What We Know About The Healing Powers Of Doing Mushrooms

How Exactly Do Mushrooms Work?

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Mushrooms contain things called psychedelic tryptamines – namely psilocin and psilocybin. These have hallucinogenic properties, which is why people often see and hear things that aren’t there when they do mushrooms. When you’re on mushrooms, music can sound more beautiful, sights can be more stunning, food can be more delicious…and everything can feel, well, magical. But, the effects of mushrooms go deeper than that.

Psilocin and psilocybin have similar structures to the neurotransmitter serotonin and even interact with the same brain receptors as serotonin. That’s important to understand because serotonin, like psilocin and psilocybin, is involved in your imagination, your mood, your perception of reality and your ability to learn things.

When you do mushrooms, the psychedelic tryptamines in them affect something in your brain called your Default Mode Network (DMN). Think of it like a highway in your brain, that lets information pass between different parts of your brain. Experts say that your DMN is heavily involved in your sense of self – in your idea of your own identity. On shrooms, your DMN shuts down forcing different areas of your brain to communicate in new ways and even altering your sense of self. That’s why they can be so powerful.

What Are The Benefits Of Mushrooms?

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Now that you understand a little bit about how mushrooms affect the brain, it’s easy to see how people could come out of a mushroom trip feeling different – even permanently.

Research has shown that taking mushrooms, in a controlled setting under the guidance of a professional, could help with:

• Depression
• Drug addiction recovery
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Alcoholism
• Quitting smoking

There has even been research showing shrooms’ abilities to treat certain personality and behavioral disorders. Remember: mushrooms can change the way you see yourself and the world. Considering this list of heavy-hitting benefits, it should be no surprise that there are advocacy groups working hard to decriminalize mushrooms across the U.S.

How Do You Take Mushrooms?

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There are several ways to take mushrooms including:

• Eating them dry
• Steeping them in tea
• Turning them into powder and injecting them
• Turning them into powder and putting them in beverages

Once you’ve consumed mushrooms, you can expect the effects to kick in within about 30 minutes and to last for three to six hours.

What Is A Mushroom Trip Like?

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As far as what you’d experience during the actual mushroom trip, there’s the fun stuff:

• Beautiful visual and audio hallucinations
• A sense of euphoria
• An intense feeling of wellbeing
• Lightness of the body

Then there’s the not-so-fun stuff like:

• Shivering/chills
• Nausea/vomiting
• Feeling disconnected
• Anxiety/panic
• Scary hallucinations
• Dizziness

However, if you take mushrooms under the guidance of a professional, you are more likely to have a positive experience. Researchers say that they have not been found to be addictive, and people who do them generally respond well to repeat experiences.

If you’re ready to try something new to treat addiction, a mental health problem or another issue…travel to Denver, Ann Arbor, Oakland or Seattle. We’ll leave it at that.