Mushrooms
Health

This is probably going to surprise you but the Shroom Liberation Front truly believes that many people could benefit from the occasional use of magic mushrooms as part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle. The magic mushroom experience simply has too many positive aspects to it, and too many beneficial experiences on the body for this aspect to be ignored any longer. Everybody talks about the health risks of magic mushrooms, but virtually nobody discusses their health benefits. We will try address this issue now.

Obviously, in light of the poor research into this area of mushrooms (and what research has been done has found NO EVIDENCE that magic mushrooms offer any serious health risks, to mentally stable, prepared and open-minded individuals), the only evidence we can base this theory on is 'OUR OWN' experience and that of others from the magic mushroom community. We should remind ourselves that even the government's own Talk to Frank website states magic mushrooms are not harmful, or addictive, and the only real danger comes from picking the wrong type which could be poisonous.

Now we will categorically state that we believe that magic mushrooms can play a beneficial part in people's physical, mental and spiritual well-being (at sensible and moderate usage levels), making an important contribution to people's overall health. Obviously we need not remind you that until Magic Mushrooms become legalised again in the UK, this is not something you will be able to test. Magic mushrooms are criminally illegal in most parts of the world, but feel free to indulge this notion in more liberal and open-minded countries that do not persecute magic mushroom users.

A recent analysis of the magic mushroom experience by the SLF identified the following key points why we think magic mushrooms have a role to play in the spiritual, mental and physical health of people.

The assessment revealed that the magic mushroom experience and 'after glow' from taking magic mushrooms results in the following .

1. Brings about laughter and increased sense of humour. This in turn gives the body a natural boost, releasing endorphins into the system and giving beneficial health benefits because of..
2. Increases clear headedness and clarity of thought (obviously during after glow period ) We highly reccomend that our govermental MPs try magic mushrooms for this very reason, before just outright slating them off with no direct experience of these beneficial qualities..
3. Reduces stress and induces calmness(during experience and after glow period).
4. Makes people relaxed, and improves focus and motivation. (during experience and after glow period).
5. Aids drive, and determination (one of the key factors behind the belief that magic mushrooms have a role to play in treating and assisting people battling addictions, or trying to 'change their stars'.
6. Gives a contented feeling of happiness and wellbeing. (Well how much would you pay to feel like this?)
7. Gives a massive immune boost to the body, assisting in fighting off infections and disease.
8. Has a massively strong therapeutic affect, instilling peace and harmony in its users.
9. Allows lateral thought, enabling user's to see their life from a new perspective - important for self analysis, soul searching qualities.
10. Instills deep, spiritual experiences, essential for maintaining a healthy, active spirituality, putting users more in touch with themselves, their bodies, and their emotions - ie - tuning user's in to who they are and what their purpouse in life is. (Allows users to make peace with themselves and feel happy in their own skin.)
11. Taps individuals into themselves - brings enlightenment not found in any book, and unobtainable anyhow else. Brings spiritual empowerment outside and not dependent upon religious contexts.
12. Brings connection between humans and the natural world. (For this quality alone shrooms are truly priceless).
13. Pushes the human ability and what it is capable of experiencing to it most sensitive state in a safe but inspiring way. Allows each and every individual to understand the nature of what it means to be human. Trust us - until you try shrooms, you just don't have a clue).
14. Everyone always says, the best things in life are free - magic mushrooms grow freely, and naturally in most of our national parks in the uk, and throughout the world. Denying humans the right to pick magic mushrooms is an offence against the very nature of what it is to be human. Governments simply do not have the right to forbid this. (They just think they do).
15. The after glow of the magic mushroom experience can be something that persists a long time after the actual act of using the mushrooms. This means that magic mushrooms offer the ability to instill deep and long lasting positive attributes in users that enables people to find self empowerment and to improve their performance in the great school of life.
16. Magic mushrooms are 100 % NOT Addictive.
17. Magic mushrooms can make you happier, healthier and enjoy life more - think your missing out on natures best kept secret, try shrooms, and empower yourself and retain an open mind.
18. increases open mindedness and tolerance between humans.

(Trust us when we say, the government, does not wat you to know this - Fight injustice, take shrooms).

Rather than look at the magic mushroom experience as a natural high (which it of course is) we should also look at it as a powerful 'super drug', capable of giving users a full system check, scanning through an individual's entire psyche and cellular entirety, with a powerful and resonant energy that simply purifies and detoxifies everything in its path. It is capable of sending you to deep, tranquil places of relaxation (normally the reserve of heightened meditation), fully allowing the mind to unwind, recharge and refresh (essential in today's hectic, modern, stressful fast-paced environments). People often say they feel as if every cell in their body has been permeated and radiated by this wonderful, illuminating, and magical feeling (radiance), leaving you with the awareness of being wonderously alive, positively charged, invigorated and mentally and spiritually refreshed.

