Mycological Synergy
A global mushroom revolution happening! This revolution, which started in 2012, will see a massive rise in the production of natural health products made from various types of fungi by 2025. Technological advancements within the fungal industry have allowed for new understandings and opportunities to change how we look at healthcare.
Medicinal mushrooms are in the limelight during this massive growth in the wellness industry. Paul Zane Pilzer, the author of The Wellness Revolution, The Next Trillion Dollar Industry, predicted that the wellness industry would become “the next big thing” and he was right. Paul mentions that this growth is largely influenced by the baby boomers, people that were born post World War II, who are now looking for ways to improve their health, look better, feel better and live longer. This, along with the advent of the Internet, making information easily and readily available, means that a quick {nternet search will result in boomers and consumers finding natural products that can assist with improving immune function and reducing inflammation in the body. A very effective way to address both immune function and inflammation, is through the medicinal compounds found in fungi.
The most researched fungus to date is Ganoderma lucidum, aka Reishi in Japan, or Lingzhi in China. A search in Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/) simply using the term Ganoderma lucidum provides 65 900 results. What is interesting to note, is that even though there is overwhelming scientific evidence that Ganoderma lucidum is highly effective in reducing cortisol (the stress hormone that inhibits immune system function) and inflammation in the body, that not many people know that this fungus exists. Furthermore, Reishi that is intentionally grown for high levels of active pharmacological ingredients and those that undergo proprietary extraction methods to produce quality extracts, far outperform the more commonly used Reishi powders.
Education around fungal extracts being used in fungal medicines is growing rapidly and new technologies that are combining fungi with fungi (or fungi with plants) are coming to the forefront to create effective natural health products. Using fungi combinations is proving to be highly effective and using them together with other products improves the efficacy the other products, be they natural products or pharmaceutical drugs. Since the human genome is closer in comparison to the fungal kingdom, than that of the plant kingdom, our bodies accept fungi as medicine more easily than plants. The medicinal compounds found in the Reishi mushroom works in perfect harmony with the body, promoting exceptional wellbeing, as well helping to address matters of the mind.
In the very near future, mushrooms that contain psilocybin will be easily available to treat depression, anxiety and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). It is illegal to cultivate psilocybin-containing mushrooms in most countries, yet legislation is changing as scientific findings prove that they have incredible medicinal and therapeutic value. psilocybin mushrooms are highly effective at treating depression, yet sometimes they may cause anxiety. When combining Reishi extract with psilocybin, the game changes and the occurrence of anxiety diminishes greatly. As mentioned earlier, Reishi is highly effective at reducing the stress hormone cortisol, which means that the synergistic effect between psilocybin and Reishi extract allows for a more effective ‘anti-depression’ medication with less side-effects and better long-term results. Since Reishi extract is highly effective at reducing inflammation, it also brings about new opportunities to combine it with many other natural products.
Micro-dosing is trending globally. Microdosing is a methodology where you consume 100mg of psilocybin mushroom powder daily, to improve your mood and treat depression. This methodology aligns perfectly with NLP (neuro linguistic programming), as depression is a matter of the mind. Combining the methodology of NLP with a combination of psilocybin and Reishi extract is proving to be a very effective way to treat depression. Imagine that you could remove all the thoughts from a highly depressed person. What would be wrong with them? Nothing at all! Negative thoughts cause depression and, by understanding how we process thought and store memories, we can keep depression from creeping into our lives and destroying our hope. Consuming small amounts of psilocybin daily, allows for a better quality of thought, which in turn allows for improved blood chemistry. As an example, when you are angry, the words that you choose to use are loud and abrupt, which leads to increased cortisol, adrenalin and other chemicals that your brain produces, being released in your bloodstream. The ‘magic’ of the magic mushroom stimulates your serotonin gland (your happy gland), which influences the words you choose to use to describe your reality, ultimately ridding you of the negative thoughts that cause depression.
Combining the two powerful fungal medicines, Reishi extract and psilocybin, along with NLP, may soon become the treatment of choice for ailments of the mind.
The medicinal mushroom industry is growing (pun intended) and everyone is welcome to participate. The learning curve is steep, yet the rewards outweigh the adversities that may challenge you along the way. Whether you cultivate you own mushrooms or purchase a mushroom product, either way you will soon come to experience the power of fungi and how beneficial it is to you and your family.
For more information on the Reishi extract referred to in Craig’s article, see overleaf for details of the product range that Craig has formulated.
Craig’s journey has been from mechanical engineering (as a highly skilled tradesman – tool, jig and die maker) to mycology… and now creating a breakthrough in fungal medicine. Craig Fourie, founder of Mushroom Guru and creator of MG-LZ8, is on a global mission to educate people from all walks of life, in the art of cultivating fungi and producing fungal medicines.
