Hello mushroom people,
‘Blessed Morning’ from Jamaica —
We’ve been hard at work here floating in the crystalline Caribbean sea, going on pilgrimages to hidden caves and mineral water springs where Bob Marley once wrote songs, and diving deep into the mushroom space together at the stunning Coral Cove Wellness Resort during our first inaugural Laughter Is Medicine retreat here this week.
The theme of our retreat is that psilocybin mushrooms and community amplify joy and laughter, and these senses can be cultivated.
We’ve been writing jokes, making skits, laughing ‘til our jaws hurt, and looking for reasons to be silly and embody a ‘summer camp for adults’ aesthetic. This approach blends really well with mushrooms in my experience — about two hours into our ‘deep dive’ mushroom ceremony on Tuesday, a symphony of laughter rose up out of the bellies of several journeyers and took over the space. Our live musician Jason Lee Worton masterfully curated a layered soundscape to punctuate these rolling waves of laughter, and we managed to successfully achieve a group flow state.
From ScienceDirect
Last night we had a sound bath on a magnificent oceanfront veranda — the sound of the waves rippling through the cove while singing bowls and bells lifted us into the astral plane helped our group achieve a deeply restful journey state that sealed the deal on our social dose day with one gram mushroom chocolates. It was our second mushroom experience of the week together, marking the successful completion of two impactful and safe mushroom experiences together as a retreat group here in Jamaica.
Our retreat wraps up tomorrow, but first we have a visit to the internationally renowned Wabba’s Cannabis Farm today — accordingly, there is no Mycopreneur Incubator today and we’ll be back next Thursday. The farm has a swimming hole on site known as the ‘Blue Hole’, meaning that the forecast for today includes more swimming in natural mineral springs while sampling the local flower.
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I’ve been writing about the growth of the psychedelic retreat industry and documenting its evolution, and one of my core predictions is increasingly proving accurate in real time: The psychedelic retreat industry, of which mushroom tourism is a major part, is growing beyond the focus of ‘healing’ and into an ever-expanding index of niches that more accurately and broadly reflect the multidimensional potential of psychedelics.
Joel Brierre, Founder of the one of the leading psychedelic retreat industry players Tandava Retreats in Mexico, wrote yesterday that “The psychedelic retreat model is in its infancy and we feel it is moving beyond the homogenous, neo-shamanic, or general wellness retreat model. We feel this change is coming soon..”
In an article I published with Double Blind Magazine on March 4, about the growth of the psychedelic retreat space, I wrote that “While the psychedelic tourism industry continues to experience dramatic international growth, more niches within the broader space will emerge…psychedelic tourism will also include offerings that appeal to responsible, sensible adults who want to enhance their well-being and sense of joy..”
The blanket focus on mushrooms and psychedelics for therapy and healing is an overly reductive lens that seemingly requires people to have something wrong with them in order to appreciate and benefit from these experiences. This clinical reductionism helps to sell obstinate baby boomers and withering congressional octogenarians on potentially overhauling outdated and draconian drug policy in favor of rigidly controlled medicalization of psychedelics, but it does little to square up with the reality of the broader potential of mushrooms and how they are actually used in the real world.
A cannabis tasting every day as part of our retreat
The majority of people who consume mushrooms do so for fun, inspiration, community connection, and similar purposes.
Where is the retreat model that reflects the broader potential of mushrooms to help people live their dreams by connecting them more closely to their Joie de vivre, their love for life? What about psychedelics for achieving and maintaining ecstatic states?
This is what we’ve successfully achieved here this week, and the cultivation of our collective sense of humor and commitment to having fun has paid major dividends when carried over into the mushroom space — and with all that being said, here’s a new joke from this week:
“So I was driving slowly through the Jamaican countryside with the windows rolled down and a guy on the side of the road yelled out to me in Patois (local dialect) that I was a ‘Jerk!’ then he doubled down and called me a ‘Chicken!’ So naturally I yelled back that he was a coward! Only then did our driver let me know that he was offering us ‘Jerk Chicken’, a local culinary delicacy. I backtracked and bought three portions for us, and it was delightful”
swimming in Bob Marley’s mineral spring on his old property
Well would you look at that…it’s almost time for our morning Qi Gong session at the pool overlooking the cove here. I better get to it then. See you all next week! I’ve also included two articles I published this week about mushrooms for Beard Bros and GreenState linked below.
Thanks for reading the Mycopreneur Newsletter, see you next week!
DW