I Meditated on Ketamine for 5 Days, Here’s What Happened

Summary

Dave Asprey describes a five-day program combining neurofeedback with medically supervised ketamine. He says the program helped him reach a calmer, more focused state and work through old resentments. He credits neurofeedback with showing brain activity in real time and helping train calmer patterns. He also cautions that neurofeedback can be misapplied and says ketamine is a tool, not a lasting solution by itself.

Asprey presents these results as his personal experience and reports outcomes from his program; the video does not provide independent evidence for those claims. Ketamine is a medical treatment and should only be considered with qualified medical supervision.

Wellness strategies and techniques discussed

• Use professional guidance for brain-training methods. Asprey describes neurofeedback as real-time feedback on brain activity. He warns that poorly guided training can have unwanted effects.
• Practice meditation and notice your responses. He recounts using breath-focused meditation and other practices, and says sustained practice can be demanding.
• Support demanding mental work with adequate food. He argues that prolonged meditation requires enough energy and recommends a well-nourished diet rather than restrictive eating. This is his program’s approach, not individualized nutrition advice.
• Work toward less reactivity. His central goal is to reduce the mental energy spent on old hurts and perceived threats, making more room for curiosity, self-regulation, and deliberate choices.
• Try the eight-step “reset” exercise he describes in a calm setting—not while driving. He recommends not skipping steps:
  1. Visualize a neutral place with your eyes closed.
  2. Imagine an all-knowing spiritual guide or symbol in that place.
  3. Choose one specific incident in which someone hurt or wronged you.
  4. Name what the person did and how it made you feel.
  5. Briefly notice where the feeling appears in your body; he suggests limiting this to two minutes.
  6. Identify one good thing, however small, that came from the experience.
  7. Try to understand the other person’s perspective and approach them with empathy or compassion.
  8. Check whether you genuinely feel the matter is complete. If not, revisit the incident and repeat the process.
• Apply the exercise to self-forgiveness, too. Asprey says people may find they hold many grievances against themselves.
• Look for earlier roots of a trigger. He suggests asking when you first felt a similar emotion and reflecting on that earlier experience.
• Take emotional distress seriously. The exercise can bring up painful memories. If it feels overwhelming, consider support from a qualified mental-health professional rather than trying to force your way through it.

Presenters and sources

• Presenter: Dave Asprey.
• Sources and programs discussed: Asprey’s personal experience, his 40 Years of Zen program, and his book Heavily Meditated. The video does not cite independent research sources, and the medical director mentioned is not named.