal approach to ensure desired effects and lasting results.
3. Optimal Dosage & Schedule Can Vary
A true microdose is considered to be 1/20th to 1/10th of a full dose. While that might not sound like much, in practice, for most people there is a monumental difference between a 1/20th and 1/10th dose that can translate to the difference between being a sharp and smooth executive in flow or a high and anxious executive in the board room.
Microdosing is ALL about subtlety and subtlety is experienced in 1/100th dosage differences. While a 90mg microdose of psilocybin mushroom can be optimal for most practitioners, some require as much as 300mg to experience the same effects. Many assume that this is a byproduct of body mass, as in individuals with more body mass require higher doses but that is simply not the case with psychedelics; especially microdosing.
Another important variable is the dosing schedule; while there are many popular microdosing protocols, selecting the appropriate protocol for individual needs and goals is more of an art than a science, and a nuanced skill set refined over time.
A skilled and seasoned microdosing expert would be able to assess the history, needs, and goals of the individual and make recommendations most likely to deliver optimized outcomes.
One notable variable worth mentioning is the strain of psychedelic mushrooms. There are upwards of 200 species of psychedelic mushrooms with very few studied to date. While research and studies into various strains expand, we know very little about the differences between different strain effects. We anticipate that as we study more strains in the coming years, the type of strain will also become a critical part of the personalized protocols but until then, most practitioners prefer to recommend one or two strains that are most available and consistent in their potency and effects like the Golden Teachers strain.
4. Supercharged Results With Stacks
A significant majority of individuals microdosing are doing so using a single active ingredient like LSD or magic mushrooms. While LSD microdosing is generally done as a stand-alone compound, many experts recommend combining magic mushrooms with other non-psychoactive compounds to enhance the effects, in a practice called "stacking". For example, the Stamets Protocol recommends combining psilocybin mushrooms with Lion's Mane mushrooms and Niacin.
Many seasoned practitioners and microdosing experts have been experimenting with their own custom stacks in an effort to potentially promote and reinforce a category of benefits above others. For example, in my practice, I work with stacks custom-developed for mental focus and clarity which are different from the stacks for promoting an elevated mood.
While these benefits are anecdotal and no research has been conducted in this space, microdosers report more immediate, predictable, and lasting results with microdosing stacks than with the stand-alone plant.
A Personalized Microdosing Protocol will often include custom stack recommendations to support the individual's unique needs and goals
5. Expanded Spectrum Of Benefits
Are you convinced that you're getting the most out of your microdosing practice or do you have this curious feeling wondering if there is more to the practice than what you're experiencing?
Here is the thing, microdosing practice is a little like alchemy! It takes practice, measuring, refinement, and experimentation to hit gold and expand the spectrum of the benefits available to you. To make things even more interesting, benefits seem to vary widely from person to person and even for the same person during different periods. I think this is why microdosing is such a potent practice; it feels as if each of us is being invited to a personal relationship with the plants and the practice.
With that said, there are sets of supplemental, dietary, fitness, and lifestyle changes that can expand the spectrum of benefits across different goals and desired outcomes. Microdosing as a practice of subtlety is extremely nuanced and responsive to even the smallest changes. A Personalized Microdosing Protocol can often mean the difference between a mild uptake in creativity and a flourishing of ideas that results in solving a key problem more effectively and efficiently. Top performers know this: the last 10% of optimization can often deliver an 80% improvement in outcomes.
Whether you are microdosing for mental health, creativity, or performance, exploring the limits of your current practice can radically improve and enhance your desired outcomes.
Personalized Microdosing Protocols
You might be wondering what to expect from a Personalized Microdosing Protocol. In my practice, I take a thorough and holistic approach that includes a deep overview of the foundational blocks of mental health and cognitive performance including sleep, diet, fitness, substance use, lifestyle, spirituality, and coping mechanisms, along with a review of the individual goals and desired outcomes.
I then carefully craft a Personalized Microdosing Protocol catered and customized to mitigate any potential undesired effects and support the positive outcomes. This plan includes recommendations for dosage, schedule, stacks, supplements, dietary adjustments, fitness regimens, and lifestyle practices all working in unison to holistically balance and optimize the mind, body, and spirit to experience a wider spectrum of benefits more noticeably and consistently.
With that said, the practice of microdosing remains more of an art form than a science. In my experience, one of the key ingredients that define successful outcomes is the individual's attitude, mindfulness, and openness to the practice. Although a Personalized Protocol is vastly more effective than a one-size-fits-all approach, no amount of optimizing can facilitate an open mind, patience, and an appreciation of subtlety and nuance all of which are critical to mindful (and effective) microdosing practice.
Ready to craft your Personalized Microdosing Protocol? Book A Free Consultation Today!
The Personalized Protocols are crafted by Anahita Anais; a Microdosing Consultant and Stress-Reduction Expert for leaders and change-makers. Her work is rooted in her decade+ experience as a carrier of ancient wisdom traditions, a medicine woman, a resilience expert, and a product leader in the tech sector. Anahita is trained and certified in Mental Health Integrative Medicine, various Somatic Trauma Therapy techniques, Positive Intelligence, and Holistic Chronic Pain Coaching.
