Depression is Painful

Clinical depression is an extremely common affliction, impacting more than six percent of American adults. Everyone knows someone who suffers from depression, whether or not it is diagnosed. The pain generally lasts a lifetime, although it can be alleviated with therapy, meditation, and other treatments. In the meantime, it causes a person to become lethargic and unmotivated, draining their energy.



Mushrooms may be a solution

More than half a century ago, scientists did early research on psychedelics hinting that they could have wide-ranging applications. The research didn’t meet the high standards of rigor that science expects today, but the results of those experiments hinted that these drugs may be able to significantly improve some people’s lives.

For example, one study treated more than 500 alcoholics using psychedelics. The drugs were found to vastly outperform other contemporary treatment options. However, the research stalled out in the middle of the twentieth century, since drug control made it extremely difficult to access psychedelics even in a research setting.

Imperial College London and the Beckley Foundation have teamed up to pick up where those 60s scientists left off and learn more about the potential medical uses for psychedelics.

More recent research

One study recently gave a daily 25 mg dose of psilocybin – the active ingredient in magic mushrooms – to a dozen people who had suffered from treatment-resistant depression (which cannot be effectively treated by antidepressant drugs). After their “trip,” all twelve reported feeling less anxious and enjoying more aspects of their lives. A week later, eight were in remission. Three months later, five of the study participants remained free of depression.

Another study at Johns Hopkins University found that psilocybin can be effective in helping people to quit smoking, with an unprecedented 80 percent success rate in one study.

Moving forward

Of course, depressed readers shouldn’t just head out to find some psychedelic mushrooms of their own. These are still an illegal drug, and you need to know exactly how much to use to get the best results. However, with careful supervision and parameters, it’s been proven that psychedelics can be a legitimate medical tool. However, much more research is needed before they’re widely used in treating any sort of mental difficulties.

Source : Trufflemagic.com ... Where you’ll receive a wealth of information about this psychedelic substance ... and more !


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New research has shown that using “magic mushrooms” might rewire the brain, leading people to have entirely new experiences. The brain builds pathways over the course of a lifetime, and strengthens those pathways every time it uses one. That means that people tend to get into a rut of having the same thought cycles many times over.

Many parts of the brain are not directly connected to each other. Thoughts, memories, and ideas in the different regions are not linked together, so they operate relatively independently. Some of the most creative people have had unusually structured brains so they connect different parts of the brains.

A Unique Phenomena

Typically, brain pathways don’t change. However, when someone ingests mushrooms, that can change. The main ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms is psilocybin. This drug has been shown to create new neural pathways between brain regions that were previously unconnected. That’s what leads to things like seeing music or hearing numbers.

In one study, researchers gave psilocybin to some people and a placebo (a fake) to others. They gave exactly two milligrams of psilocybin to the study participants, though mushrooms are eaten, not injected, and don’t always have the exact same dose.

The scientists found that the people who received psilocybin had more erratic brain functioning than the control group – the neural pathways that were lighting up were unusual. However, they weren’t completely random.


Restructuring your thoughts

Instead of random chaos, the new pathways formed an entirely new organizational structure, and it has the potential to do amazing things, such as treat depression. Studies have found that people who suffer from depression have too much activity in the area of the brain that’s devoted to a sense of self. It’s important to have a moderate amount of activity in that region, but when there is too much self-criticism and negative thought, a person can spiral into depression.

Since psilocybin removes old pathways as part of creating new ones, it can help people get out of a rut. The brain chatter that leads to depression – negative self-thought can be muted and lead to people having a new experience.

This effect has been studied. One Johns Hopkins study gave psilocybin to a small group of volunteers, who reported an out-of-body experience. Those volunteers reported feeling more open and more appreciative of the beauty in the world – and that the effects lasted a long time. One of the participants reported feeling a sense of a greater force, and a realization that the many anxieties they struggled with were just not as important as they felt. A full year after the study, almost two-thirds of the participants said the experience was one of the most important in their lives. Half continued to be more open than they had before.

While mushrooms (and psilocybin) continue to be illegal in the United States, there is definitely a possibility for future therapeutic use, especially in cases of depression.




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As I feel indebted to the shamans who saw themselves in me and helped me understand why I have always felt like I don’t belong in mainstream medicine, the intention of this article is to respectfully honor the shamanic tradition, and not to violate it in any way.

Because modern culture doesn’t have a role for the shamanic archetype, many people who grow up outside indigenous villages are shamans and don’t know it. Many naturally wind up in overtly healing professions, such as medicine, psychology, or life coaching. But some wind up in professions where they may feel like they don’t fit in at all. Even those who enter the healing professions may feel out of place, because the systems of Western medicine and psychology leave little room for a shaman to practice his or her natural healing art. But many will wind up in various forms of sacred activism, healing the planet, for example, rather than healing people.


