How to Microdose Amanita Muscaria

Journal Contents:

• Intro
• How much Amanita should I take?
• What time of day?
• How often?
• What are the long term benefits?
• For how long?
• Conclusion

Intro

Most people know about microdosing from the recent psychedelic microdosing movement. Everything from psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, mescaline and even ayahuasca have gained a microdosing following within the past 10 years. Just look to the popular online reddit forum r/microdosing, which has a current following of over 200,000 people, all sharing their success microdosing psychedelics.

Like psychedelics, Amanita muscaria (Amanita for short) can also be microdosed. In fact, it may be the best way to consume Amanita as the side effects with taking large, "trip" doses can be unpleasant. In contrast, microdosing Amanita gives people confidence, an uplift in mood, focus, and better sleep, all with little to no side effects.

In fact, the people who have consumed Amanita muscaria the longest (the Koryak people of the Kamchatka region of Eastern Russia), are said to microdose Amanita. They will forage and dry the mushrooms in Fall and then consume them in small amounts throughout winter to reduce seasonal depression and increase motivation.

For some, Amanita may even be a better teacher (medicine) than psychedelics. Those who tend to have anxiety, trouble sleeping or low self esteem may prefer microdosing Amanita. Plus Amanita seems to uplift people with a gentle, warm energy over the more "buzzy" or "swimmy" energy that comes with psychedelics.  

Though you may think microdosing is the same no matter the substance, this is not the case when we look at Amanita. The amount, time of day, and frequency are all unique to microdosing Amanita muscaria.

So to help you on your journey, I've written out a short guide below. 

How Much Amanita Should I Take?

Generally, people see benefits when they microdose 0.25g - 1.0g* of decarboxylated Amanita mushroom daily. 

This is the sweet spot where you won’t feel any major psychoactive effects, but will notice subtle changes in your day to day life that will add up to huge improvements in your mood and outlook on life.

Keep in mind that everyone's perfect dose is different. Some people are more sensitive to substances than others. Your best bet is to try a low dose for a few days and then increase the amount if you aren't noticing effects.

*Note: When Amanita muscaria is decarboxylated into a tea or extract, the final weight is often different from the original dried weight. To stay consistent, the Amanita community uses the original dried mushroom weight to determine dosing.

Also Note: Some people microdose non-decarboxylated Amanita, and though it's a slight risk due to the ibotenic acid present in the mushroom, many people have done so successfully. If you decide to do this, you may need to increase your dose to 0.5-2g daily to see the same benefits as decarboxylated products.

Read: "Why decarboxylate Amanita muscaria"

How do I know if I am taking the correct dose?

You know you have found your perfect dose when you feel an uplift in mood but do not notice any psychoactive effects.

Signs you have found your perfect dose: You feel euphoria, energy, mental and physical strength, positive mood, calmness, cheerfulness, disappearance of a mental chatterbox or have an easier time communicating.

Signs you are taking too much: You have changes in perception, lack of motivation, insomnia, aggression or low energy level.

Signs you are taking too little: You have no major changes in your mood, outlook on life or mental chatterbox.

Additionally, you should always feel in control of your emotions and thoughts while microdosing Amanita muscaria.

What Time of Day Should I Take it?

You can take Amanita muscaria in the Morning or Evening.

What's unique about Amanita is the effects are totally polar, depending on when you consume it in the day.

Take in the evening if you want to feel:

• relaxed
• calm
• sleepy
• peaceful
• like you want vivid dreams
• like you need deep sleep

Unless you need help falling asleep or are focused on increasing your ability to dream, it's best to take Amanita in the morning. When taken in the morning, you can feel the entirety of the unique, but gentle, energy she has to offer. It also allows you to notice the subtle benefits that happen to your mind.

Some people have also found success with microdosing Amanita both in the morning and evening, so you may want to do some trial and error.

Read: Benefits of Microdosing Amanita Muscaria

With or Without Food?

Most people have no issue with taking a decarboxylated Amanita microdose on either a full or empty stomach. However, if you tend to have a sensitive stomach, you may do better with taking your microdose post meal, such as 30 min after breakfast or an evening snack.

