Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Is Microdosing Mushrooms for You?
80 Plays1 year ago
Hello friends! This week I am candidly discussing the reasons behind my decision to start microdosing psilocybin aka mushrooms. Come along for the journery to hear all about what this experience has been like- the positive and challenges. Have you ever considering working intentionally with plant medicine? Or have any personal experiences of your own? I would LOVE to hear all about it! Send my a DM on instagream @feelgoodwithrenee
In this episode, you will learn about:
-My thoughts on the popularity of plant medicine and working intentionally with psychedelics vs using a subbstance to numb out.
-What is microdosing exactly?
-The details of how I came to start this practice
-What has been like for a highly sensitive person
-Importance of sourcing and basic education as well as setting intention
-The wisdom of working with sacred medicine
-General positive benefits for microdosing
-The specific benefits I have experienced & details on my protocol.
-How this has helped me specifically with social anxiety
-What happens with our neuroplasticity?
-How it can be an aid to breakthroughing in our growth and healing
-Increasing self awareness and JOY
-How this experience has beautifully aligned to knowing my purpose on a deeper level
-The positive side of how this improved my relationship with my children
Microdosing Course: https://axismundiceremony.com/
FREE soundbath meditation: https://www.reneenovello.com/sound-bath-meditation
To connect with Renee: @feelgoodwithrenee (on instagram)
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Gratitude
00:00:07
Speaker
Hi, everybody. Welcome to this solo episode. I am so grateful that you are here. I do not take it lightly that you have made space in your day and in your life to listen to this pretty awesome medium that we share here in podcasting and that you are choosing to be present with me.
Exploring Microdosing Psilocybin
00:00:29
Speaker
I want to get into a very specific topic today, one that I am asked about on a pretty regular basis, and that is my journey over the past year with microdosing psilocybin, otherwise known as mushrooms, and how I got into that. We're going to get into all sorts of hopefully enlightening aspects of why I choose to do that.
00:00:57
Speaker
the ins and outs of it, maybe point you in the right direction if you're curious about incorporating that medicine intentionally into your own life.
Return to Podcasting and Personal Growth
00:01:09
Speaker
So we'll get into that in just a minute, but I just want to take a few minutes and do a little check-in, a little one-on-one here since I haven't yet taken the time to create a solo episode. I've been occupied with
00:01:27
Speaker
incredible conversations that we are just getting started with bringing you some people that have impacted me in a positive way and helped to create more ease and more feel good in my own life. And I know that some of them have really impacted you too. So this is exciting. I feel like this decision and intention to get back into podcasting came after a
00:01:57
Speaker
period of being in my own personal growth that was pretty disruptive. To be honest, I know a lot of us have moved through that since the 2020 timeframe. And we come out the other side. I think at this point, we're starting to come up for air and to get back into what really feels
00:02:19
Speaker
spacious and good in our life and what we want to offer in our purpose and how we are choosing to express that.
Human Design and Open Centers
00:02:27
Speaker
And for me from a human design perspective, I have a lot of open centers in my chart. If you're not familiar with human design, that will also be a sub topic here often on the podcast where we will talk about specifics, but having a lot of openness in your chart,
00:02:49
Speaker
sometimes means that I take in a lot of information and it can be confusing to know what is mine and what is not. And I have tried on and you've probably seen me try on a few different avenues of putting my work and my voice in the world. And it took some time to feel into what I wanted to be intentional with.
00:03:18
Speaker
on a consistent basis that served a spaciousness in my own life as a mom with two busy kids and my place in the family and what I am doing here on a consistent basis and called to do and really feeling a new sense of settling into that in of itself. Gosh, like it's kind of funny. You've been a mom for
00:03:46
Speaker
16 years now plus and I'm just now feeling like I'm getting the hang of that. That's a whole nother episode. But I wanted to be very intentional with what I was using my energy for and what was still allowing and creating a feeling of spaciousness so that I was not pressured to fill up a work calendar to have this appearance of being quote unquote successful and what I'm doing and that kind of thing. So this podcast is
00:04:18
Speaker
what in terms of having a, it's very aligned with my human design in terms of having a defined throat, a defined G center, and one channel between the two, as well as being a projector and that natural guiding energy. So I am here. I'm anchored in and I'm really present and excited with this process. I don't feel like I'm spread too thin. There's been some,
00:04:49
Speaker
real intentional deliberation on that. And I just want you to know that I am here for this experience to be present with you.