And what's great about the magic experience, is that there's no comedown as such. Sure the actual intensity of the experience burns off to zero after a few hours, but many users have reported feeling what seems like an 'after glow' that stays with you for days, weeks, and in some cases even months. This feeling does not make you feel groggy or distracted, (and you will still have the same personality and existence as before). People comment that they feel happier, more motivated, can concentrate better and are more focused, and just have a general great vibe tingling in their stomach and a smile on their face. This vibe is so 'under-rated' by everyone but shroomers themselves. For many users it allows them to fuse their mind and will together far easier, and has been well reported for making individuals more determined to achieve and succeed in their daily lives. The magic mushroom experience is a great motivating factor for individuals. It can be a positive fuel for personal achievement. And this has been the drive behind many of the experiments done with magic mushrooms, especially in the 70s, with the likes of the Harvard Psilocybin Project (which did unfortunately descend into farce) as well as T Leary's Concorde prison project.

What we are trying to say is that if you have a positive trip on the mushrooms you can use its predictable comedown as a slingshot to launch yourself at the world again with renewed vigour and appetite for life and happiness. The Shroom Liberation Front is convinced that this is one of the principal reasons people simply don't do magic mushrooms on a regular basis. There just simply isn't a need to. The experience is so powerful and persisting that you just don't have the need nor inclination to do it regularly. But its effects stay with you in a positive and permeating way. For many, as soon as they start feeling rundown, or their life is drifting away from them, the first thing they turn to is magic mushrooms, and put themselves back on the right track again. Paul Stamets wrote in his book Psilocybe Mushrooms of the World -

'I trip on mushrooms only once or twice a year, to re-calibrate my cerebral and spiritual compass. This feels right for me. For the vast majority, psilocybin mushrooms are used infrequently. The effects are often so profound as to take months before the interest in taking them rekindles. They certainly are not addictive, as they tend to be self-limiting by nature.'

Yet, this is a great positive thumbs up for the occasional and recreational use of magic mushrooms, but they also could play a major role in assisting people that are feeling run down, low on energy, or regularly ill with small ailments such as colds etc..(we half suspect that the shrooms even give an immune boost) allowing one to fight off to greater affect these afflictions. For all of the above reasons the Magic mushroom has amazing powers and qualities that it can pass on to you, and there is a really good chance that you will feel in immediate better health after doing them. The afterglow of magic mushrooms is the glow of being healthy, but far more obvious then any detox plan out there on the market. You will be left in no doubt that you feel better.

A relatively recent trend that we've become aware of, is some users taking regular low threshold doses (just enough to become aware of the effects, without being completely overwhelmed by it), in order to cause ellevated mood and happiness. But this is an equally good method of making the most of the health benefits of mushrooms.

One of the most documented symptoms (since records began) regards bemushroomed people is that they've often been noticed to suffer from fit's of laughter - the old adage that laughter is the best medicine still holds a lot of weight. The below quote comes from Bupa's own website, and makes for some very interesting reading.

Health news - Is laughter the best medicine?

16 March 2005 - written by BUPA's Health information team

Laughter really may be the best medicine, according to research presented to the American College of Cardiology. Laughing appears to boost your blood flow and researchers say it may reduce your risk of developing heart disease.

But the benefits of laughing don't stop with your heart: laughing has previously been found to help fight infections, relieve hay fever, ease pain and help control diabetes.

For the full report please click here. Below are some of the major benefits of laughter on the body.

What are the other benefits of having a good laugh?

Various studies have suggested that a positive outlook on life and having a good laugh is associated with much more than just keeping your heart healthy.

• Laughing is thought to help you to fight off illnesses by boosting your immune system. It increases the amount of immunoglobulins, natural killer cells and T cells in the body, which fight infection and tumours.

• Laughing reduces pain. Children watching comedy films relax more and tolerate pain more easily. In fact, humorous videos are being used in anaesthetic rooms at Manchester Children's Hospital. And an American nurse has found that telling jokes to her patients before she administers a painful treatment reduces their discomfort.

• Laughing reduces allergic responses, including hay fever symptoms.

• Laughing lifts your mood - even if you have to force yourself to laugh.

• Laughing reduces the effect of stress by lowering stress hormone levels.

