The Mushroom Halftime Speech

Sep 8

It’s still the frontier days of legal psilocybin therapy in Oregon, and I’ve been lucky enough to witness some incredible moments here in the wild, wild west. Not only have I inhabited the role of the client seeking a spiritual reset and a deep immersion into my anxiety, but I’ve facilitated numerous journeys for folks who–armed with a toolbox of critically important intentions–have leveraged their psilocybin session into a vision board ripe with insight and blueprints for transformation.

While I’m constantly adjusting my approach in this brave new world of above-ground psilocybin therapy, I wanted to share some ideas on thoughtful preparation. One of my primary aims has become reducing barriers to full immersion. If a client can arrive at the center on their journey date, feeling confident, hopeful and safe, they seem to be more likely to turn off, tune in and drop into the light.

Seeking Safe Harbor

You might be surprised by what has proven to be the most essential component of legal psilocybin therapy. It’s not a perfectly curated playlist nor an enchanting and meticulous set and setting. It’s actually trust. Trust between the client and the facilitator is–far and away–the most important metric when tracking successful outcomes. The deeper the trust, the more profound and transformative the experience (generally speaking, of course). Why is trust so important in this container?

For beginners, psychedelic therapy is literally unlike anything else in the world. Suddenly, a lifetime tethered to a singular and antithetical reality begins to fray and BAM!–you’re transported somewhere that alters your conception of the universe; you can imagine that experience can be a little intense and a lot unnerving. This is where safety comes in. If you believe in the container you’ve built with your facilitator, then you’re more likely to feel safe and more apt to trust in the medicine session.This is true for seasoned psychonauts too. The OHA model offers unfamiliar obstacles to an experienced user, and the safer that human feels, the more likely they can shake off lingering doubts and embrace the journey.

A Quiet Confidence

Confident feels like the wrong word for what I want to express, but I have a sneaking suspicion it’s actually right, and it’s just a word that doesn’t show up in mushroom discourse all that often. Where does our confidence come from when we walk deliberately into a challenging, unpredictable scenario? From my experience, it derives from preparation and earned determination.

If you have a regular wellness practice, you have super powers that help you navigate unwelcome stressors. If you’ve spent the last few weeks deliberately looking inward and focusing your intentions, you are more prepared to ride out any turbulence that may emerge. If you have visualized managing and dropping into these moments, then you’re relatively unphased as you greet the gorgeous intensity of an oncoming psilocybin session.

All of this work done behind the scenes breeds confidence. If you’re confident you can drop in and gather up all the breadcrumbs from a mushroom journey, you will more than likely do exactly that.

Hope is a Thing with Feathers

Okay, now I’m pushing it. I’ve lived long enough with anxiety and depression to know we can’t magically drape hope over someone’s shoulders and expect them to parade it into the dazzling sunset. I suppose I’m not talking about a general sense of hope, but a very specific version that relates to the mushroom journey itself.

Hope implies you’ve done your research and you believe in plant medicine. Hope articulates a desire to look deeply and unapologetically at yourself. Hope connotes a commitment to this experience, no matter what the journey uncovers. Hope is the expectation that the plant medicine journey will elicit an extraordinary state of consciousness.