Serotonin is believed to be a main cause for feelings of peace, calm and fulfillment after a session of meditation [1].

Psychedelic Meditation

There also seems to be a correlation between meditation, serotonin and visual hallucinations [2].

When we meditate serotonin inhibits the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). The LGN is a relay center in the visual pathway of the thalamus.

This reduces the transmission of visual information.

When there is no visual sensory stimulus to interpret, the brain starts to generate imagery internally.

The hallucinations are similar to the effects from serotonergic and psychedelic drugs like LSD and psilocybin. Psychedelic means “mind-revealing” – the purpose of meditation. Also, serotonin interacts with dopamine to make the experience euphoric.

Out of Body Experience Through Meditation

One of the first times I tried meditation I was lying on my bed. I was experimenting with meditation techniques from the book “8-Minute Meditation”.

A few minutes into the experience, I felt myself floating into the air above the bed. This quickly turned into a feeling of nothingness coupled with distant euphoria.

As I seemingly floated in nothingness my rational brain kicked in and brought me back to the mundane world.

I closed my eyes again and clawed for the preceding experience. It proved elusive.

Pineal Gland, DMT and Meditation

This floating experience might be explained from a simple fact. Meditation triggers release of two structural analogs to serotonin – melatonin [3] and DMT [4].

Meditation activates the pineal gland, which produces these two chemicals.

Melatonin is a sleep promoting hormone and can produce hypnotic effects [5,6]. DMT, or 5-methoxy-dimethyltriptamine, is a powerful hallucinogen, famous from the shamanic drug Ayahuasca.

Scientific studies link DMT to out of body experiences, distortion of time-space and a range of mystical states.

Related Reading: How to Activate Your Pineal Gland & Create Psychedelic Effects

Vegard Gjerde is one of the two founders of Global Harmony Crew.

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References:
[1] Bujatti M, Riederer P. “Serotonin, noradrenaline, dopamine metabolites in transcendental meditation-technique”. Journal of Neural Transmission, 1976.
[2] Mohandas, E. “Neurobiology of Spirituality”. Mens Sana Monographs, 2008.
[3] Tooley, G.A. ”Acute increases in night-time plasma melatonin levels following a period of meditation”. Biological Psychology, 2000.
[4] Strassan R.J, Clifford, R. “Dose-response study of N, N-dimethyltrypamine in humans. I: Neuroendocrine, autonomic and cardiovascular effects.” Archives of General Psychiatry, 1994.
[5] Tzischinsky O, Lavie P. “Melatonin possesses time-dependent hypnotic effects”. Sleep, 1994.
[6] van den Heuvel, C. J. “Melatonin as a hypnotic”. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 2005.