BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO YOUR FIRST MUSHROOM TRIP

First Time? Advice for Safe Mushroom Use.

Your first time taking psilocybin mushrooms should be considered an important event. As with any important event, you should respect and treat it like one. This means, preparing and getting into a relaxed and open mind. This also means to enter a safe and comforting environment. In the psilocybin psychedelic circle, it is often known as “set and setting.” This is important as to minimize potential stressful and bad trips

Set and Setting

Set and setting are in regards to the internal and external environments that can play an influence to your psychedelic experience. Sets may include your inner such as your mood, beliefs, perceptions, and more. Setting often refers to all the external stimulus such as the people currently around you, sights and sounds, and even smells.

Set recommendations:

One thing you should consider before taking psychedelics is whether you are using them with the intent to “escape” something like a particular emotion or situation. This may be an indication that you should manage your mental health another way before trying psychedelics. First-time users may hope psychedelics provide a therapeutic effect, but they can actually magnify certain stressful emotional states so be wary of your intentions.

Setting recommendations:

The setting is the surrounding in which the trip occurs. This is the physical environment and the space for the trip. Generally, we recommend two settings when taking psychedelics: a familiar, trusted, comfortable room with a couch or bed or a familiar outdoor setting.

If you are indoors, choose an uncluttered place with access to a toile. We recommend soft items such as pillows and blankets and some access to music. All these items help maintain a simple, trusted environment that supports inner peace.

If taken outdoors, connecting with nature becomes an essential part of the trip experience. It is recommended that there is a space to lie down so bring a blanket, sleeping pad, or chair and an external speaker for music.

In either recommended setting, music is critical for an enlightening entheogenic experience. 

Risks:

No drug use is perfectly safe. This guide has been created strictly in hope to reduce any harm, but is in no way expert health, medical, or legal advice. You should note that the only way to be perfectly safe using shrooms is to not take them at all. The same is true with any activity that involves risk: the only way to be perfectly safe in these activities is to not do them. Psychedelic mushrooms are illegal in almost all countries, and are not-risk free. We do not endorse the acquisition and use of illegal drugs. If you make the choice to use psychedelic drugs, please do your research. If you have a pre-disposition to mental illness, please reconsider using mushrooms as you may induce a psychotic episode.

It is seen, however, that the rate of fear, anxiety and bad trips are surprisingly low at certain dosages. Here is a recommendation that can significantly reduce the incidence of bad trips.

At a dosage of 1.6 grams in a therapeutic clinical environment, we might expect 0% of people to experience some extreme fear, for an average of around 1 minute of strong anxiety, and we might expect around 45% to report a persisting positive increase in mood from this dosage

At a dosage of around 3.2 grams in a therapeutic clinical environment, we might expect 14% of people to experience some extreme fear, for an average of around 2 minutes of strong anxiety

At a dosage of 4.8 grams of mushrooms in a therapeutic clinical environment, we might expect 86% of people to experience some extreme fear, for an average of around 11 minutes of strong anxiety.

Dosage

Your dosage is of utmost importance to having a safe and positive experience. It is crucial that you weigh your mushrooms and with a properly sensitive scale.

If you’ve never tried psychedelics before, a microdose experience is subtle and can be a great place to begin. Although it is common for your first time, a dosage of 1.0 to 2.0 grams can still be a powerful experience which can be uncomfortable and disorienting if you’re not totally relaxed for your first time.

Shroom Dose Ranges (for dried psilocybe cubensis).

  • Microdose: 0.1 – 0.5 grams

  • Low Dose: 0.5 – 2.0 grams

  • Moderate Dose: 2.0 – 3.5 grams

  • High Dose: 3.5 – 5.0+ grams

Varying strains of mushroom have different potency. The dosage information above is for cubensis strains. Dosage recommendations may be lower depending on the strain of mushroom. We recommend to start low before taking higher dose trips.

How Long Does a Trip Last?

The entire experience lasts between 4 and 8 hours, an average six-hour journey for most people but it can vary based on the individual and the dose. It takes an average of 30 to 45 minutes for mushrooms to come into effect, but depending on how you have taken them, it can take from 15 minutes to two hours, so don’t be anxious or take more if you don’t feel they come on as fast as you would like. I strongly recommend you take your dose in advance and use a scale so that you are sure that you want more, so you know how much you are taking.

Generally speaking, the average milestones of an experience are:

  • The Escalation: Around first 2 hours
  • Hitting the Peak: 3 to 4 hours after consuming the shrooms.
  • Gradual decline: Usually from 4 to 6 hours

The mushroom experience typically also comes in waves. Nearing the gradual decline phase, you may feel like your trip is completely over, but then you can get washed over by yet another wave. So be aware of the waves and don’t be hurried or anxious to reach back to normality.