Laura Huxley and Students 'Trip' In Mather Junior Common Room

Laura Huxley, author of You Are Not the Target and wife of the late Aldous Huxley, meditated, exercised, and tripped with 40 students last night in the Mather JCR.

The session started with five minutes of meditation which was followed by 10 Chinese awareness exercises. The purpose of the exercises became evident when Huxley said, "Resist the tendency to move the shoulders because you don't make love with your shoulders."

After the exercises, the group went on a 35-minute image trip. With the lights turned off, students lay down and mentally left the confines of their bodies. Following verbal suggestions, participants went from a meadow, to a stream, to the highest peaks of a mountain, into a fire, and ultimately into a diamond.

After the Trip

Huxley led a short discussion after the trip. "If you take LSD, take at least a week before and a week after the trip to meditate on the act. There are other methods of tripping that take more time than swallowing a pill."

Of personal relationships, she said, "If we pay attention enough, compassion blooms. If you understand a person, compassion logically follows."

Huxley recommended isolation and fasting as "exercises that bring the same experience as psychedelic drugs."