Exploring Consciousness: Mushrooms For Mindfulness

“Mushroom Tea Ceremony.” That’s all the schedule said- no event description. Camp had been abuzz with excitement all weekend.

“Are you going to the mushroom ceremony?”

“What kind of mushrooms are they? Are they like reishi and lion’s mane? Or are they like psilocybin mushrooms? Either way is cool. I just want to know.”

“What do you think it’ll be like?”

All anyone knew was that the ceremony was being held in a yurt labeled The Mystic Den. It was the only event happening in that tent through the whole festival. It also didn’t matter what kind of mushrooms were in the tea. The secretiveness had us hooked.

J.R. and I arrived about ten minutes before the event was scheduled to begin. We kicked off our shoes and joined a dozen other participants inside the yurt. I recognized a few friendly faces from other events that weekend, so we took a seat near them.

“Have you ever done this before?” one of them asked.

I wasn’t sure how to answer since I still wasn’t sure what we were doing, but J.R. jumped in for me. “We’re not sure what this is.”

“It’s magic mushrooms.”

“Then yes, we’ve done this before,” we responded.

The Ceremony

We continued to chit-chat for a few minutes until the workshop facilitator came in. She introduced herself and asked us all to go back outside to choose a mug. She had a large variety of mugs in all different shapes and colors. I chose a cream-colored one with large, brown circles in rows down the sides.

After we had all chosen our mugs and returned to our seats, she began to tell us about the medicinal benefits of mushrooms. She also described how she used mushrooms for mindfulness. She told us that she had prepared the mushroom tea using pineapple juice, similar to lemon tek, and that she would be leading a mindfulness meditation before we consumed our tea.

Mushrooms for Mindfulness

There were about 40 of us in total. We all passed our cups to the front to be filled with what she estimated was a .5-1g dose. Then she had us sit with our cups for a few minutes before consuming our tea. We smelled it and examined its color. We studied our mugs and contemplated why we chose that particular one. Then we discussed how many people had to handle that mug and the materials that made it before it got to us. And then we drank our tea.

The pineapple juice was much more palatable than lemon. J.R. and I decided that we were going to make our tea that way from now on. There was also enough left that we nearly all had a second cup, putting us at roughly a 1-2g dose. Once we’d finished our tea, we were free to leave the yurt and enjoy the rest of the festival.

The facilitator of another workshop I’d planned to attend mentioned that she could use some help setting up. I was pretty excited about her class and didn’t have anything else to do, so I went to help her.

Setting Up the Workshop

It was a cooking class, so we started by gathering some firewood. The mushrooms were already starting to kick in, so everything was just a little bit sparkly. We got everything ready to start the fire and then headed over to her campsite to retrieve the food and pans we’d be working with. I was starting to feel a little jello-like but was mostly okay. She however was starting to struggle.

A few of her friends met us at the firepit as we were finishing setting up.

“Are you sure you’re going to be able to do this?” they asked.

“I’m not sure,” she replied. We debated for a few minutes before ultimately deciding to reschedule the workshop for a time when we weren’t all inebriated.

Chilling at Camp

I set off to find J.R. He’d mentioned going to sit in the car to listen to music, so I looked there first. He was there, smoking weed and watching the trees move. He seemed much more intoxicated than I felt. I smoked a little weed with him, and then we headed back to our campsite.

Since we’d intentionally taken the mushrooms for mindfulness, we went into our tent to meditate for a little bit. We ended up watching the shadows of people walking by dance around the walls of our tent for an hour or so. At one point, we heard a loud CLACK! It sounded like two magnets smacking together, but we had no idea where the sound had come from.

I was feeling a little giddy, but otherwise like I’d had a fairly small dose. The 1-2g estimate felt about right to me. J.R. on the other hand swore that he’d had closer to an eighth. I wanted my trip to be a bit more intense, so when the music started for the evening, we left the tent to smoke some more.

Mushrooms for Mindfulness: Campfire Edition

It was still light out, so we watched some leaves blow around for a bit and snacked on some crackers. I’m not sure who the band was that was playing, but they had a nice, folksy sound that fit the mood. It was really nice to sit and just exist for a while.

After a while, I was feeling a little chilly and wanted to make some hot chocolate. As I leaned over to grab a pack of the mix, I saw two small magnetic balls tucked between our bags. That explained the sound, but where had they come from?

We asked the people around us, but no one recognized them. We finally concluded that they were a gift from the mushroom gods. J.R. finds magnets endlessly fascinating, so it gave him something to play with while we listened to the music.

Once it got dark, the fire dancers started their performance. J.R. was really enjoying the band that was playing and wanted to check out their merch table, so we walked down by the stage. He ended up purchasing a new beanie, and we watched the dancers for a while. Some of the moves they were doing were very impressive. It was hard to believe they’d only learned them that morning.

Eventually, we got too cold and made our way back into our tent. I’d intended to listen to the music for a while, but I was worn out and fell asleep quickly.

All in all, it was a good trip. It wasn’t as intense as I normally prefer, but that was probably for the best. Being able to just exist and sit in the present moment isn’t something I have time to do very often. I will definitely be using mushrooms for mindfulness again in the future.