Combining Magic Mushrooms With Yoga: A Match Made In Heaven

Yoga practice and psychedelic substances—a journey toward experiencing higher states of consciousness. Read on to find out how shrooms can help boost your yoga session.

Magic mushrooms are undergoing a reassurance, with their application for spiritual, medical and recreational use undergoing a revaluation by society. So, the moment has come to ask ourselves if combining yoga and psychedelics is not only plausible but desirable or advantageous. After all, the two practices share similar goals related to expanding consciousness. Can shrooms and yoga work in synergy to enhance the spiritual and emotional development of an individual?

WHAT IS YOGA?

Yoga is a set of physical, mental, and spiritual practices with the ultimate goal of reaching a state of meditative consciousness. It is one of the six Hindu philosophies, and it originated in ancient India, with no consensus on its chronology nor specific origin.

There are various definitions of yoga in ancient Indian texts. One of the most beautiful dates back to the 14th century: "The union of apana and prana, one's own rajas and semen, the sun and moon, the individual soul and the supreme soul, and in the same way the union of all dualities, is called yoga".

Yoga charmed the West in the mid-19th century alongside an interest in Indian philosophy. Nowadays in the Western world, yoga is largely understood as a set of posture-based exercises for physical fitness and mental stress relief. In the Indian tradition, on the other hand, it has always retained a fundamental spiritual and meditative core.

One of the “goals” characterising yoga as a form of active meditation is to achieve a blissful sense of connection with the universe and the self. This kind of yoga has a lot in common with the use of psychedelics.

HOW PEOPLE USE PSYCHEDELICS

Psychedelics have always been present in indigenous shamanic cultures of Central America and Africa, but in the Western world they followed a much different trajectory.

During the ‘50s and ‘60s, people in the West experimented with a lot with drugs, particularly psychedelic substances. Back then, some of those signing up for this experimental wave were already combining artful yoga poses and psychedelics.

After this experimental phase, largely due to fearmongering over science, bans swiftly followed for such drugs, and the whole subject became taboo for the mainstream world. At the end of the 20th century, a few pioneering studies helped to lift the curtain on psychedelic research, and nowadays research into the actual potential of psychedelics in underway.

The recreational use of psychedelics has never faded, finding its footing in an underground subculture. Its members have been gathering and pursuing their own personal travels of body, mind, and soul for as long as these substances have been recognised.

WHY COMBINE YOGA AND PSYCHEDELICS?

Many parallels can be drawn between the levels of consciousness that can be reached through the psychedelic experience and those achieved by practising yoga. Therefore, it stands to reason that the two practices can be combined into a functional synergy.

The use of mind-altering herbs is not new to practitioners of yoga. In fact, scholars studying the sacred texts of yoga refer to the authoritative Yoga Sutras of Patañjali as proof of this. In the Sutra 4.1 Patañjali, the sage who wrote the collection mentions that “mystic powers arise due to birth, herbs, mantras”.

However, to be successful, both practices must be respected for their true end goal. Magic mushrooms should not be seen as a mere way to go as "far out" as possible, nor should yoga be seen merely as a way to stay fit. Both should be viewed as tools to assist in one’s own spiritual and emotional growth and rebirth.

HOW DO MAGIC MUSHROOMS COMBINE WITH YOGA?

The synergy between magic mushrooms and yoga takes advantage of the fact that both act in a similar way on our brains. Both psychedelic substances and meditation decrease the activity of brain regions involved in the so-called “default mode network” (DMN).

Brain activity spikes in the DMN when we think about things we need to do, or when we reflect over past regrets. Conversely, when taking magic mushrooms or when meditating, activity in the DNM reduces. Apprentices of either practice (or both) start letting go of fears, regrets, and mental barriers. Instead, they experience a state of selflessness, losing the sense of where they end as individuals and where the rest of the world begins. Furthermore, a small amount of magic mushrooms is said to allow greater physical and mental control, which could help in the practice of yoga as posture-based physical exercise.

Although the combination of both elements is a totally subjective and personal choice, the potential synergistic effects of psychedelics and yoga are evident. Of course, if you decide to go for it, the recommended dosage is less than a recreational dose but higher than a microdose.

BHAKTI YOGA & MAGIC MUSHROOMS

Yoga is practised in a variety of traditions in all Indian religions. In Hinduism, the practices include Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Laya or Kundalini Yoga, and Hatha Yoga, each of them with a different focus, set of concepts and exercises, texts, gurus and philosophers. Among all Hindu practices, Bhakti Yoga is identified as “the yoga of love”, a tradition of “divine love mysticism”. The strong emphasis on yearning for pure and absolute love cannot pass unnoticed by the supporters of the marriage between magic mushrooms and yoga. The revelation that all beings belong to one universal embrace and are connected together by a unifying force of love is shared both by magic mushrooms connoisseurs and expert Bhakti yogis.