Psychedelics & Meditation: A Zen Practitioner Perspective - Talk, Discussion & Q&A with Chris Preist

Both psychedelic use and meditation are practices which can take us beyond the everyday egoic busy-mind, and open us to wider perspectives on life. Their stories have been intimately linked in Western counter-culture from its start, through influential voices such as Alan Watts and Ram Dass. Drawing on both academic evidence and personal experience, co-director of Bristol Zen Dojo Chris Preist will explore this relationship with a talk and guided practice. He will also open up space for audience discussion.

Some of the key topics we will cover include:

• How are meditative and psychedelic experiences similar, and different?
• What risks and negative effects can arise from the use of either, and both? How are these reduced?
• How can the practice of meditation influence psychedelic experiences, and vice-versa?
• In what ways can meditation and psychedelic use be combined?
• How can meditation support trip sitters?
• What can psychedelic users learn from the wider teachings of meditative traditions such as Zen?

The session will open and close with periods of meditation, guided by Chris and attendees will receive resources for further study.

About Chris Preist

Chris Preist has been deeply engaged in the practice of Zen meditation and Yoga since 1989. More recently, he has explored the relationship between this practice and psychedelics, both experientially and theoretically.  He has been awarded the Professional Certificate in Psychedelic Practice by PsyEdu, and specialised in the relationship with meditation in his study for this. 

He took lay ordination in the Soto Zen lineage in 1992. He co-directs Bristol Zen Dojo, a traditional and welcoming community of Zen practice, and is author of the Zen Streams substack. He is a qualified Yoga teacher in the Viniyoga tradition of TKV Desikachar, and has studied at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, Chennai,  under Desikachar’s guidance. 

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