Are you a shaman and you don’t know it? Here are some telltale signs that you might fit the archetype.

1. You sense that you’re meant to participate in the global shift in consciousness that is currently underway.

We can all feel it, this impending shift that New Agers have talked about for decades. But those with the shamanic archetype don’t just feel it, they feel it pulling them, like a magnet, towards leadership positions that help facilitate this transformation of human consciousness and evolution of the species.

2. You’ve been through a difficult initiation, which has prepared you for this leadership role.

In indigenous cultures, the village knew who the shaman was because he or she was struck by lightning and survived. In modern culture, you may not literally be struck by lightning, but you may have survived some other life or heart-threatening ordeal. You may have experienced childhood abuse, sexual violence, a near-death experience, or some other trauma that put you through the crucible and forged you into the healing earth shaman you are becoming.

3. You are an introvert.

Shamans are multi-dimensional beings who dance between the realms of the seen and unseen worlds, so if you’re of the shamanic archetype, you may have a hard time navigating the 3D realms of this dimension, which may cause you to withdraw into yourself so you can visit the realms of consciousness where you feel most at home.

4. You feel most at home in nature.

The shamans of a culture are the bridges between nature and humans, serving as translators between the mountains, oceans, rivers, animals, and people. You may sense that nature is talking to you or that you get your most tuned in downloads when you are surrounded by the natural world.

5. You’re very sensitive.

You may feels things others don’t feel, see things others don’t see, hear things others don’t hear, smell things others don’t smell, and sense things others don’t sense. This may make it hard for you to be out in public, where you may feel accosted by over-stimulation of your senses. If you embody the shamanic archetype, it’s likely that you’re the kind of person others may feel is “too sensitive.” But this sensitivity is a blessing. It’s part of your gift.

6. You feel a sort of spiritual calling to ease the suffering of people, animals, and nature.

Many health care providers are called to medicine the way priests are called to the priesthood. But you don’t have to be a health care provider to have the shamanic archetype. It may transmute itself into healing service to animals, sacred activist causes, or conservation of Mother Earth.

7. Physical ailments that fall under the category of “shaman sickness.”

In the indigenous cultures, shamans who have been called to service but haven’t yet said “yes” to the call often wind up struck with physical ailments. In modern culture, these shamanic sicknesses may fall into difficult to treat categories like chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic Lyme disease, chronic pain disorders, and autoimmune disorders. Acceptance of the call to shamanic service often resolves the symptoms of shaman sickness. If you’re suffering from one of these illnesses, ask yourself, “Am I a shaman who hasn’t said yes to my calling yet?”

8. You tend to have vivid dreams.

The unseen realm may be communicating with you through your dreams, so try analyzing your dreams. Pay particular attention to any animal totems that may appear in your dreams. Google search the animal and “spirit totem” and see if you can find any messages from the animals in your dreams. Or try a Jungian analysis, like the one described here.

9. You may discover unusual spiritual superpowers, or what the yogis call “siddhis.”

You might be psychic. You might get healing visions like the one in my previous post about the meeting of Western medicine and Shamanism. You might realize that you can heal people with your hands or that you can telepathically communicate with animals, people, or even inanimate objects.

10. You’ve always felt like you don’t quite belong anywhere, because you are a bridge.

Shamans tend to live on the outskirts of the village for a reason. They are not like the others – and this is a blessing! In village life, this is understood and recognized. But in the modern world, it may leave those with the shamanic archetype feeling like they don’t ever fit in. But don’t despair. You DO fit in. Your role is essential. You may find that you fit in best with others who share this shamanic archetype. Among your fellow shamans, you will feel like you are with family.

Embrace Your Bridge Work

Because shamans are always operating between worlds, you may find that you’re connecting mainstream culture and the culture that wants to be born in the new consciousness, and this may feel uncomfortable, as if you don’t quite fit in. When I realized that I am a bridge between mainstream medicine and the new world of medicine that is being co-created by others who share the shamanic archetype, it brought me such a profound sense of relief! This relief is shared by the health care providers who participate in the Whole Health Medicine Institute, which I founded for doctors and other stealth shamans. If you’re one of those bridge workers, please know that you belong with all the other stealth shamans in this program, designed to merge medicine and spirituality, and we’re enrolling for the 2016 class now.

