First Damiana experience

I acquired some Damiana (Turnera Diffusa) herb from a local hemp store that also sold seeds for cannabis, and where I bought the Kava. There are no restrictions in North America on selling, obtaining or growing it from what I have studied at Erowid.org I had read up on this herb whilst first considering experiment with some milder natural sedatives. I was attracted by the information I found. Being described in effect as a stimulant on the libido and not unlike a lose dosage of marijuana. This has been tested on rats, and showed some positive effects, with the affected rats much more sexually active after eating the dried herb. Damiana in full, is a native plant to Texas. According to wikipedia it contains “α-pinene, β-carotene, β-pinene, eucalyptol, tannins and thymol”, which are of course organic compounds and essentially what makes the plant “drug” have any effect at all. Some hybrids are around like Black Mamba in the UK which unfortunately has more of a negative effect than positive. Sometimes it is just used to replace tobacco.

I was told to smoke a lot if at all, so I just relaxed, watching a documentary about a lost Tibetan village, whilst continually stocking my pipe every few minutes. It is a beautiful yellowish green color, and to be honest the herb smells of wormwood or dried grass but also very sweet and aromatic, and the smoke is more harsh I find than marijuana when inhaled. You only get a small amount of the medicinal molecules into your lungs at one time. You are meant to cough with it, as I did but gradually was able to bring it down my throat deeper and longer, exhaling less smoke. For the first 2 hours I did not think anything was happening. I did start to feel rather tired. After this 2 hours, I did experience a relatively placid state, pensiveness and dreamy wakefulness. I must have called it a night after this because I only remember setting into my bed and doing some pranayama whilst my lungs felt very light. I used the deep pranic breathing to awaken my subtle nervous system and let whatever was suppose to happen just come on with full force. I did not feel the lack of temporal dimensions like with marijuana but certainly had a deep blissful sleep, and possibly some REM dreaming. In the morning I felt renewed. This was all after about 8 fills of my rather small pipe. This was fine for the first time, and I saved a lot for when I try again.