Micro or Macro: Where to Begin?
As psilocybin becomes more and more infused into the mainstream culture as a potential pathway for healing, I find myself answering this question a lot and I thought I’d take a little time and write it down for you all to chew on.
Deciding whether to start microdosing psilocybin or embark on a higher dose macro journey is a personal choice that largely depends on your individual needs, preferences, and goals. All roads lead to the same place and, if I’m honest, both paths may potentially require the same amount of time to arrive there.
I get this question a lot inside the Discovery Zoom and with folks contemplating my microdosing protocol and I wanted to take a minute and share a bit about this to help you consider your options.
What is microdosing?
Microdosing psilocybin basically involves taking small, sub-perceptual doses of psilocybin mushrooms on a regular basis. When paired with more intentional practices to track sensations and intentions, this path aims to provide subtle, non-psychedelic impact that often has the capacity to deepen presence, enhance well-being, expand creativity, slow reactivity to challenge or triggers, and deepen ones connection with nature. The practice is still being researched, and individual experiences can vary but I have seen profound impact with a protocol that I co-developed and have been sharing for over 5 years.
Our self-guided microdosing course or seasonal guided immersions take a full season, 3 full months, to come into relationship with the medicine. This period of time is the minimum we’d suggest to embark on a journey with the medicine since it takes time to feel into the impact and subtle shifts that happen when working with low dose medicine.
What is a macrodose?
A macrodose of psilocybin refers to taking a full, ‘standard dose’ of psilocybin mushrooms, which is intended to induce a full psychedelic experience. Specific dosage can vary and depends on a persons openness, relationship to SSRIs/Benzos, the freshness and potency of the medicine and more. A macrodose is a big deal typically involves consuming an amount that results in profound hallucinogenic effects, altered perception, and a potentially transformative or introspective experience.
The Medicine Retreat is a guided experience here at Rootstock where folks can experience a macrodose in a carefully curated setting with yours truly, a deeply experienced guide. The experience of a macrodose can be intense, challenging, uncomfortable, scary, emotional, confusing or blissful and funny. They’re often all those things at the same time, Effects can include sensory hallucinations, altered sense of time, deep introspection, emotional release, and a sense of connectedness with oneself, others, or the universe. Ancestral healing is another aspect of the experience that we encounter often.
Though humans have been eating psychedelic mushrooms throughout our evolution and they are incredibly safe, it is still important to approach macrodosing with caution and in a safe and supportive environment, ideally with the presence of a trusted guide or experienced sitter.
Our signature offering, the Medicine Retreat, is a 36 hour session that includes a night of preparation, a day of journeywork, a morning of integration and, though it’s a short window, folks can expect to process, work with and integrate the experience for 3, 6, 12 months or longer.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We support both ways of working with this medicine and here are some considerations to help you make an informed decision about what path may be best for you:
1. Purpose and Goals: What is your ‘why?’ What is calling you to the medicine in the first place? Determine why you are interested in using psilocybin at all and this can help clarify where and how to begin. Are you looking to deal with an acute trauma or addiction, is it more about personal growth, creativity enhancement, emotional healing, or spiritual exploration? If you’re not sure, that’s ok! A microdosing protocol could help you find some of the clarity you seek around what it is really that you’re wanting to address. If you are sure about what you’re seeking from the experience, consider if you feel a deep clarity and readiness to ‘deal’ with whatever needs healing and, if so, you may be ripe for a macro experience.
2. Experience Level: Are you a well-seasoned psychonaut or totally new to altered states? If you are new to psychedelics or have limited experience, starting with microdosing may be a wonderful way to wade into the experience slowly and more gently. It’s weird and msyterious medicine and it doesn’t work like the kinds of medicine we’re used to. It’s conceptual, emotional, intellectual, existential, and somatic and - if you’re relatively new to feeling your feelings, you might 1)benefit from going slow to reconnect with sensation or 2)might need the help of a big experience to reset you and open you up. Plenty of folks new to psychedelics benefit from macro journeys to start and the same is true for seasoned people learning new ways of working with the medicine.
3. Time Commitment: Macro journeys require dedicating 36 hours to the experience itself and then another 7-14 days of spacious time to integrate, not including preparation and integration. Microdosing, on the other hand, involves taking sub-perceptual doses regularly over an extended period of 3 months or longer. It’s important that you acknowledge that BOTH paths demand effort, time, patience, spaciousness, support, and integration. If you’re life is too busy to carve out space for a weekend away then the 10-30min daily needed for a healthy microdosing practice might be perfect. If your children don’t gift you any time at all for yourself then it may be easier to duck away for a long weekend. Again, no matter which path you choose, it’s got a ‘long tail’ and will take lots of time to reveal its impact and gifts.
4. Support System: psychedelic healing is never done in a vacuum even when you embark on the journey alone. Healing requires reflection, connection, and the participation of your life and support system. Whether you opt to begin with a Micro or Macro, consider if and how your spouse/partner will support (no not) the practice, whether your therapist can play a meaningful role, if you’ll have friends or community to be able to process and share the experience with. Macro journeys can be emotionally intense while Microdosing, being less intense, may require less external support.
5. Personal Preference: Ultimately, trust your intuition matters a lot. What are you ‘called to.’ Did Michael Pollen tug on your heartstrings when he pissed a ‘string of diamonds’ and do you want that too? Do you find that fear comes up when you think about needing to surrender control to a larger dose? The pull deep inside you is one worth trusting.
5. Availability: Less interesting than all these other considerations is the simple fact of what’s available and in line with your economic capacity. Guided experiences, whether macro or micro are an investment, and the self-guided course is the best bet if cost feels prohibitive for the other pathways. Medicine Retreats at Rootstock are in high demand and, as Beana is just one individual, there is a limit to the number of folks she can sit with. Although booking opens up 4 times a year and it’s certainly possible to work together, if you’re not able to book when you feel ready to begin, it could be great to slide into an immersion or begin the self-guided coursework while you wait for a date to open for you.