Why Microdosing is Not Enough For Full Transformation

In this episode, I break down one of the biggest misconceptions in the psychedelic space: the idea that microdosing alone will magically change your life. I explain why microdosing is only the foundation of the work, not the full transformation. While psychedelics increase neuroplasticity and help regulate the nervous system, lasting change only happens when that expanded state is paired with intentional integration practices and new behavioral patterns.

I walk through why so many people feel disappointed when microdosing “doesn’t work,” and how the real issue is usually not the protocol or dosage, but the missing 70 percent of the process. From mindset work and emotional awareness to habit change and nervous system regulation, microdosing amplifies whatever patterns you reinforce. Without conscious direction, that neuroplasticity can just as easily strengthen the habits you are trying to outgrow.

Microdosing is a tool, but the real transformation comes from the work you do with it. Share this episode with a friend who has been curious about microdosing or wondering why it hasn’t created the change they expected. Make sure you are following the show so you never miss a dose, and until next time keep asking how good it can get!

Sign up for the waitlist for the August round of Limitless Woman here: https://www.juliecyvonne.com/limitless-woman-waitlist

2026 Retreats are filling fast! Check out all the dates & locations here: https://www.juliecyvonne.com/retreats-and-ceremonies
Or fill out the application form here!

Website: https://www.juliecyvonne.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliecyvonne
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@juliecyvonne

Curious whether micro-dosing is your next best step?
Take this quick quiz to find out! Discover Whether Micro-Dosing is Right for You

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hi kittens, I'm Julie Savone, psychedelic facilitator, integration expert, and your guide for this wild ride, The Inner Trip. 365 days with plant medicine. I've helped hundreds of people use plant medicine, primarily psilocybin, to heal, expand, and step into their next level. But this year I'm taking it even deeper. For the next 365 days, I'm bringing you with me. I'll be microdosing, journeying, integrating, and exploring what it really means to live a limitless life with plant medicine as a tool, not a crutch. So if you're ready to feel more alive, more clear, more limitless, and you're down to do it with mushrooms and a little bit of sass, you're in the right place. Let's take the inner trip. Hello, kitten. My intention today is to share with you why microdosing is not enough. I really am gonna get into that and break it down with you. And I'm also trying out a new microphone system this week. So if you like it, let me know. Send me a message on Instagram or put it in the comments. Your feedback is always looked at and appreciated. Okay, beautiful. So you might be thinking, microdosing isn't enough. Isn't that this girl's whole thing? So yes, and this really came up for a couple reasons. One, I am building out the course portal for Limitless Women. So the first round was really about making sure that the framework was rock solid, the processes that everyone was going through. This round is about building out the course portal. So everyone who has gone through it will go through it as going through it now, will have access to this course portal where I'm taking like all of the curriculum and breaking it down into videos with slide decks and clear action steps, etc. Um, because I know they're just different types of learners, right? Like some people are gonna absorb something really well on the call. Some people like to watch things over and over again, some people like to read. I'm a listener, I'll listen over and over again. And you know, I've said from the beginning that this was not a microdosing program, and I really stand by stand by that. Like it is it is so much more than that. We've we are one official call in the as a group. There was a call to like get to know everyone's business and a call about human design. And then this the first like official call as as a group was with my uh chief wealth officer and the questions that these women were asking. So one woman has a products-based business, and she was asking about like what is the ratio of liquidity product to have on hand, and how can I use debt in my favor so that I um am making sure that the like the basically the widgets I need to have, the tools for the product, right, that need to be on the shelf. Or I learned that this period was like 90 days. If you can't get rid of your product or like sell your product or move through the product in 90 days and you have too much product, right? How can I leverage debt to fund that? Um, another woman was asking questions about, you know, she is um has dual citizenship, so she's handling tax issues, and she realized her accountant might not be the best person for her because she's having a hard time getting meetings with her, and like tax strategy is really important, and no one wants to pay more money than they have to in taxes, right? So it was just like a call for me that