• Laughing helps keeps diabetes under control. It may help to control spikes in blood sugar levels after a meal, reducing the chances of diabetic complications. In one study, people who watched a funny video during dinner had lower blood sugar levels after the meal compared to the people who watched a lecture video.

Make time to laugh

The researchers suggest that we should try to laugh more. In the same way that we try to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day and climb the stairs instead of taking the lift, perhaps we need to make time to have a good laugh.

"We could perhaps read something humorous or watch a funny video and try to find ways to take ourselves less seriously," lead researcher Dr. Miller says. "The recommendation for a healthy heart may one day be - exercise, eat right and laugh a few times a day."1

Another noteable sympton of taking magic mushrooms, is yawning. For some reason, the drug forces the user to take deep, powerful , and sustained yawns which we believe is in order to facilitate taking in increased amounts of oxygen in order to fuel the mushroom experience. Because of this your whole being becomes extremely oxygenated and turbo-charged if you like, which is probably essential in order to power all the processes in this heightened state. Again we can only see this having a beneficial effect on the body and health, as oxygen fuels all cell reactions in the body, and is a crucial aspect of living.

Another aspect that is also ignored about mushrooms, is that the feeling of well being one can have. It is possible to be left feeling absolutely amazing, totally comfortable and at ease with yourself (once you have adjusted to other-worldliness of it all - which will actually happen a few hours into the trip, (all things going well). It is as if you've been transported to your own magical place, where wonders abound everywhere - visually everything looks stunning, your imagination allows the visualisation of awesome and tantalising bounties full of richness and detail, and a relaxed calmness washes over you leaving you in true harmony, contentment and peace. Just take a second to consider what that feels like - when was the last time you fealt like that - perhaps it was after spending hundreds at a luxury health spa. What price is a feeling and state being like this worth? All we can say, that as life gets more stressful, the importance of feelings like this becomes more important, not less so. It is for this reason that Shrooms can play such an important role in people's lives, regardless of what walk of life you come from. Why should you be deprived of being able to have this experience, when it has so many merits? We don't know either.

One last and some would say crucially important aspect of shrooms and health, that we haven't touched on yet, is the role magic mushrooms can play in one's spiritual health. Many people have often defended the right to take shrooms on the ground of the deep spiritual awakenings it causes in users, bringing them closer to themselves, and for some closer to God in whatever form it means to them. We have ample evidence that the religion of the ancient Aztecs was founded around a centralised use of magic mushrooms. Just because the Aztec civilization isn't around today (although some people will argue with us there, believing there still to be people's in Mexico, who regularly practice a legacy mushroom relgion, a remnant of this Aztec past), it doesn't mean we should discount the spiritual importance of mushrooms. To the Aztec's this power was so great that human sacrifices were regularly conducted to appease angry Gods of the Mushrooms - this has to be an awesome power indeed, and one area where complete respect needs to be shown towards magic mushrooms by all who become involved with them, users and regulators alike - mushroom spirituality is not somehting that can just be dismissed or swept under the carpet, as inconsequential. It is a very real, strong, and deeply personal part of the mushroom experience. In fact, some would say, the mere act of taking magic mushrooms, actually links one into this ancient relic spirituality, which is most definately still alive and well - the feelings the mushrooms give us now, would have been almost identical to those experienced in these ancient pasts. Often many of the visions seen, suggest a connection to these lost empires and civilizations, and the relic text and writings of mystical ancient languages. It is all very profound. But it also feels like the most natural thing in the World.

And it is because of this, that we feel the mushroom experience is amazingly valid and important in all today's global societys for it's ability to open up these spiritual doorways, awakening new connections to ourselves and the earth around us, and it's environment, and biodiversity. It provides people with much needed perspective, and insight. A study in 2006 by Roland Griffiths, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, US, conducted a study into the affects of psilocybin - (see this article on the New Scientist website for this article in full) an extract of which is below.

“Magic” mushrooms really do have a spiritual effect on people, according to the most rigorous look yet at this aspect of the fungus's active ingredient.

About one-third of volunteers in the carefully controlled new study had a “complete” mystical experience after taking psilocybin, with half of them describing their encounter as the single most spiritually significant experience in their lifetimes.

On that note, there is one dormain that we have not covered in our assessment of magic mushrooms and health. That is of people using magic mushrooms to assist with proven medical conditions, where conventional medicine has failed or has been found to be of limited use. The main example that is quickly gaining widespread acceptance is the use of psilocybin mushrooms as part of the treatment of sufferers with Cluster Headaches.

© Shroom Liberation Front 2007