With the fast-growing number of magic psychedelic lovers across the world, many countries and jurisdictions are relaxing their long-standing views and laws on psychotropic substances. In Canada, for instance, the health body has granted some patients permission to access psilocybin-assisted therapy for certain conditions. In the same vein, we are having an increasing number of shroom retreat centers and online shops. These recent developments have made internet queries like “things to do on mushrooms” one of the frequently asked questions.
Therefore, to help you make the most of your next magic mushroom trip, this article explains the best species for the trip experience and the 7 activities that are safe and of great value that are worth exploring on mushrooms.
7 Activities to do with Magic Mushroooms
One of the advantages of magic mushroom trips is that the experience usually supports various kinds of activities. Unlike conventional medicines that render redundant while their effects last, magic mushroom users are usually active during their trip experience. This gives them room to leverage the feeling to explore many safe, value-adding activities that make the whole psychedelic experience even more profound. The following are some of the things to do with mushrooms.
1. Meditation & Mindfulness Practices
Combining psychedelic mushrooms with mindfulness practices such as meditation and holotropic breathwork can be a perfect match, according to a Mind Foundation publication. While psilocybin mushroom therapy and mindfulness have their individual mind-blowing efficacies, combining the two activities produces a far greater result. Some of the highly recommended practices include:
Holotropic Breathwork: The term which means “moving towards wholeness” is a breathing method that people engage in to reach a higher level of enlightenment and consciousness – quite similar to the psychedelic trip experience.
Your DMN (default mode network) is altered during your magic mushroom trip as you attain the mystical experience. Taking a deep breath after macrodosing can help the brain relax and keep you calmer. Regardless of your experience during the trip, this purposeful and intentional breathing can always make a difference and improve the fun moment.
Holotropic breathwork promotes spiritual and intellectual openness. It involves engaging in full deep, down to the bottom of your lungs. It is sometimes faster than normal breaths. In a study published in MAPS, researchers found that the method produced transpersonal experiences in 82% of participants.
It is worth noting, however, that holotropic breathwork involves certain techniques and should be practiced under the supervision of an experienced person. If you are unfamiliar with the practice, doing any form of breathing you are familiar with is recommended so you don’t subject your body to unbearable pressure during your trip.
Meditation: Meditation is another great mindfulness practice worth combining with your magic mushroom trip. “Meditation interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing stress and anxiety….. it is a powerful and established method to alter human consciousness,” said a behavioral neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University, Frederick Barrett.
In 2017, Barrett and his team completed a study to better understand the benefits of combining psilocybin mushrooms and meditation. Published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the study demonstrated robust positive effects of psilocybin and meditation on a wide range of longitudinal measures at 6 months.
The persisting effects in participants include forgiveness, gratitude, life meaning/purpose, and death transcendence. Other profound benefits are religious faith, coping with daily spiritual experiences, and rating of participants by community observers. “Analyses suggest that the determinants of these effects were the intensity of the psilocybin-occasioned mystical experience and the rates of engagement with meditation and other spiritual practices,” the study partly concludes.
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2. Watching Movies
Cinematherapy is the process of using movies made for the big screen or television for therapeutic purposes,” says Gary Solomon, Ph.D., author of The Motion Picture Prescription and Reel Therapy. On their own, movies can help enhance mental health wellness. The effect can be much more pronounced and last longer when combined with a magic mushroom trip. Many people say it is one of the best things to do on golden teachers, penis envy, and another species trip.
Watching movies on shrooms will help deepen the meaning derived from the movie, increase the excitement, and offer you cherished memories worth nurturing for a long time.
It is then not surprising seeing the huge influence of psychedelics on the film industry. Many films are legendary for taking viewers on a wild psychedelic-like trip. Many filmmakers have alluded to the influence of psychedelic trips in their careers and personal lives.
If you are going to watch movies on a mushroom trip, it is best to carefully select your shroom varieties the same way you will your movie. There are many great movies considered ideal for the mushroom trip. But if you want to have a deep-thought trip that will help you appreciate the wonderful world of fungi, it is recommended that you see Fantastic Fungi on Netflix first. Other trippy movies worth seeing include The Fountain (by Darren Aronofsky) and the Tree of Life (by Terrence Malick).
3. Listening to Music
From time immemorial, there has been a synergetic force between music and psychedelic. Whether participating in a magic mushroom amazon ritual or undergoing a clinical therapeutic psilocybin-assisted session, listening to music during the trip has been a perfect match.
Various ancient indigenous people practice their psychedelic-influenced religions with music. They play various musical instruments, sing, and dance around the fire, to intensify their psychedelic experience. The practice remains today and is confirmed to be effective in improving magic mushroom trips. Combining your shroom trip with good, soul-lifting, comforting music increases the fun and helps you keep calm throughout the journey. You may also sing along if you feel like it.
Mendel Kaelen and his team of researchers from Imperial College London studied the specific responses and effects of music heard during magic mushroom-assisted sessions. Their findings show that people who use music during their sessions tend to record a higher improvement rate.
You not only derive pleasure from the combination; it also improves the overall health benefits of your shroom trip. The same effect applies whether you are tripping on champignon magique, blue meanie mushroom, or any shroom of your choosing. Though what makes an ideal psychedelic music genre differs from person to person, many people prefer cool, comforting music when undergoing psilocybin-assisted therapy. And for some people, loud, rocky, and fast music is their choice, especially on a macrodosing dosage during rituals.
4. Journaling
Ensure you have pen and book ready before the magic mushroom high gets to its peak. You will see life and things you’ve known all your life in an amazingly different way. You may not remember everything after the experience, so be sure to pen them down as they come. You can also type them on your computer. The discoveries may help change many things about your life ever after.
