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Terrence McKenna believed stress relief is the reason that so many shamanic rituals include singing and steady drum beats. The anxiety surrounding communication
by ipnon 6y ago
Terrence McKenna believed stress relief is the reason that so many shamanic rituals include singing and steady drum beats. The anxiety surrounding communication with the dead or the gods is released through the music. He also pointed out rightly that singing requires deep, slow breathing, which prevents hyperventilation and its attendant stress. More practically, his recommendation for bad drug trips is to sing or hum a low and slow tune. I can unfortunately attest to the effectiveness of this technique.
- Taylor_OD 6y ago+1 for singings your way out of a bad trip. To paraphrase McKenna, If you find yourself in hell start singing. It will take you all the way to heaven.
- yters 6y agowhat happens in a bad drug trip?
- uryga 6y agodepends on the substance, but usually stuff like paranoia and in general being stuck [seeing / thinking about] unpleasant things
- danharaj 6y agoIt feels like a combination of a visceral nightmare and a panic attack, if you've had one of those.
- Taylor_OD 6y agoIt depends on the trip/person but typically paranoia and panic attack type feelings. Toss in some bad/scary hallucinations as well.
- hutzlibu 6y ago"He also pointed out rightly that singing requires deep, slow breathing" I would generalize that "breathing is the most accessible stress reliever". Breathing consciously is the single thing you can do always to relieve stress and get your hormons in balance again. Singing and chanting and drumming can be even more powerful obviously, but you cannot always do that, but you can (and should) always breathe the right way.
- ipnon 6y agoAgreed, I believe in the absence of a scientific explanation in terms of increased blood flow or nitric oxide breaching the blood brain barrier, the solution had simply been codified in pre-scientific cultures as "one weird trick" for combating anxiety.
- starpilot 6y agoIt's all about focus. Whether it's painting or rock climbing or play violin.