Ralph W. Llama said:

While I have maintained a nearly 40 year relationship with psychedelics, primarily LSD, I didn’t really connect with psilocybin fungi until late 2022. Previous experiences with them were mostly uncomfortable and discouraging. I usually wanted to lay down and be quiet.

LSD brought more fun energy and was easier to connect with, especially during athletic adventures and concerts.

As I got older, my LSD dose levels dropped, due to concerns about bad trips and just enjoying the lighter demands of lower amounts. So when I was going through a depression in 2022 and a friend gifted me some fungi capsules, I was not super interested in taking them.

After some pondering, I admitted that I was looking for healing help and decided to try them. I started with one capsule and food in my system first. These were true microdoses and delivered no perceived effects.

In a couple of weeks, I noticed an improvement in my mental state. This was intriguing and I decided to learn more and continue using them. I reread all my psychedelic books and discovered the Shroomery. I began slowly increasing doses too. 

I spent 6-8 months just doing minis, basically the comeup and not much more. This allowed me to learn anxiety management skills. I distinctly remember an early experience where I tried focused deep breathing and found success. I believe that this comeup anxiety is us plugging into our bodies and the universe more deeply, which can be unnerving.

I was incredibly grateful for the healing that these experiences brought and resolved to appreciate all of it, even the largely underwhelming journeys on small doses. It took me more than a year of weekly+ work to get to level 3 and another year to attempt level 4 and above.

This allowed me to deal with my trauma in small bites, while building confidence. As the experiences deepened, larger chunks became easier to chew.

When I was in the early stages, I would just go about normal life during these mild enhancements. As doses increased, I began to focus on the process and dedicate time and space to it.

This included shifting dosing times to mornings, which allowed me to maintain my circadian rhythms better than late doses that affected sleep patterns. I also started listening to the mushrooms and learning how to better understand their teachings.

Part of this listening was to respect the body feelings. I get a distinct muscle relaxity from fungi that I used to associate with weakness and fatigue. Now I believe it is an essential component of the healing process. Instead of fighting the urge to lay down, I embraced it.

My mental health improved dramatically, but then I began noticing body and mind improvements too. Inflammation faded. Encroaching neuropathy reversed. Energy levels, reflexes and athletic function increased. I was clearer mentally and learning new things was easier. I am in my mid fifties and play/perform more like I did decades ago. Neuroplasticity and neurogenesis seem to work together.

I also noticed a new level of digestion, featuring more efficient use of calories and a healthier appetite. I needed less food and made smarter choices. Clean power flowed.

Early nausea and occasional purges faded, as the mushrooms encouraged a better gut biome. There is evidence that serotonin receptors in the gut are reduced/impeded by excess sugar and fat and especially by alcohol.

Psilocybin fungi seem to support serotonin gut receptors. My mood, emotional regulation and brain function continued to grow.

I think we’re missing some important healing mechanisms in our gut and hope that future studies focus on this.

Late in 2023, I started having neck pain, primarily from poor posture using our weapons of mass distraction and manipulation. Tech neck.

I was already in a ritual of asking for specific help from the mushrooms, but usually in the mental health realm. I addressed my neck during a preparation session and was not prepared for what happened next.

During the comeup, the mushrooms told me to start massaging my neck. First, it was just a normal rub, but soon my fingers, hands and neck worked together in ways I never learned before.

While I was meditating about other things, unconsciously the fascia knots were broken up, I realigned my spine and relieved pressure. Muscles loosened and my entire skull and head were touched in just the right ways to massively release tension and improve nerve connections. A few times, particular adjustments elicited a dramatic reengagement of nerves and kicked off brief overwhelming euphorias.

I moved down to my shoulders and got to work there, again without any conscious focus. I became aerobic from the effort and stayed in this heightened state for the next two hours, performing aggressive body work from toes to head and feeling better than I had in years. This included flexing and extending all my muscles and joints.

By this point in my fungi relationship, I was also trying to prepare for experiences with a workout and lots of hydration. Physical activity is just starting to get attention as a booster for psychedelics, but I can confirm that it is very effective.

A workout does a few things to help. It primes your breathing and prepares you for success during the comeup. It also engages your body-mind linkages with healthy movement.

After this first body work experience, I felt taller, more relaxed and stronger than ever. It was eye opening and encouraging.

I started paying attention to the factors that led to this breakthrough and trying to repeat them. I have been quite successful in this process and now have over a hundred journeys that have very similar patterns and outcomes. This is what my original post in this thread described.

To add fuel to the discussion, last summer I had an over the bars fall while mountain biking. I injured my hand/wrist, chest, face, neck and got a concussion.

I used subsequent sessions to realign my neck and work on my hand. Both injuries saw quick improvement. I had good results recovering from the concussion in these journeys too.

My goal for sharing all this is to remind that our understanding of psilocybin fungi is wildly incomplete and there are potentially major health benefits that we should be studying, both individually and in wider studies. I believe that these fungi will prove to be a vital part of our diet.

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redgreenvines said:

With some photo reportage this would make a great book!
good work Ralph!

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Blue Cthulhu said:

Hmm nice idea Freedom, maybe even a book where each chapter is a different person’s description of their personal journey, through the decades, with psychedelics.

I’m sure there would be themes, such as stopping use at one stage, then rediscovering psychs later. Or transitioning from one chemical to another (I’ve heard of a lot of older hippies who originally were into LSD and who now use psilocybin sparingly). Lots of folks gain an appreciation for lower doses over time. Maybe less of a need to have life changing peak experiences, and more of an appreciation for living in the moment, taking life as it comes, and ever-renewal or child like wonder.

Personally, I’ve gone through maybe 3 stages at this point. First, just awestruck and mesmerized by the power of psychedelics, and pushing for transcendent experiences and wanting to know the “true nature of reality”, whatever that is. Then, a LOT of shadow work, working with my “lower self”, relational baggage, unresolved trauma, blah blah. And now, very much immersed in the imagination, creativity, going at a slower pace, sense of family and being part of the Universal Tree of Souls

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