Sound Bath Offering
00:05:01
Speaker
And I want to know what's happening for you in the process of listening to these episodes and to have an open line of communication. I will put in the show notes a link to sign up for my email, which
00:05:18
Speaker
No pressure, but if you feel aligned, there is a free download that you will get, which is a gorgeous sound bath to lift you up a little bit, nourish you throughout your day. You could do it in your car, you could do it before bed. It's a sound bath inspired by living near the ocean, which, you know, my favorite energy, being near water, being near the ocean. So if you get on the list, I'll be keeping you
00:05:47
Speaker
informed of what we've got going on on the podcast and maybe anything that you've missed as well as what's to come. And I am being guided at this point to not only share this episode today about my experience with micro dosing, but I potentially will also be guiding other people who are interested in intentionally working with that medicine as well. So
00:06:16
Speaker
that is to a little bit of a behind the scenes of what's to come. But today we are going to get into
Personal Journey with Psilocybin
00:06:25
Speaker
it. So I wanted to just preface this by saying that this is my experience and that I came into understanding and working with this medicine at about a year ago at a time where I
00:06:46
Speaker
had felt like I was ready. It was kind of calling me. They tell you a lot with different plant medicines that you feel called to work with them. And that was for sure my experience. I know that there is a lot of popularity around some people doing ayahuasca journeys and things like that. That has never personally appealed to me. I very much
00:07:16
Speaker
was selective and was not looking to get into haphazardly trying different psychedelics. I was not interested in incorporating marijuana into my life. I had used marijuana in the past. Actually, I would say practically abused it. I took it way too often and used it as a method of numbing. So this
00:07:46
Speaker
foray into psychedelics was absolutely not to numb out. I will just say that I have been down that road before and that this was, that was not my intention in doing this. This is a medicine that I feel has been allowing me to make some very
00:08:13
Speaker
positive and profound shifts in my experience of everyday life and getting to know myself in rewiring some of my old programming.
Understanding Microdosing
00:08:25
Speaker
So let's dive in. Let's start at the beginning with what exactly is microdosing psilocybin. So microdosing, the terminology refers to taking a sub perceptual dose of a psychedelic. Some people talk about it.
00:08:45
Speaker
regarding mushrooms. Some people talk about it regarding LSD. It is a sub perceptual dose, meaning that you do not have a psychedelic experience. You do not hallucinate. It is a very tiny, tiny, tiny dose. There's different variations of doses, but the one that I'm personally experimenting and have been with is really
00:09:09
Speaker
the lowest. As you may know from if you follow me on Instagram, I am a highly sensitive person. And as I've gotten older, my sensitivities in my body and in my mental state have gotten even more sensitive. And so I did not want to invite in larger doses
00:09:34
Speaker
Uh, that may create psychedelic experience. It was not something that I was looking for. Although some people do use this medicine intentionally in that way. So you, um, I take it through a capsule and it was again, about a year ago that I started to intentionally work
Ethical Sourcing of Mushrooms
00:09:59
Speaker
with it. I took a course.
00:10:01
Speaker
before and I will link up that course in case you're curious. I find that they are a fantastic resource for understanding and for educating yourself on this if you are interested. And after I took the course, I was referred to someone who sourced this in a responsible and ethical and very clean way. That is also very, very important.
