A Guide to Flying Magic Mushrooms

Welcome! Thank you for choosing Mushroom Air. Before embarking on this exciting journey, please read the following carefully, as your safety is our top priority.

If you see a staircase, go up it. If you see a door, open it. If you see a monster, don't run away. Just step right up to it and say, 'What are you doing in my head? What do you have to teach me?' In other words, surrender to the experience. - Michael Pollen.

If you see a door, open it. If you see a staircase, open it. If you see a monster, don't run away. Stand before it and ask, 'What are you doing in my head? What do you have to teach me?' In other words, surrender to whatever experience presents itself.

Pre-trip Preparation

The following factors will influence whether travelers can enjoy their trip in the best possible environment:

1. Set and Setting
2. Sitter and Guide
3. Dosage

Set and Setting

Set and Setting refers to your mindset and the setting of your surroundings.

A good set and setting is essential for a good trip and can also reduce the chance of a bad trip.

Set refers to the voyager's (tripper's) mindset. Only with a positive perspective on the journey can one enjoy the experience and appreciate its rewards. The next section discusses potential scenarios during the journey.

To ensure the engine room (your stomach) is fully fueled and the environment (pH and alkalinity) is stable, it's recommended to stop eating (except water) two to four hours before flight. Meditate beforehand to stabilize the mind, body, and spirit.

Before embarking on your journey, travelers can write down their thoughts or preconceived notions about the mystical journey. Then, jot down what you want to seek, learn, clarify, and experience, and share this with your trip guide. In this way, your guide can gradually guide you in your search for answers to these questions throughout your journey.

Setting, the surroundings

Besides the traveler's own state of mind, the surroundings also play a crucial role in influencing the journey. Making the environment more comfortable also helps the entire journey be more effective. The travel environment should be relatively enclosed, safe, and warm and comfortable. Perhaps there should be a bed, some plants, warm lighting, and appropriate insulation, such as blankets.

For a longer or more therapeutic journey, travelers should wear an eye mask and close their eyes. Opening our eyes distracts us from the changes in the surface world caused by the mushrooms, such as melting, ripples, and colors. This prevents us from focusing on the inner changes brought about by the mushrooms with our "mind's eye."

In addition, music has a significant impact on the journey, and can even be considered the primary driver. During the journey, you may be able to see the music, or your breathing rhythm may blend with the music, allowing you to control the music with your breath and even influence the waves you see. So, put on headphones!

So what kind of music should you listen to during a journey? At the beginning of the journey, music played is usually silent, such as classical music, played at a lower volume. As the peak experience approaches, music with a lot of percussion and played at a higher volume becomes more common. This more concentrated music plays for 45 to 90 minutes, then transitions back to softer, melodic music, typically featuring a female vocalist. Finally, during the taxiing phase, it transitions to simulated nature sounds, such as insects and birdsong. Some have also suggested playing music with religious overtones.

Sitter and Guide

Sitters and guides are individuals who are not under the influence of psychoactive drugs (conscious) during the trip. They ensure the entire trip is conducted in an extremely safe environment, ensuring that passengers are protected from self-harm during the trip. There are no windows nearby where passengers could jump out of the plane, no doors directly onto busy streets, and no chance of getting lost.

Ideally, the guide and sitter should be experienced travelers or someone who understands the journey and knows when to share helpful insights. These tips from the guide can help travelers discover new lands.

During this journey, travelers may experience a wide variety of experiences, ranging from delightful to downright terrifying. Guides should frequently remind travelers that all these experiences, good and bad, are a normal part of travel and will pass.

Dosage

Previous studies have shown that the psilocybin content in magic mushrooms is approximately 0.1% to 2% by weight after drying. This means that 1 gram of dried magic mushrooms may contain between 1 mg and 20 mg of psilocybin. The amount of psilocybin in each mushroom varies depending on factors such as maturity, size, location (umbrella or stipe), storage method, species, and variety.

In clinical studies, subjects are typically given single doses of 1 mg, 10 mg, 25 mg, or 30 mg.

Departure

The total duration of this flight is approximately 4 to 6 hours, and the flight may continue to glide at low altitude even after 8 hours of departure. The flight's initial effects are expected to gradually develop 20 to 40 minutes after departure, reaching its maximum altitude approximately 60 to 90 minutes into the flight, followed by a gradual descent and glide to landing.

If the entire trip were plotted by altitude and time, it would roughly look like the image below.

Adverse Events

In addition to the often-heard positive experiences of travel, adverse events are also common. Adverse events refer to any adverse reactions experienced by a participant after receiving a medication.

