The neuroscience of neuroplasticity has identified numerous activities that enhance brain function: aerobic exercise, novel learning, sleep optimization, mindfulness meditation. This paper introduces a candidate modality that has not been formally studied for this purpose: the deliberate practice of maintaining at least neurotypical cognitive performance while in altered states of consciousness (ASCs). We term this capacity **ASC Competence** and argue that its cultivation imposes uniquely severe demands on the executive control system — demands that, through standard neuroplastic mechanisms, produce exceptional adaptive capacity. The key criterion is not the ASC itself but the maintenance requirement: the deliberate refusal to allow functional performance to degrade below baseline. No other lifestyle generates comparable multi-system stress on executive function simultaneously. Shamans were the original practitioners of this discipline, developing curriculum, apprenticeship structures, and cultural frameworks over millennia. Modern biohackers — using sublingual ketamine, psilocybin microdosing, float tanks, and breathwork — are their successors, operating with superior neurochemical tools but often lacking the intentional framework. The TI Sigma formalization: ASC Competence is the behavioral training protocol for the Tralse Blanket State (URB #421) — the simultaneous maximum opening of the i-channel and maintenance of real-channel integrity.
Brandon Charles Emerick (Tue,) studied this question.