left me feeling like, oh my god, this program is truly so much more than microdosing. Microdosing is a foundation, microdosing will always be the foundation of my work, and I feel pretty confident in saying that. I really feel like the mushies and I have this symbiotic relationship, and you know, Paul Stametz has said, like, maybe mushrooms have overtaken my brain, and that is why I'm so passionate about them, and like I'm just uh, you know, a patsy for mushrooms and they're running the show now. And maybe that's true for me. Maybe like the mushrooms are telling me to be such an advocate for them and to go out and almost like proselytize the good word of psychedelics, right? But truly, I this work is so important to me because it's done so much for me and for my clients, and it is the foundation until you can get to a place of regulation, until you can get to a place of responsiveness instead of reaction, a place of like feeling not rushing anything, taking things day by day, minute by minute, being present, being focused, having energy, being able to take action. Like the rest of what you're building isn't gonna last. It's gonna feel really contractive. And microdosing is the basis of how you feel more expansive. And I've been getting a lot of questions lately. I think because I'm going through a um a round of, I just started a new round of microdosing, and I've been, you know, talking about it a lot on my story when I am in an active round. I'll you know talk about it more on Instagram. One of the women inside Limitless Woman, she's not new to psychedelics. She's actually come on to a retreat. She's heading on her third, she'll be in Mexico with us. So she's not new to this, but you know, I asked her, like, hey, have you ever actually like followed a full round, like 30 days or more of microdosing? She's like, no, probably not because I have a hard time remembering. It's like, okay, no problem. We'll do the exact same protocol. I'll, you know, I gave her a custom protocol based on what she was telling me she wanted to work with, work with and work through. And I said, I'll do it with you. So every on day, I'll just text you and be like, hey, we're microdosing today. And you know, I have microdosed. Obviously, when I do the live rounds of Unbreakable, I'm following the same protocol as everyone, and I really like it. Maybe that's just what I'll do from now on. Like when someone's on a protocol and I feel like I want to be on one, I'll just join them on theirs. There's just something like knowing you're kind of in partnership in this, uh, that's a good feeling. So I was excited to do this with her. And I've been obviously saying like today's an on-day and sharing different things, like my intention and what I'm working on that day, and how I'm using microdosing in my day-to-day life. So it's elicited a lot more questions around like people want to know what protocol are you on and how much are you taking, like what dose are you on? And here's the thing: I am so, so, so, so, so happy to answer those questions. I'll tell you right now. I currently am following the microdosing institute protocol. It is two days on, one day off. And I um still take 100 milligrams, right? Like, if you if you do the work around taking your break, your full-on break, and making sure you're never like reaching the point of um tolerance. Like, I am I'm good at 100. Some people are like, oh my god, like I want to take 200, I want to take 300. And for some people, like that is what needs to happen, especially like my babes with fibromyalgia or chronic pain in general, or long-term SSRI use. Yes, for sure. All of those, you know, some like those are generally the ones that need a little bit of a higher dose. But I think, you know, if you do feel like you need a higher dose, I would after some time, I would really look at like, are you fully taking a break in between rounds? Are you making sure that tolerance doesn't build? Because I've been at this game for five years and I'm still taking 100 milligrams. But people, they want to know these things, right? And and I can tell like from the conversations I'm having with people in the DMs that they're saying things like, oh, you know, I just I don't know, like my microdosing isn't working for me. Maybe it's not working for me. I don't feel like it anymore. And so we kind of dig into that. And of course, there are some things, right? Like, how long have you been microdosing? Have you been taking your rest periods? What are you like, what product are you using? Yes, of course, product makes a difference. And honestly, protocols make a difference too, the schedule, because I have had people who I remember one woman and said my program in the collective, we started off on uh Stamet's protocol because she was a nurse and just like that regimented every week looks the same, really worked well for her. And I think people sometimes like, oh, I want to try all these different protocols. So month two, we we did a different protocol. I gave her a different protocol that would still support her and her, you know, intention for that round too. And by week two of that protocol, she's like, no, I don't like this one. I'm going back. I'm like, great. I think there's this desire, like, oh, I need