00:10:28
Speaker
that you are referred to someone and not just taking something off the street that you have no idea what the nature of how it was grown or what exactly you're getting. From a responsibility standpoint, I feel very strongly that that is important to make mention of. Oh my gosh, side note, it just popped in my memory. Like, you know, remember, okay, so I was
00:10:53
Speaker
teenager in the 90s and we lived in the suburbs of DC and I can remember taking buying pot from the dirtiest like circumstances like off the street. I don't know if you can relate to this or if this is just like blowing you out of the water but we would go down to this particular part of DC not the best part and we would buy this
00:11:21
Speaker
Horrible dirty marijuana that have all this just seeds and god knows what in it. It's no wonder that we've We've all made it you don't I don't think you do that nowadays, but you know, oh That's
Setting Intentions with Sacred Medicines
00:11:36
Speaker
funny. Um kind of so the micro dosing journey for me again, like I said, I went into it I wanted to be educated about it and I
00:11:49
Speaker
The first time I took it, I was following the protocol that was suggested for me and wanted to set a very specific intention with working with it. So with sacred medicines, they carry a deep wisdom to support you in living out your fullest expression.
00:12:14
Speaker
of who you are. And people have chose to work with psychedelics for thousands of years. So if you are intuitively guided to work with mushrooms, it could be for a variety of reasons. And there is fantastic, again, that reference that I mentioned, I will link below, called accessmoondceremony.com, Michael Poland's work,
00:12:44
Speaker
really interesting research has been done on the positive benefits of working intentionally with this medicine. Some of the reasons that you may choose to work with the medicine could be the fact that as you age, especially, it promotes neuroplasticity. It can be a natural alternative for a lift in mood or to help mitigate depressive feelings
00:13:13
Speaker
anxiety. A big one for me is how it helped me with social anxiety. Other noticed benefits could be focus, creativity. And I'll tell you a little bit about my experience, but these are kind of general reasons why people decide to do this.
Joy, Purpose, and Neuroplasticity
00:13:38
Speaker
So my immediate
00:13:42
Speaker
I think my immediate reaction or what I noticed right off the bat was I felt this heaviness kind of lift up off me because I tend to be someone who does put a lot of pressure on themselves and it can feel depressive. I can feel like I am kind of weighted down. And when I took the, even the very first dose, I remember thinking, oh my gosh,
00:14:11
Speaker
more joy. I felt more light. I was so much happier, just not manically, but at a very steady pace in throughout my day. It was again, I didn't notice anything that freaked me out. I did not have a strong experience. It was like, it felt like more of who I am, if that makes sense.
00:14:42
Speaker
felt just more light and joy in my life. And the whole intention of this podcast is really to inspire through different modalities, different people, different experiences and awareness ways that we can invite in more of a feeling of light and joy. And so this is absolutely something that did that for me.
00:15:08
Speaker
Again, different protocols apply to different people. So for me, I did not use it every single day. I at first followed a very specific protocol for 30 days. And depending on if you work with somebody who is guiding you or you go to a program, they may give you recommendations on the frequency and what's best for you as an individual. Very important to take that all into consideration that it
00:15:38
Speaker
with anything, not one size fits all. And also to really listen to your intuition. Again, that's how you end up, I think, coming to these types of alternative medicines as you literally are listening to your intuition. You're not going to go out and just try something without checking in with yourself.
00:15:59
Speaker
So different protocols may apply. Some people I know go for a few months at a time. Some people do a few days on, a few days off. Some people do take it every day, I believe. It just kind of depends. At first, I was pretty regimented in what I was doing and how I was using it until I got more comfortable. And then once I got more comfortable, I really have been intuitively led since then.
00:16:27
Speaker
What is happening is really fascinating with taking, and again, I would encourage you to do some of your own research, of course. But what happens is that we open up and we reprogram some of our neural pathways and our neuroplasticity is affected. So what that means is that our brains become more receptive
00:16:53
Speaker
we are able to tap into different grooves. So like, let's say you have something that you have been working through with regards to maybe self-talk or your feelings about yourself, your self-worth, some programming that you have been trying to
00:17:16
Speaker
shift out of. So what happens is this allows you within your brain chemistry to stop putting such a groove if you will have neuro pathways work of repeating the same thing and repeating that groove and it gets very deep and ingrained in us. This opens us up to different programming to starting different tracks to different grooves. And it's subtle
00:17:46
Speaker
I will say that I feel like it's subtle. I've noticed some of the things that I personally noticed was I, at that point when I started, I was really kind of struggling with my focus and attention. And the type of microdose that I take also has lion's mane in it, which is enhancing for focus. It's a, you know, an herbal mushroom that people use commonly for
00:18:15
Speaker
uh, helps for attentiveness and focus. So the type that I take uses that it has a blend of that. And so for me, I definitely noticed more focus, more creativity. Like I said, I was just, it was a lift from my mood and with how much we are exposed to in our everyday life, all the demands, all the things, I mean,
00:18:42
Speaker
It can weigh on us. And this absolutely helped me to facilitate feeling more empowered, feeling more in control of my mood, less affected by what was going on around me.
