Alcohol is terrible for your health in many ways but it is particularly damaging to an insight cycle.
Alcohol suppresses neuroplasticity by increasing GABAergic activity and reduces REM sleep cycles from around seven per night to two or three. REM sleep is the phase in which the brain consolidates experiential learning.
Alcohol also disrupts dopaminergic signalling, down-regulating receptors and reducing dopamine’s effect on the system.
Though it may provide temporary relief by halting cognitive reconstruction, this relief comes at the cost of long-term stagnation.
Prolonged use can trap a practitioner in the crisis or doubt phases, with outcomes comparable to chronic valproate or benzodiazepine use - sometimes culminating in severe depression or suicide.
A rapid cessation of long-term, heavy alcohol use can trigger psychosis. From a contemplative perspective, such episodes may represent the sudden release of cognitive or emotional processes previously suppressed by chemical modulation.
Buddhism and Islam explicitly discourage or prohibit alcohol, and both traditions demonstrate high efficacy in long-term behavioural and perceptual restructuring.
The purpose of this protocol is to offer a secular framework for self-reprogramming, without reliance on dogma or external authority.
Alcohol will rob you of this opportunity.