'Macro Dose' and Healing the Brain
In order to begin healing with mushrooms in higher doses it is essential that a knowledgeable and trustworthy facilitator or therapist is present. If you take a ‘macro’ or big dose of psilocybin without the support of a guide there is potential for more harm than good. The reason for this is because the psychedelic experience brings forth all that is buried in our subconscious, including emotions, core beliefs about yourself and memories. If you haven't done the work to build the internal tools and resources to navigate through this terrain and you are left to your own devices, then there is a potential for you to get caught in the loop of unconscious patterns that leaves you feeling less than whole. The benefit of taking psilocybin is that it can actually bring forth all of the parts of yourself that have been fragmented through traumatic experiences and help integrate you back to a sensation of wholeness. With the right facilitator and integrative techniques, this can become a very healing session.
We all have a past. How we internalize the events of the past become stored in the ‘default mode network’ or higher center of our brain as core beliefs. We also have a less complex portion of our brain or lower part of our brain that takes in information directly from the external world through our senses and relays it to the default network to be analyzed and integrated into our beliefs. In a healthy, flexible brain we are constantly adjusting our core beliefs with new information that is being taken in through our senses, as well as the opposite; our beliefs also determine how we will take in external stimuli. For us to be able to experience sensation and connection with the external world in a healthy way, it is vital that our beliefs are evolving according to our present time environment. Whatever is stored in the higher default mode network becomes our perception of our own reality. If that lens is one of distrust, fear, or a feeling of inadequacy, then we will constantly reiterate these experiences in the present time. Most of us are unconscious of the core beliefs that shape our reality, and those beliefs are often as old as our body. The higher centers of our brain that hold these solid beliefs were shaped early in our development. So internalized feelings and sensations of our body and mind were locked in while we were children, often the time we are most receptive to our external environment. As we get older, the beliefs tend to become more rigid, even though our environment shifts.
The potential for healing through psychedelic therapy, especially in higher doses or macro doses, is that psilocybin stimulates the neurons that connect with parts of our brain that are in charge of our abstract ideas about life or the default mode network. This is also where the receptor of serotonin is. The stimulation of these neurons shakes up the routine connectivity and allows for new neuron connections to be made. This frees up the lower parts of our brain, that take in new information through our senses, to be able to receive new information through a new lens of perception. This is why when you go through a mushroom journey, you begin to have epiphanies and may see old ideas in a new light. This reaction in the brain can lead to neuroplasticity or more surface area on the neurons to continue to make more and new connections. That is why when you look at a photo of a brain on and off mushrooms, there is far more activity under the influence of mushrooms. The stimulation of neuron connection and plasticity is the job of the mushroom upon our brain. Once the mushrooms wear off, our job then is to be able to process this experience in a way that we can remember. A great way to process this often-nonlinear conglomeration of ideas extracted from the journey, is to write it down. To bring clarity through reflecting, journaling and mediating upon what came up for you. As well as using our mind to remember this new insight, it is also very important to remember that our nervous system connects our entire body which stores memory just the same. Somatic techniques, which are body-oriented awareness techniques, can be a very powerful integration practice for digesting and processing emotions that arise. Developing these tools can help you continue to cultivate that sense of wholeness you experienced on mushrooms in your everyday life.