In our culture, it can be quite challenging to be a stealth shaman. Yes, it’s a blessing to have the opportunity to help people end the story of separation, to dissolve the apparent duality into Oneness, to fulfill our callings to bring the worlds together, to heal people, animals, and the planet. But it can be lonely and disheartening and scary and isolating. I sense that many of us stealth shaman bridge workers have scores of past lives during which we were persecuted for our attempts to connect the worlds, so no matter how much we know in our hearts that we are all One and we DO belong, we have cellular memories of past traumas, during which we were literally killed because we refused to fit in. So it takes tremendous courage to come out of the spiritual closet as someone who embodies the shamanic archetype. In order to keep being brave, we need to feel safe. To feel safe, we need to foster a sense of belonging so we don’t feel isolated on top of feeling scared. In order to feel safe enough to keep bridging, we need each other.

Are you a shaman who is still in the closet? If so, please know that there are many of us, and we hold you close in our hearts while you muster up the moxie to claim your place in the world.

To begin embracing your purpose, please feel free to check out my new book The Anatomy Of A Calling. Click the link below to see if it’s for you:

http://theanatomyofacalling.com

Here’s to bridging the realms and healing our world!

Lissa


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Handling Marijuana Is Often More Difficult Than Major Psychedelics

In the fight for the legalization of various drugs, many people are under the impression that marijuana should be legalized before other types of drugs. Their thinking presumes marijuana is an easier type of psychedelic for people to handle, so it should become legal before more major psychedelics should. This certainly seems like sound logic, doesn’t it?

Indeed, it is the common belief of most that marijuana provides a mellow experience, rather than the intense psychedelic experience that comes from other drugs. That is not always the case, however. It is, in fact, the opinion of many users of various psychedelics (including marijuana) that weed can be a lot harder to handle. They claim that psychedelic overdose can be handled and is well understood, but a marijuana overdose is shrouded in confusion and misconceptions, and therefore is more dangerous when an overdose occurs.

What is a Psychedelic Overdose ?

There is a lot of confusion that accompanies the idea of a “marijuana overdose” or a “psychedelic overdose.” Many people believe it does not occur, while others imagine it to be the exact same experience as an overdose of hard drugs, like cocaine or heroine. For the sake of this article, a psychedelic overdose is not exactly the same kind of overdose as would be experienced with alcohol or other drugs. The main difference between a psychedelic overdose and a hard drug overdose is that they are not fatal at all -- the overdose is simply a stronger experience than the user would like. In other words, it might overwhelm a person's threshold.

Just like alcohol users learn to avoid a hangover, psychedelic users learn how to avoid this “overdose.” Simply being familiar with your personal limits, and keeping tabs on how much you take is usually sufficient. Also, be sure to consume in a safe environment, in case the experience is more than you bargained for. In fact, psychedelics are better to overdose on than other drugs for another reason: the overdose can be turned around into a positive, transformative trip if the surrounding environment is a good one.

The Marijuana Overdose

Perhaps the main problem that surrounds understanding marijuana overdose is the fact that everyone thinks it’s an easier drug to handle, so it is taken much more casually, without planning or second thoughts. The fact that marijuana is usually consumed via smoking rather than ingesting it (such as with most psychedelics) means that its effects occur much more rapidly. It is said that the faster a drug affects a person, the stronger the addiction is to that drug. This, for instance, is the reason heroine overpowers opium in addictiveness.

With marijuana, many of the people smoking it really enjoy the act of smoking. This means that, even once they have gotten to the point of being at the “right” level of high, they will just continue smoking because they enjoy it. They likely would not do the same thing if they were using tinctures or consuming marijuana edibles, for example.

Another reason a marijuana overdose can be difficult to deal with is the fact that a person who is overdosing will seem fine to everyone else. While their emotions begin to spiral in fearful, confusing directions, they won’t receive the care they need because they look fairly normal. A psychedelic overdose, on the other hand, makes the person look obviously unwell, meaning the proper care will be taken.

Proper Marijuana Education is Needed

Ultimately, the main problem that comes from marijuana during the present day is the fact that people are not accurately educated about the drug. If everyone learns about limits and smoking safely, these overdosing issues can easily be avoided. It should not be a more complicated issue than with major psychedelic drugs, and we can make it that way through education.

As marijuana becomes more widespread and legalized across the nation, we truly need to address this issue. The new technologies allowing for concentrated doses is just another reason why people need to fully understand what they are consuming similar care to how we treat major psychedelics. Most things are good in moderation, we should focus on defining what that is.

Author : Robert Bergman, Founder of ilovegrowingmarijuana.com.

Robert has been growing cannabis passionately for over 20 years and shares this insight to educate growers avoid mistakes and to fully capitalise on a bud's potential.




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