to try on all these things. But sometimes, you know, people just find the one that works for them. And so this was two years ago. We're still in contact. She had a private sit this summer. Um, I got to meet her in real life, and and we stay in contact, we probably like, you know, connect once or twice a month, and she to this day still follows when she microdoses Stamet's protocol. So, you know, finding the right schedule does make a difference. Um, having the right dosage for you and you know, your products does make a difference. But if if protocol is like 10% and the right product is like 10% and the right dosage is like 10%, there's still 70% of the process that is so much more than like, when am I taking it? How much am I taking? What am I using? And I feel like people think like these are the things that are supposed to make this big difference and and create this like massive result. And it's kind of like when people say, like, okay, well, I'm going to the gym, but I'm not noticing changes in my body. And it's like, okay, you're going to the gym, but like, what are your stress management techniques? How is your sleep? Like, what are you eating? Like, are you following a training program? You know, we we have this idea that the going to the gym is going to give us the body we want. But the gym and the workout is honestly just a percentage of a much larger picture. Like, have you gotten your blood drawn? Like, what's your gut health like? Are you even absorbing the food that you're eating? Do you have an iron deficiency? Like, and people really think, okay, if I just like get the get the right dose and I get the right protocol, like I have it all fixed. And I've said this from the beginning that microdosing without pairing it with tools of integration is like taking steroids and not going to the gym. Absolutely freaking pointless. Microdosing is not a magic pill. It is not a metric pill. It is a co-collaborative process. And yes, I mean the microdosing is like the gas we put on a fire that may be feeling really dull because we are increasing neuroplasticity. So, for brains that are one of the big five, that's what I call them, conditions of anxiety, depression, OCD, addiction, or PTSD, they're all very similar. They all have a lot of rigidity in the brain. There isn't a lot of new connection. And there's this default pattern to going down paths of uh repeated use, the well-worn paths that tell us like we suck, we can't do it, or you know, think about PTSD. It's like bringing that memory up in your mind and it feels so fresh, even though it happened five years, a decade ago, God knows how long ago, right? Or addiction, literally like picking up a drink, or going feeling like you needing to need a drink of anxiety, of like, you know, constant worry about what's going to happen, or depression, looping on something that has happened in the past, unable to stop replaying it, or rehaving the conversation, or OCD, which traditionally is about a cess of thoughts. Like we think about OCD in a very uh stereotypical way of like she needs to touch the doorknob five times before she leaves. But OCD is uh it's a thought repetition more than anything, like in a very classical sense. So all of these things, it's there there isn't a lot of new activity. It's the same activity, it's the same pathway that we're just going over again and again and again. And so I love this example from Paul Stamens. Again, this is not my example, but you know, thinking about if you are the hundredth birth and to go person to go down the mountain on a ski slope, like you are pretty much going in the tracks of the people that have gone before you. But if you're the first person and there's a fresh layer of snow, you choose the path. And that is what psychedelics do for you. They increase neuroplasticity and they increase the opportunity for you to have and form new connections in your brain. They increase that entropy, that chaos, which might sound bad, but for a brain that is normally very rigid and has as low energy, it's actually really good. And so, you know, a misnomer that we sometimes hear is just like simply more entropy. And like, yes, we want more, but we want it directed. So, what oftentimes happen is you're if you're microdosing and you're not pairing it with tools of integration, if you're not being very conscious um of sort of being like a mindset ninja and like cutting out things that uh dropping thought patterns that aren't supportive, removing yourself from your thoughts, taking the seat of the of the aware observer in your mind, looking at things without engaging them with them, without seeing them as the truth or identifying with them. If you're not really conscious of doing all of these things, the things that you're reinforcing, the neuroplasticity that you're reinforcing might actually be things that you don't want. It might be scrolling, it might be more or different apocalyptic thinking, it could be all sorts of crap that you don't actually want because you're not following a process. And so I was talking to this woman, you know, like, oh, I don't know, I'm doing all these things, but it just like it's not, I don't feel like it's working for me. And I know I knew that she like wanted me to basically