"Consciousness and Belief Change in Psychedelics and Meditation"

RECORDED LIVE ON ZOOM
MAY 12th @12 NOON EST 2025

This talk presents preliminary findings on the experience and brain state induced by 5-MeO-DMT in an advanced practitioner, a Lama from the Mahamudra tradition.

It has long been speculated that the acute psychedelic state could resemble meditation and that psychedelics could offer a ‘short-cut’ of sorts to the cultivation of the mind achieved by contemplative practices. Furthermore, psychedelics seem to induce belief changes in a way that has been anecdotally reported to be similar to psychedelics.

In this talk, Dr. Timmermann presents emerging findings investigating how belief changes induced by psychedelics share overlaps and differences with meditation. He also explores preliminary findings comparing how brain states achieved by insight and jhana meditation may resemble brain dynamics induced by different drugs.

More about the speaker:
Chris Timmermann obtained his PhD in 2020, working with Robin Carhart-Harris, Rob Leech and David Nutt in the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. He is currently a post-doc at Imperial College London at the Centre for Psychedelic Research, where he leads the DMT Research Group, studying the mechanisms of action of the potent psychedelics N,N-DMT and 5-MeO-DMT.

His empirical and theoretical work employs an interdisciplinary approach to the neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, and ethics of psychedelics, their relationship to consciousness and applications in mental health. He focuses particularly on:

The brain mechanisms of psychedelics using fMRI, M/EEG, with a special focus on DMT and 5-MeO-DMT.
The contribution of altered states, such as psychedelics and meditation, to the understanding of human consciousness.
The impact of psychedelics and meditation on mental health.

His work has been published in high-regarded scientific journals and covered by mass media outlets (BBC, CBC, Wired, The Times, New Scientist).

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