Embodiment · “Being Precedes Having”
The Fadiman Protocol
Provide a cautious, structured framework for those who choose to microdose: a fixed 1-day-on / 2-days-off schedule with daily journaling, designed to avoid tolerance build-up and to observe effects systematically rather than chasing a ‘high’.
Fadiman Protocol (information only): A sub-perceptual dose on Day 1; nothing on Days 2 and 3; repeat — for ~4–8 weeks, then a long break. Journal mood/energy/focus daily, including off-days. The point is structured self-observation, not getting high. Legality varies and is often illegal; real contraindications exist (psychosis/bipolar history, interacting meds, pregnancy). Not medical advice or encouragement.
What it is
The Fadiman Protocol is the best-known schedule for microdosing — taking sub-perceptual amounts (typically ~5–10% of a recreational dose) of a classic psychedelic such as psilocybin or LSD, small enough that one is not meaningfully intoxicated and can function normally.
James Fadiman proposed it as a way to make microdosing cautious, structured, and observable rather than haphazard: a fixed 1 day on, 2 days off cycle paired with daily journaling.
This entry documents the framework for information and harm-reduction purposes only. It is not medical advice and not an encouragement to use illegal or controlled substances. (See Section 6.)
The Method
Fadiman’s framework, as described in The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide and his microdosing survey work:
- The 3-day cycle. Day 1: take a microdose in the morning. Day 2 and Day 3: take nothing. Then repeat. The two off-days exist so the dose stays effective: classic psychedelics build tolerance fast, and spacing prevents that build-up while also separating drug effects from any lingering after-effects.
- A genuinely sub-perceptual dose. The point is not to feel high. Fadiman frames a microdose as a fraction of a full dose (commonly cited as roughly 10 µg LSD or ~0.1–0.3 g dried psilocybin mushrooms, though potency varies enormously and cannot be assumed). If you feel clearly altered, it was too much.
- Daily journaling (non-negotiable in his framing). Each day — both dose and off days — briefly rate things like mood, energy, focus, creativity, and social ease, and note anything observed. Fadiman stresses that memory is unreliable for subtle shifts, and that some people notice their best day is the day after a dose, not the dose day. The journal is how you actually learn whether it does anything for you.
- Run it for a limited block, then stop. Typically ~4–8 weeks, after which take an extended break rather than dosing indefinitely.
- Observe, don’t chase. The protocol is explicitly an experiment on yourself, evaluated by your own notes — not a daily habit and not a performance enhancer to be escalated.
Source & Lineage
James Fadiman, PhD is an American psychologist and one of the longest-standing figures in psychedelic research (his work goes back to the 1960s).
In The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide (2011) he set out this microdosing schedule, and he subsequently gathered large volumes of citizen-science self-reports on microdosing, which seeded much of the popular interest.
He is widely credited as the person who “standardised” microdosing — hence “the Fadiman Protocol.” Importantly, his own framing has always been cautious and observational, emphasising journaling and contraindications, not the hype that later attached to microdosing. → suggested author node.
Common refinements
Dosing too high. Feeling buzzed/altered defeats the purpose and isn’t a microdose.
- Daily/continuous dosing. Builds tolerance and removes the off-day signal; not what the protocol says.
- Skipping the journal. Without notes you’re guessing, and far more likely to fool yourself with expectancy.
- Assuming dose/potency. Mushroom potency varies severalfold; “street” LSD strength is unknown. You cannot reliably know what you have.
- Treating it as proven medicine. It is an unregulated self-experiment with contested benefits, not a treatment.