A quantitative exploration of the relationships between regular yoga practice, microdosing psychedelics, wellbeing and personality variables

Introduction

Yoga is described as a set of physical and mental practices associated with improved physical and psychological health, with prior studies linking greater yoga practice to higher psychological wellbeing and reduced depressive and anxiety symptoms. Microdosing — the intake of approximately one‑tenth of a recreational psychedelic dose intended to avoid overt intoxication — has been reported in observational and limited experimental work to relate to improved mood, reduced depressive and stress symptoms, and changes in traits such as openness and absorption. Classic psychedelics implicated in microdosing research include psilocybin, LSD, DMT and mescaline, which act predominantly via serotonin 5‑HT2A receptors. Adler and colleagues set out to compare the relationships between regular yoga practice, microdosing, and psychological outcomes within a single cross‑sectional sample. Specifically, the study examined differences between people who microdose, practise yoga, both microdose and practise yoga, or do neither, on measures of wellbeing (Ryff Scales), mood (DASS‑21), and personality variables of openness, neuroticism (M5‑50), and absorption (Tellegen Absorption Scale). The authors hypothesised that people who engage in yoga or microdosing would show higher wellbeing, openness and absorption than controls; no directional hypothesis was made for differences between yoga and microdosing since this was the first direct comparison reported by the authors.