Adverse events that may occur during this trip can be categorized as either psychological or physical. Common adverse events include:

Physical adverse events:

• Increased blood pressure and heart rate
• Headache
• Nausea

Psychological adverse events:

• Anxiety
• Confusion

In addition, some adverse events are less commonly reported, such as:

• Fatigue
• Migraine
• Vomiting
• Discomfort

And psychological adverse events:

• Extreme fear
• Paranoia
• Psychotic-like symptoms
• Uneasy feeling Discomfort

Around the peak of a journey, passengers may experience intense mood swings and a surge of anxiety. This is also a time of ego dissolving.

Previous research has shown that those who did not experience significant benefits from mushrooms after the entire trip reported higher levels of anxiety in post-trip questionnaires, while those who perceived the trip as having positive benefits reported lower levels of anxiety. The difference likely lies in whether passengers are able to let go of everything and embrace the various experiences offered by the journey during this peak and most anxious moment.

How to Reduce Anxiety During a Trip

During a Peak Experience, passengers may experience countless connections—with the environment, with the people in the room, and with the universe—and may even experience the most intense anxiety of the entire trip. If a guide notices a passenger becoming anxious, they can offer timely reminders to let go while ensuring their safety. Alternatively, practicing the Cyclic Sighing breathing technique can effectively slow your breathing rate and promote a calmer mood.

You can practice this breathing technique while sitting or lying down. First, inhale slowly to expand your lungs, then take a short breath to fully fill them. Finally, exhale completely. This completes one cycle of the Cyclic Sighing breathing technique. Continuously practicing cyclic sighing can effectively reduce anxiety and slow your breathing rate. During this breathing technique, air is inhaled through the nose and exhaled through the mouth, but you can also use your nose throughout the breathing technique.

Evaluating Your Experience — The Mystical Experience Questionnaire

In 1960, Walter Terence Stance¹ proposed the following aspects of a typical mystical experience:

• Internal and external unity
• Transcendence of time and space
• Noetic quality
• Sacredness
• Positive mood
• Ineffability/paradoxicality

Based on these aspects, researchers developed the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ) to measure the effectiveness of a single mystical experience. Among the many mystical experience questionnaires, the most frequently used is the 43-question questionnaire called MEQ43, also known as the Pahnke–Richards Mystical Experience Questionnaire.

The recently developed mystical experience questionnaire, MEQ30, consists of 30 questions extracted from the MEQ43. In addition to being more concise, the MEQ30 also has psychometric validity. Recent research conducted on Danish speakers² has shown that the MEQ30 can be used as an effective tool for assessing mystical experience.

Why not take the questionnaire after your trip and recall the most memorable moments from your trip?

MEQ30

Look back on your trip and assign an appropriate score to each question based on your thoughts and feelings during the trip. When assigning a score, please use the following scale:

• 0 — Not at all
• 1 — Too mild to determine
• 2 — Mild
• 3 — Moderate
• 4 — Strong (Equal to other intense experiences in life)
• 5 — Extremely strong (Surpasses all experiences so far and more intense than 4)

Scoring

The MEQ30 includes four subcategories: Mystical, Positive Mood, Transcendence of Time and Space, and Ineffability.

Among the 30 questions, the categories of each question are:

• Mystical Experience (15): 4, 5, 6, 9, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28

• Positive Emotions (6): 2, 8, 12, 17, 27, 30

• Transcendence of Time and Space (6): 1, 7, 11, 13, 19, 22

• Ineffable (3): 3, 10, 29

Sum up the scores of the four subcategories. If the scores of all four subcategories exceed the total score of the category, A score of 60% indicates a "complete mystical experience."

For example, if the Mystical Experience category has 15 questions, the total score for that category is 75, so you need to score 45 or more, and so on. If you're using the form above, you can determine whether the statistical bars for the four categories exceed the red threshold.

Conclusion

If this guide made your trip smoother, please leave a comment below or click the "Reaction" button.

Thank you for choosing Magic Mushroom Aviation. We look forward to serving you again in the near future. Thank you.

References

• How Psilocybin Can Rewire Our Brain, Its Therapeutic Benefits & Its Risks
• MacCallum CA, et al. (2022) Therapeutic use of psilocybin: Practical considerations for dosing and administration
• Balban MY et al. (2023) Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal
• Increased low-frequency brain responses to music after psilocybin therapy for depression
• (MEQ30) Validation of the revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire in experimental sessions with psilocybin