Social Anxiety and Healing Awareness
00:18:57
Speaker
Um, definitely felt a deeper connection to my higher self, a deeper connection to being in nature, more present and appreciative.
00:19:10
Speaker
more tolerant of others and I don't mean to laugh but one of the things that I personally have struggled with that has gotten more pronounced as I again gotten older is social anxiety. I
00:19:27
Speaker
am not one to go into social situations without feeling like I really want to be there. I feel called to be there and partly because of being an empath and a highly sensitive person. Small talk is very draining to me. Social interactions can kind of go either way. I mean, I can get almost high from them and feel
00:19:56
Speaker
are taken in too much of other people's energy, or I can feel depleted, like a little balloon deflating in the corner. So when I am in a social situation, the microdose has absolutely helped me to feel more at ease and to feel more light and conversational. And it has helped mitigate some of that, which is a very
00:20:26
Speaker
It can be very challenging. I don't know if anybody deals with a tendency towards social anxiety, but it can kind of leave you feeling vulnerable in unexpected ways, ways that are misunderstood. Many people don't understand necessarily how that works or why people have social anxiety.
00:20:51
Speaker
So as I have used it, I have been able to, I think the biggest thing for me is I have been able to really trust and root down into my own creativity and my own expression through this podcast, uh, launching this, making a decision to launch this and following through with it. Um,
00:21:19
Speaker
it has helped me tremendously to get in alignment. It also, I will say, one thing to be prepared for is it also can bring up the reality of where we need to heal or what needs to come up to the surface to be healed.
00:21:41
Speaker
It has not necessarily been the easiest year in some regards. I've had some challenging situations that I have had to face head on and to be present with. And I think in the past, those were some things that I was shoving under the rug. I didn't want to look at necessarily. And this has brought it in
00:22:09
Speaker
I will say that an aspect of this, um, of experiencing that is that it has brought into my awareness areas that are potentially needing to be healed, needing to be looked at. And the good news is, is that even though that was scary at times, I survived and actually fortified some things in some areas and set some boundaries and set some new
00:22:39
Speaker
trajectories for communications and relationships. And I just want to also say that I have felt more self secure. I don't know if that's a word exactly, but I wanted breakthroughs. I wanted change and transformation. And in the past I was a bit frustrated because I felt like there was something subconsciously holding me back.
00:23:09
Speaker
Of course, right? We all have that iceberg underneath the surface of other things that potentially are our fears, all the things, right? That go into a path of growth in our life that potentially hold us back. So I wanted to become more conscious of where I was holding back or maybe where I was also
00:23:38
Speaker
going unconscious and just began brushing things under the rug. I tend to do that in my life. I tend to be someone who just wants to say, Oh, it's okay. It's okay. I've got it. Everything's fine. Everything's fine. And part of that is positivity. And part of that gets into, Oh, wait, you're actually shutting down and ignoring something that needs to be looked at. So that's normal, right? It's normal when we don't feel
00:24:09
Speaker
Anytime we want to stretch outside of our comfort zone, our brain is very likely going to say, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's not safe. No, no, no, this is the way we do things. You don't want to change. That's going to create unknown. This medicine has allowed me, I will say, my sense is that it has allowed me to
00:24:39
Speaker
be more courageous to look at certain areas and make different choices. And that's as we know how we actually get the transformation. We have the information, we have the knowledge, we know we watch other people and we're like, wow, I see every piece of the puzzle and how that played out and how they got from point A to point B in these incredible transformations
00:25:09
Speaker
that are available. But applying it is a whole different muscle. It takes courage and it takes sometimes reconciling areas and places within ourselves that we are either consciously afraid to go to or most of the time we are completely not even aware of how much it's influencing us.