A significant part of the epiphanies and breakthroughs occur during the trip and it is important that you keep the memory of your findings. After your mushroom trip, you need to integrate for several days and that is also a great period of self-reflection and integration.
5. Participating in Rituals & Ceremonies
While mushroom offers many benefits regardless of where and how it was consumed, partaking in a ritual setting improves the whole experience. Also known as ritual or retreat, magic mushroom ceremonies are conducted in a sacred environment and intimate group settings.
The event is coordinated by experienced, skilled, compassionate experts, usually shamans and medical experts. They are there to guide you through a journey that leads to an altered state of consciousness, healing from past bitter memories, and overcoming various psychological issues. It helps achieve true healing of the mind, body, and soul.
You consume magic mushrooms and partake in various mindfulness and physical activities to enhance the results. Common magic mushroom ritual activities may include walks in nature, meditation, yoga, dance, music, drum circles, and sound healing.
ALSO READ: What are the Effects of Microdosing Mushrooms?
The retreat usually lasts from three to eight days, with each day starting and ending with various soul-lifting activities. Participating in these rituals is one of the most life-changing things to do on mushrooms. It is a perfect way of connecting to nature and gaining freedom from long-term mental shackles.
There are many advantages that come with magic mushroom rituals. They include the availability of experienced shamans to guide you and the introspection and integration sessions. Psychedelic integration helps you process and substantiate your experience throughout the ceremony. It is one thing to gain insights and recollect old memories during your magic mushroom trip. It is another to decode, actualize them and maximize their teachings for a long. This is what integration and introspection help you achieve.
6. Having SEX
Sex is the most pleasurable human activity, a study from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, has found. Psychologists have proposed three main behavioral orientations people may seek to enhance their well-being: pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Of all activities under these three orientations, like hobbies, drinking alcohol, and volunteering, sexual pleasure comes first. But to maximize their sexual pleasure, people engage in various activities, and psilocybin consumption is one of the healthiest and most effective options.
“Sex, like everything else on psychedelics, is amplified,” says Neal Goldsmith, a New York-based psychologist and author of Psychedelic Healing. Psilocybin effects enhance the already inbuilt pleasure; they put you in touch with reality with greater intensity than the usual experience on a usual sexual activity. “Sex on psychedelics could also be very “emotional, visceral, hormonal, or psychological,” Goldsmith added.
When you have sex on shrooms, the experience becomes much more heightened. People have testified to an increased visual and auditory sense during sex on mushrooms. For instance, you get to see and appreciate your lover and every other thing around you in a completely different light. The following experience usually ensues during sex on a mushroom:
- the bead of sweat from your partner’s body appearing bolder
- the lights in the room shining brighter on them
- the beautiful micro-expression on their face
- their breathing and touch become more audible and pleasurable
- and you both feel in sync with nature
All the ordinarily unnoticeable details will become highly visible and appreciated when a magic mushroom trip is involved.
Having sex on shroom will amplify the sound of the music in the room. Every instrument, every note, and every sound becomes more audible. The break in between each round is also tenderly romantic and memorable. Thinking of the best strain to trip on to explore your sexual prowess?
Who knows, you might even get to discover the logic behind the controversial and popular Sigmund Freud’s theory on penis envy if you try penis envy mushrooms for your next sex on a psychedelic trip experience.
7. Letting Go Practice
The best way to maximize pleasures from these activities is to allow the profound spirit of shrooms in you to take over. When the effects start kicking in, there might be an urge to resist the feelings and the prompts. You should avoid yielding to resistance but surrender yourself to let it all out and follow the spirit’s lead.
Do so if you feel like singing aloud, hugging someone, laughing out loud, and dancing. Just surrender yourself completely to the shroom trip and flow with the process.
If tripping in a group, you may seize the moment to engage in a deep heartfelt conversation with other people of like-mind who are on the same level of the journey as you.
You may also feel like drawing your experience. This is why it is important to have crayons, markers, coloring books, and any useful material handy. If the shroom macrodosing trip takes you along the drawing line, unlock that coloring creativity in you and fill pages with beautiful drawings or paintings. The popular stoner’s psychedelic coloring book can be an excellent idea here. But if you cannot get one, just make do with any coloring materials available.
Set & Setting Matter
Set and setting refer to your mindset, mental state, and physical environment during a psychedelic trip. Just like every other hallucinogen, your state of mind will largely determine your overall magic mushroom trip experience. So, don’t just search for activities to engage in but also work on your mind before embarking on the trip. Sometimes the underlying factor between a good and bad trip lies in people’s mindset toward the journey.
- Only go on shroom trips when you have stable mental and physical health. This is why psychedelic clinics and retreat organizers have medical experts present to first certify each participant’s state of mind before a retreat or therapy. They sometimes reschedule some participants for a future date if their mental state does not support the shroom trip or treatment.
- It is best to cancel all appointments for the day and not have any major plans (such as work, outing) for the next 24 hours.
- It is best to have a trusted person(s) around you, preferably a medical expert or experienced user who could be of help in case of a bad trip.
- Carefully select your trip location – a quiet, comfortable environment.
- Know your magic mushroom strains. It is best to trip on a magic mushroom variety you are familiar with, as each type produces varied results. Many shroomers prefer popular strains like the golden teacher, penis envy, champignon magique, and blue machines. But if you are tripping for the first time, you should seek recommendations from experienced users on which variety you should go for.
Without the right intention and positive expectations, you can easily dismiss the inherent qualities of magic mushroom trips and deny yourself the immediate and lasting benefits that come with them. In the same vein, being in the wrong environment or in the wrong company can negatively impact the experience.