give her some like uh almost like a neon sign, like, oh, this is the thing, do this differently. But it really is a process. You know, I'm working with Matt, my trainer and physical therapist right now, and so yeah, he does he programs workouts at the gym, but he's also really big on looking at my blood work. We just got a DEXA scan done, he knows all my meals because he orders them for me. Like I take all this regimen of vitamins, you know, asking how is my sleep, how is my stress management? Like he sends me different breath work exercises, and so you know, I would love to be able, and sometimes there is like a shift for someone that I can just give them in the DMs, like, oh yeah, that's great. Like it really didn't make a big difference. But honestly, this is a really like big holistic process that I I get to look at everything. And so people, you know, have this idea. I just wanna, I just wanna know what what schedule to follow and what dosage to do, and then like everything will be better. And I always tell people you can microdose, like, and just like take it like an anvil, and you'll probably have a good day. It'll probably be a day where you enter rush hour traffic and you're easy breezy, beautiful cover girl, where your kid is screaming in your face, and you're just like, oh babe, like I'm so sorry you're upset. A day where your mom says something about your life choices or your weight or something, and normally you would give her the middle finger, and instead you're like, oh mom, you really are doing the best you can with what you have, right? It's a day that things just like roll off a little bit easier, but you're not gonna dramatically change your life if you are not using a proven practice. It is so much more than just the dosage and the schedule in the same way that training is so much more than just you know how many lap pull downs you're doing at the gym. Oh my gosh. And so I just I I felt really fired up to share this with you today because I I hate seeing some people feel like microdosing doesn't work in the same way that like I would feel I mean, I have to be careful because I don't want to think I'm like advocating for them to go use steroids, right? But again, if you were using steroids and not going to the gym, would you be confused why you didn't have all this muscle group growth? I don't think so. But people think like microdosing is this magic pill that's just like supposed to magically fix all of their problems without having to put their good faith effort into it too. And there really is no magic pill. I was just creating the slides for because I Limitless Women, module two is master the dose, so like microdosing is a foundation, and you know, feeling really like confident and like an expert in building your microdosing practice and how to use it for regulation, etc. And so you know, I'm building the slide down one of the slides. I'm all caps. There is no magic pill. Because I just really want to emphasize for these women like you're gonna be microdosing throughout this process, but it's not just the microdose, like the microdose itself isn't the thing that's actually gonna change your life, it's the work that you put into this program. So, like I recommended my client, um, she's meaning, she was so blown away by my chief wealth officer coming in to you know share his expertise and support the women and and uh like answer their questions. He was so blown away by what he helped her with just on the call that she scheduled a consultation with him. And I was like, This, these are the conversations you need to be having as a business owner. Like, this is how you take your business seriously. And so, you know, she had an accountant, um, but again, the accountant wasn't really responsive to her. Some of her friends had said they had bad experiences where they ended up losing money because of this accountant, and she just she has a complicated tax strategy or situation, and so she just wanted to make sure she has the best strategy. I was like, microdose before that meeting, right? Because that's when you're gonna embody your new level self. Like microdosing is a tool, it's not a quick fix. Microdosing is a tool, it's not a quick fix. It's like if you have a hammer, but the thing that you actually need is a shovel, or you need to be digging, like, of course, you're not gonna think the hammer is useful. Microdosing on its own is not gonna magically change your life. The work that you do while you're microdosing, while you have this increased neuroplasticity, while you have a quiet of your default mode network, while you have a blood flow that is filtered away from the amygdala and into the prefrontal cortex, that is like it's it's the gas in your oven. Oh, that's real, I like that analogy a lot. I thought of that recently. Like people who feel like they've done all the work, they've gone to therapy, they've had coaching, they've read Let Them, they've listened to all the podcasts, like it's not clicking. I'm like, yeah, baby, because you have all the ingredients for the cupcakes. You literally have everything poured into the cupcake holders, but your oven isn't on. And microdosine turns your oven on. But microdosine isn't a substitute for all the ingredients, right? Microdosine