Parenting and Natural Solutions
00:25:35
Speaker
So taking this medicine with intention has definitely allowed me to be more aligned with my purpose and more have a confidence in my sense of direction. And then the other bonuses have been improvement in my, I mean, my kids definitely I feel are better for it.
00:26:05
Speaker
because I have been more lighthearted. I've been more fun. I haven't been taking things as seriously. I've been more tolerant. I've been more tolerant. And for me, I'm someone who comes from a nature of wanting to control and wanting to have everything in a certain predictable way.
00:26:28
Speaker
You know, when you have, when you have a family and you have kids, you know, they throw you curve balls all day long. And my reactivity in the past, I, you know, some of that is hard to look back on because I know that was not handled in the best way possible. And so I definitely have been more, um,
00:26:50
Speaker
light and more happy as a mom. And as a mom, I think that that is one of the most powerful things that we can do for our families is to be happy, to be lighthearted. And of course, like there's hard stuff going on. There's absolutely hard stuff going on. It's not about ignoring that or pretending it's not happening.
00:27:12
Speaker
But humor does go a long way and coming back to ourselves and repairing, repairing if, if things get too intense and heavy. And I've been able, I feel like now to have more of a perspective on myself in a positive, both in a realistic way of how I was maybe a little too heavy handed and also on the other side, give myself some credit for now showing up in a more positive and lighthearted way.
00:27:44
Speaker
I also just want to say before we wrap up on this conversation, although I think this is something that's going to be a through line and we will revisit again in the future and I will be talking to you maybe more one on one about this as my prediction.
00:28:05
Speaker
But I want to say that the outward relational benefits and being more tolerant, being more patient, having more joy and more lightheartedness has come because I've been able to more deeply connect with my inner self and been able to give myself a break more. And I'm really grateful for this medicine. I feel like, um,
00:28:33
Speaker
I have, look like I prefer a natural solution. I really do. You maybe know that about me. If you've been around me or know me, prefer a natural solution, but I'm absolutely not someone who is anti medication. We have people, I have people in my house to use medication. You know, I, it's necessary sometimes for sure. And I in the past have relied on it for different to get me through different really hard seasons of life. However,
00:29:03
Speaker
If I can find something that is going to be less intrusive, less side effects, less affecting in terms of really symptoms and side effects, that is going to always be my personal preference. So having something that, again, I feel was a very conscious and intentional decision to incorporate in and try
00:29:34
Speaker
has made a huge benefit, made a huge difference. It's made a huge difference. And so that is partly why I'm so motivated to open people's eyes to this option.
Conscious Use of Psychedelics
00:29:45
Speaker
Because you know, look, like, I mean, the stigmas in the of the past, I feel like are definitely getting more positive press now than ever. Of course, there's people that do these things to extremes or to numb out or to
00:30:05
Speaker
Um, yeah, to, to take it to a whole nother level. And sometimes I, you know, think that can get a little out of hand, right? Um, but there is absolutely an alternative to using, um, psychedelics using mushrooms specifically has been my choice in a intentional way.
00:30:30
Speaker
So that is a little bit about my experience with microdosing. I would love to hear if this is something that you want to talk more about.
Invitation to Connect on Instagram
00:30:40
Speaker
If you're curious, you can reach out to me, you can DM me over on my Instagram at Feel Good with Renee.
00:30:48
Speaker
R-E-N-E-E. And we'll open up a conversation on this. It's about bringing these really beautiful tools that have been kind of hidden from us. We haven't, you know, we're not taught this. This is not mainstream necessarily, although it's definitely moving more in that direction. It seems like
00:31:07
Speaker
It's talked about more and more openly and I am definitely here for it. So thank you for listening today. I'm sending you so much love and we will catch up again next time. Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoyed it and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others post on social media or leave a rating and review.
00:31:36
Speaker
it would mean the world to me. To catch all the latest from me, you can follow me over on Instagram at FeelGoodWithRenee. Thanks again and I will see you next time.