Trust, Let Go, Be Open

Why a simple phrase has become one of the most
enduring pieces of guidance in psychedelic preparation.

What This Simple Guidance Actually Means

Anyone preparing for a psychedelic experience eventually hears a short phrase repeated by guides and facilitators.

Trust. Let go. Be open.

The words are simple, almost deceptively so. For someone approaching an altered state for the first time, they can feel abstract or even a little mysterious. What does it actually mean to trust an experience that has not yet begun? How does someone “let go” when the mind naturally wants to understand and control what is happening?

Over time, this small set of instructions has endured because it reflects something very practical about how the mind navigates altered states. When perception becomes more flexible and emotions become more accessible, the posture a person brings into the experience can shape how it unfolds.

Approaching the experience with trust, openness, and a willingness to release control often allows the mind to move through unfamiliar territory with more steadiness and curiosity.

Where the Phrase Comes From

The guidance trust, let go, be open emerged from early psychedelic therapy and research in the mid-twentieth century. Clinicians working with LSD and psilocybin began noticing that participants who approached their experiences with acceptance and curiosity tended to move through difficult moments more smoothly.

Researchers and guides eventually distilled this observation into a simple instruction that could be offered during preparation and sometimes gently repeated during the experience itself.

William Richards, a psychologist involved in early psychedelic research and later a key figure in the Johns Hopkins psilocybin studies, often emphasized this orientation when preparing participants. The phrase became a kind of shorthand for a broader idea: that the inner stance a person brings to an altered state influences how the mind organizes what emerges.

Rather than trying to control the experience, participants are encouraged to approach it with curiosity and trust in the process.

Trust

Trust begins well before the experience itself.

It develops through preparation, clear expectations, and the feeling that the environment is safe and supportive. When people trust the setting and the people holding the space, the nervous system is more likely to remain regulated even when unfamiliar sensations and emotions arise.

Without that foundation, the mind often moves into monitoring and self-protection. A person may begin wondering whether something is wrong or whether the experience should be stopped. Trust does not mean assuming every moment will be comfortable. It means recognizing that the experience is unfolding within a container designed for care and safety.

In the preparation sessions for Magic Nights, participants spend time discussing what the arc of an inward journey can look like. We talk about the range of sensations and emotions that may appear and how movement in the mind is a natural part of the process.

Understanding the landscape ahead of time helps the nervous system relax into the unknown.

Let Go

Letting go refers to releasing the instinct to control what is happening.

Altered states can amplify thoughts, emotions, images, and memories. When something unexpected appears, many people instinctively try to steer the experience away from discomfort. Resistance often tightens the experience. The mind becomes occupied with trying to manage what is unfolding rather than allowing it to move.

Letting go means softening that effort.

Participants sometimes describe this shift as moving from trying to drive the experience to allowing themselves to be carried by it.

Be Open

Openness is closely related to curiosity.

Instead of judging what appears, participants are encouraged to notice it with interest. A memory might surface that has not been thought about in years. A powerful emotion might arise unexpectedly. Images or symbolic scenes may appear briefly and then dissolve.

Curiosity allows the mind to continue exploring.

One piece of guidance that circulates widely among experienced guides illustrates this idea well. Participants are sometimes told that if, during their journey, they encounter a door, they might consider opening it.

The image is simple but meaningful. Rather than turning away from what happens, openness invites exploration.

What Openness and Trust Can Look Like in Practice

People often wonder how this guidance translates into the lived experience of a journey. Sometimes it means staying present with an emotion that begins to surface rather than immediately trying to distract from it.

A participant might feel the impulse to remove their eyeshades or to step away from the inward focus of the experience. Instead, they may pause, take a few slow breaths, and allow the moment to continue unfolding. At other times, an unexpected memory may arise. Rather than pushing it away, the person may simply observe it and notice what feelings or insights may accompany it.

Not every moment is dramatic. Occasionally, the experience becomes quiet or still. Trusting the process in those moments may simply mean resting with the stillness rather than searching for something more significant to happen.

Openness often looks like patience.

Why This Guidance Works

Research suggests that psychedelic compounds temporarily loosen rigid patterns of perception and emotional processing in the brain. Networks that normally operate in predictable ways become more flexible and interconnected. In this state, the posture a person takes toward their experience matters.

When someone approaches the experience with trust, flexibility, and openness, the mind has greater freedom to reorganize patterns of thought and feeling. When the stance becomes defensive or controlling, that flexibility can narrow again.

The phrase “trust, let go, be open” is simply a concise way of describing the stance that tends to support this process.

Preparation and the Inner Grove Approach

At Inner Grove, these ideas are explored long before the experience itself.

During preparation conversations, participants reflect on what they hope to understand, what questions they are carrying, and what emotional terrain might appear during the journey. The preparation process also includes The Next Chapter Questionnaire, which helps people notice the narratives they currently hold about themselves, their relationships, and the direction of their lives.

By the time someone arrives for an experience, the phrase trust, let go, be open is no longer mysterious. It becomes a reminder of a posture they have already begun to practice.

A Perspective Beyond the Experience

Although the phrase emerged within psychedelic work, many people notice that the guidance extends naturally into ordinary life. Trust can calm the nervous system in uncertain moments. Letting go can soften the constant effort to control outcomes. Openness can allow new perspectives to emerge in relationships and life decisions. Sometimes meaningful change begins not with forcing something new to happen, but with adjusting how we meet what is already unfolding.

Selected References

Carhart-Harris, R. L., & Friston, K. J. (2019). REBUS and the Anarchic Brain: Toward a Unified Model of the Brain Action of Psychedelics. Pharmacological Reviews.

Griffiths, R. R., Johnson, M. W., Richards, W. A., et al. (2016). Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer. Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Richards, W. A. (2015). Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences. Columbia University Press.

Johnson, M. W., Richards, W. A., & Griffiths, R. R. (2008). Human hallucinogen research: Guidelines for safety. Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Osmond, H. (1957). A Review of the Clinical Effects of Psychotomimetic Agents. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.