Research & Ritual

spreading the spores of a new & ancient story

Our settings are natural, private locations surrounded by the beauty of rural Andalucia and the breathtaking volcanos of Lake Atitlan. Based on the standard protocol for clinical practice developed by Johns Hopkins University, Imperial College London, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies and others, our sessions are conducted individually, in comfortable, cosy indoor environments, with one or more monitors present at all times to offer care and support.

We are graduates of professional training in Somatic Plant Medicine Integration and the Trauma-informed Plant Medicine Masterclass offered by Atira Tan. We are signatories of the North Star ethics pledge for psychedelic practitioners, guided by integrity and sincerity as foundational principles in our work. Our approach is grounded in psychosomatic therapy and incorporates elements of Dr Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing, Dr David Berceli’s Trauma Release Exercises, emotional release exercises from the Reichian tradition of body-based psychoanalysis, and breathwork-based methods of nervous-system autoregulation.

To ensure the experience of everyone is as beneficial as possible, we invite individuals to embark on a long-term, multi-stage journey with us, in which the session itself is merely one phase. During the intake phase, we conduct a thorough medical and psychological pre-screening process to ensure the safety of the experience for all candidates, as well as an introductory interview, to get to know each other and to discuss intentions and upcoming steps.

Once applications are accepted and dates arranged, the preparation phase includes the presentation of introductory educational content, baseline psychometric measurements that will be used to help evaluate the impact of the session, and the option to schedule one or more sessions with our allied psychologists, who specialise in the preparation and integration for psychedelic experiences. While these sessions are not mandatory, we do strongly encourage candidates to take the opportunity, particularly those who are approaching psychedelics from a state of significant mental distress, such as depression, anxiety, OCD or addiction. People in such states are precisely those who are most likely to encounter the most challenges during a session, and expertly guided preparation from an experienced clinician can significantly improve both the immediate experience of the session as well as the long-term outcomes. We consider it an ethical responsibility to refer candidates to appropriately qualified specialists when presented with necessities beyond the scope of our expertise.

Myco

Relating to fungi means relating to nature. They are the beings through which individuals relate to one another within the terrestrial biosphere, as well as the bond linking the biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere of this planet together.

Several studies have demonstrated a positive correlation between psychedelic use, psychological well-being, nature-relatedness, and pro-environmental behavior. One of our goals is to contribute towards research in this field by collecting data concerning these variables before and after sessions. Crucially, long-term increases in nature-relatedness have been demonstrated to be dependent on the extent of the perceived influence of natural surroundings during the acute psychedelic state. An obvious outcome of this is the importance of ceremonies outdoors in nature. As a complement to the high-dose therapeutic sessions, we therefore offer the option of follow-up sessions outdoors, in the format of “magic forest bathing”: mushroom-assisted molecular meditation in nature.

Moreover, the indoor session itself is permeated by the influence of nature in various senses. The session begins with a preparatory discussion, during which we set and record intentions, work through doubts and fears, advise how to respond to challenging experiences, and quieten the mind with a loving-kindness meditation. The mushrooms are served in a tea ceremony including an infusion of herbal extracts shown in several clinical trials to reduce anxiety significantly in patients awaiting surgery. ^[3] This is particularly apt as a high dose psychedelic session is comparable to performing a deep surgical operation on your own mind.

Bliss and tranquillity suffusing body and mind from the infusion is compounded by a relaxing sound bath whose auditory alchemy releases an endorphin inundation. The sound bath suffuses the sense organs of the ears with soothing harmonics from live instruments mixed with acoustic ecology recordings of natural soundscapes around the world. By the time the sound meditation is over, the effects of the mushroom have started to announce their presence, and you are invited to lie back, relax, and attend to your interior experience for the rest of the session.

The influence of nature is thus brought to bear on the indoor session through gentle immersion involving all the senses, designed to be pleasurable and relaxing whilst simultaneously allowing as much space as needed for each individual to direct their own journey. Once the effects subside, we provide opportunities to record the experience in writing or through audio. Some days after the session, we provide the opportunity to record outcome measurements and send a personal aftercare email with suggestions on how to continue the journey.

Somatic

Relating to the bodymind as an integral whole, psychosomatic practice brings the subtle eloquence of our native neurophysiology back into dialogue with an intellect that has all too often lost the ability to heed its urgent messages.

Magic

Relating to that movement of mind which frees the senses from the static holding patterns they are frozen in by habit, assumption, conditioning, and conventional forms of thought and speech.

The linguistic root of the word “magic” is power, help, or gift. The beneficial efficacy of this helpful power is inseparable from its quality as a gift. Traditionally, among nature-connected cultures, it is understood that the quality of giving and receiving, measured in the currency of reverence and generosity, determines the quality of outcome for the whole endeavor. Rather than coldly trafficking in a commodity that can be measured, bought and sold, it is always a question of tenderly entering into, cultivating and regenerating a relationship with the ultimate source of the helpful power, the ultimate origin of the gift: “the holy in nature” ^[1], in all its incomprehensible immensity and immeasurable magnanimity. It is through accepting, treasuring, and passing on this gift in the spirit from whence it came that its power is kept alive.

Although we charge a modest fee in order to ensure the financial sustainability of the association, we keep this as low as possible in order to remain as accessible as possible to all. In addition, we provide sessions free of charge to invited guests from selected communities in need such as immigrants, activists for environmental and social change, people with addictions and victims of gender violence, and others with whom we cultivate supportive relationships of solidarity and mutual-aid. Part of the income derived from the reservation fees of private individuals goes towards cross-subsidising our work with these communities. For us, as for traditional medicine people around the planet ^[2], magic is primarily a way of keeping the world alive and healthy, and of keeping humans in healthy relationship with the rest of the natural world upon which we are totally dependent. We are only as healthy as our habitat.