Music and psychedelic therapy
Psychedelic therapy is almost always done in combination with music. Some even say that psychedelic sessions are actually music therapy with psychedelics such as psilocybin or MDMA as an enhancer. We don't completely disagree with the latter, because music is super important! During the introspective phase of the psychedelic therapy there is no speaking, but the music becomes the guide. The music works like a boat in which you step and let yourself be carried downstream on the river. There is no need to direct because the music takes care of everything during the introspection.
In this article, you will read why music plays a big role and which songs do well during psychedelic sessions and ceremonies. Furthermore, Marcel explains his personal experiences and describes what happened in his experience during the trip.
Top 5 psychedelic therapy music
Music is personal and not every song works equally well for everyone during the psychedelic trip. The top 5 below is a personal preference that also happens to work for several of our customers. Some songs provide peace, depth or a lot of emotion. A good song can carry you away to the music and sometimes experiences can arise from it with a story or certain insights. Below I indicate my personal preferences and experiences in the form of a top 5! The psychedelic experiences below are real experiences of mine (Marcel).
5: Trøstesang - Gjermund Larsen
Information about the music
Trøstesang by Gjermund Larsen is from 2019 and is a powerful Norwegian music track that can be used at the end of psychedelic sessions. The music track sounds Norwegian/Celtic/Irish.
Psychedelic experience
This music appears in our playlists after the peak effects have already disappeared. For me, this song does something different every time, but overall it feels like the destination port is in sight. It gives me strength to still enjoy the music. This song doesn't give me many images, but it does happen that I can vaguely see landscapes with grass and mountains on this song.
4: Deep in the Glowing Heart - Jon Hopkins
Information about the music
Deep in the Glowing Heart by Jon Hopkins is from 2021 and part of his album “Music for Pschedelic Therapy”. Although the album has several beautiful songs, we choose Deep in the Glowwing heart as the most beautiful!
Psychedelic experience
Often when this song comes fairly early in the trip, warm feelings arise. I don't know whether this is due to the title or the music itself. There are multiple layers to this song and the sounds don't seem to come from familiar instruments. During my psilocybin experience, I felt and looked like I was flying up with hundreds of birds.
3: Echo Inside - Peter Kater
Information about the music
Echo Inside by Peter Kater is from 2016 and is a quiet song for psychedelic sessions. The song is quite long at 8:59 minutes and contains piano and ambiance sounds.
Psychedelic experience
This song came fairly early on the playlist during a truffle session. Before this song came, there was a lot of physical unrest in the form of a flu-like feeling and many emotions. It seemed as if every piano key evoked a new feeling. The tranquility of this song caused my consciousness to spiral upwards and the body had to do what it was doing for a while. From then on I was above my emotions and body and the trip could really begin!
2: The End - Harry Gregson-Williams & Lisa Gerrard
Information about the music
The song The End was released in 2018 and was used for the film Men on Fire. The song has different facets with peace, sadness and a part feels meditative.
Psychedelic experience
During one of the first of my 170 trips, this song made me feel like something was crawling on my body and trying to get inside. I kept trying to stop it but it kept getting stronger. Eventually it managed to creep into my brain through my skull and reinstalled the emotion of sadness in me. I hadn't felt sadness in a long time, but now waterfalls came out of my eyes without knowing why.
A little later I realized that in suppressing grief I had forgotten lost loved ones and that the tears were there to remember them. Not soon later, during the quiet middle part of the song, a ceremony took place in which I gave my forgotten loved ones back to the universe. The universe accepted these deceased during a stunning ceremony with lots of light and forms of energy in which the souls were recycled into a new, unrecognizable part of the universe to me. It was a very beautiful farewell, where the tear became a memory of the good times we had together.
1: Standing as One - Peter Kater
Information about the music
Standing as One by Peter Kater is from 2014 and is a beautiful song for psychedelic therapy with MDMA or psilocybin. The song was composed by R. Carlos Nakai and is quite long at 8:25 minutes, just like Echo Inside.
Psychedelic experience
During my own trip on psilocybin, I was able to find a switch during this song that allowed me to alternate between thinking about how I felt about this song and letting myself feel what this song did to me. The switch between thinking and feeling always started with goosebumps and a tear. However, the feeling was very positive.
Spotify list of frequently used music
Many of our clients ask if we would like to share the playlist we used during the psychedelic session. In most cases, this music is stored locally on offline devices that continue to work if there is a power outage, the internet is down or if something goes wrong with the streaming service. This way we can always support the psychedelic session with music. In order to be able to share the music used, we have created a playlist on Spotify. The following numbers are used for MDMA therapy, psilocybin therapy and for magic dance. They are in no particular order, but you may want to find songs from your own psychedelic session to help you reflect.
New psychedelic therapy playlists
Every year we try to create some new playlists for psychedelic sessions and for the truffle ceremonies we organize. It is also nice for returning customers to have variety in the music. We hardly use singing in understandable language in the music to keep the experience as pure as possible. Do you want to listen to the new music songs? Follow us on Spotify or book a session with us!
More than psychedelic music
In addition to music, there are of course other important matters such as preparation and integration. At Triptherapie we naturally pay a lot of attention to this. During the psychedelic session, personal support/guidance is very valuable. During psychedelic therapy, in addition to music, we also try to influence the other senses with aromatherapy and color lamps. During higher doses of psilocybin or LSD sessions, the senses can overlap, which is what we call synesthesia. In the somewhat outdated blog from 2019 we explain what synesthesia means and how psychedelics can cause it.
Register with Triptherapie
Before someone starts using psychedelics, it is necessary to see whether contraindications can be found. Psychedelic use is unsafe for many people, and this is especially true for various conditions and medication use. By completing the intake you can check for known contraindications.