is the fire, but it's also not a substitute. So the analogy works both ways. You still have to put in the work, and that is what our coaching is. That's why none, like, there literally is no way to work with me that's just here is your protocol and here's the product. Like, that is not a possibility in my world because I find it very disingenuous. And I think if other people are out there like selling that, I'm like, people aren't gonna get the results that they want from microdosing. All of my work incorporates tools of integration, even like my you know, very entry-level offer unbreakable. It's a whole month of text where we're habit stacking, where we're making the most of that neuroplasticity, where we're directing your neuroplasticity in the direction you want to see it go. Because that is the magic. The magic is the work. And I know people want an easy way out in like a culture of you know, trisepatide and semi-diptide and all the tides, we just want the thing that we inject and then we magically lose weight or whatever, right? But that's not microdosing. And I honestly I don't really even think it's weight loss because if you're not changing your food behaviors and like looking at the noise and getting to the underlying emotional root of your of your eating, because let's be real, if you have uh if you overeat, there is an emotional component to that that is driving that behavior, and so it's a cool collaborative process. But I also want you to be excited about it because that's where the juice is. I mean, I feel so good after I microdose and do breath work. I feel so good after I microdose and visualize, I feel so good after I microdose and work out, or go to the sauna and cold plunge, or meditate, and it's like it just makes things even better, it makes them even more potent, but it is not a substitute for the work. So I'm gonna leave you with that today. I'm very lit up about it, obviously. Um, and for your integration, I want you to honestly ask yourself this question where am I expecting someone or something else, something outside of myself, someone else, something outside of myself to do the work for me. And that might be that might be in your romantic relationship. Maybe you are taking a back seat in your relationship and expecting your partner to read your mind or do the heavy lifting. Maybe that is in your fitness, right? Maybe you you are you know on a semi-glutide or thinking about it, and like you're kind of riding the wave of, yeah, I'm losing weight now. But are you also making sure you hit your protein intake? Are you going to the gym? Are you using this opportunity with less food noise to change your relationship with food? Because I will say that was what it was for me with microdosing. That was a real secret sauce. I had a very loud mind. She was very loud. Lord, my Regina George was loud. That's your that's your default moan network, particularly your posterior cingulate cortex, where we have that like referential talk, like, oh my god, that was dumb. Oh, people don't like you. Oh my god, like you're not gonna be invited, you're not cool, right? That was that was me. And when she quieted down, it was up to me on my on days of microdosing to notice that to realize that A was a possibility because I didn't think it was, I didn't know any different, so I didn't know it was possible. If you've never experienced something, you might not think it's possible. It's kind of like, did you know that some people can't visualize? Maybe you're one of them, but until I found out something aphasia, but until I found that out, I was like, no, everyone can visualize, but they can't. That's not how everyone's brain works. Um, so until I realized that was possible for me, I didn't. Know how to train my brain that way. And so then once I saw, okay, my brain doesn't always have to be loud. And then it became a skill of quieting down the thoughts, of kind of like honestly pressing mute on the thoughts, even on my off days. To now I'm so integrated in that that my brain is very quiet. People are always telling me that's like my favorite, that's their favorite thing that I say. Microdosin has given me like my brain's quiet. And for a lot of people, like, oh my god, what is that like? Like, well, let me show you. So, where are you outsourcing basically like outsourcing your power to something else, someone or something else to get a result that you want or to change something, or if you have something to be different? And just let let your honest answer come up because there's absolutely no judgment in this space. We all do it in some way, and it's it's valuable to take ownership of the fact that you don't take ownership in a certain area and to take steps remedy it, remedy it. Okay, Ken, I absolutely love you. I hope you have a great day and a great week, and I'll talk to you soon. That's the end of today's trip. But remember, the real magic has always been inside of you. If this episode landed, send it to a friend who's ready to step into their next level. And make sure you're following the show so you never miss a dose. I'll be back again soon with another day on the path to your most limitless life. And until then, trust yourself, follow your intuition, and keep asking how good can it get?