More stomach issues occur when consuming straight dried amanita caps (pro tip: never consume Amanita raw). In which case, there are two factors that can cause stomach issues.

1) The first is caused by the chitin in the mushrooms. Chitin is the main structural component in mushrooms and is very tough and hard to break down by the intestine. In fact, since we as humans have largely removed mushrooms from our daily diet, our bodies have adapted by downgrading it's production of chininase, the enzyme that breaks down chitin.

The best solution is to only microdose with an amanita extract (either in tincture or capsule form), where the muscimol and other beneficial molecules have been extracted out of the mushroom walls and the chitin is thrown out. 

 2) The second is due to ibotenic acid, a pro-drug of muscimol. When picked fresh, Amanita mushrooms contain mostly ibotenic acid, and very little muscimol (the main beneficial molecule in Amanita). After drying the mushrooms at low heat, some of the ibotenic acid converts to muscimol (from 20-40%), however most still remains in the dried caps. Ibotenic acid on its own is known to cause stomach issues, and in high amounts vomiting.

The best solution to avoid issues with ibotenic acid is to only microdose with a  decarboxylated form of Amanita Muscaria. This would be products that have been boiled in a low pH tea or fermented with glutamate decarboxylase (which breaks down ibotenic acid).

Ultimately, you won't know if Amanita causes you stomach issues until you try it for yourself. But by working with a decarboxylated and extracted form of Amanita, along with consuming it after a meal, you can almost entirely eliminate this issue. 

How Often?

A good starting place is to take Luminita for at least 1 week, and then see how you feel. If you enjoy the effects and see a benefit, continue microdosing for a month or two.

What would a microdosing protocol look like?

You may have heard of or followed some microdosing protocols for psychedelics. The most popular being the Fadiman or the Stamets protocol.

• Fadiman's Protocol: 1 day on, 2 days off
• Stamet's Protocol: 4 days on, 3 days off
• Cole's Protocol: 2 days on, 1 day off
• On/Off method: Every other day on/off

And you can certainly try any of the above methods with Amanita muscaria, however, as discussed in a previous blog post called "Is Amanita a psychedelic?", Amanita is a VERY different mushroom from psilocybin. With psilocybin, people build a tolerance to it quickly, meaning they need to take breaks or else they won't feel the effects after a bit. All of the above methods are ways to avoid that pitfall. Each taking a few days off during the week so you continue to feel the effects.

On the other hand, Amanita muscaria seems to have a reverse tolerance, meaning you will need less of the mushroom over time to have the same effects. If you tried taking it everyday for a month, you would probably feel the need to pull back a bit because you feel the benefits and will start to get irritable.

Thus, protocols are a bit different:

• Luminita Protocol: Microdose for 3 weeks straight, and then take 1 week off

• Taper Protocol: Start by taking luminita every day and then taper down over time. Ex) Take your microdose every day for the first week, for 6 days the following week, 5 days the next and so on.

You are your best Guide

Ultimately, I believe you are your best guide. If you feel aligned with your intuition, then follow your inner guidance and take Amanita on days it feels right.

Do you need a boost to feel more aligned with yourself? If yes, take it. Alternatively, Do you feel quick to irritability or does taking amanita feel feel wrong? If yes, skip microdosing for the day. 

Just be sure to keep your ego in check. It may convince you to not take Amanita when you do in fact need to. This seems to happen with all forms of true healing modalities as your ego fights to maintain control. Keep this in mind to avoid your ego's lies. 

Overall, Amanita muscaria is a unique mushroom. The protocols and consistency you may be accustomed to from other mushrooms or medications don't translate well to Amanita.

What are the long term benefits? 🍄

Consistently work with Amanita and you may notice some profound changes in your mood and outlook in life. 

How long should I take it for?

The best part of using Amanita muscaria is the benefits often persist even after stopping microdosing. Meaning you won't need to continue to take Amanita forever to continue seeing benefits, and you won't likely return to the way you felt before starting your microdosing journey.

Many psychoactive substances have a rebound effect (SSRIs, alcohol...), where once you stop taking the substance, you will likely return to how you felt before. You may even feel worse and need to continue to use the substance to keep seeing benefits. Unfortunately this often causes dependency.

Amanita works differently and is one of the main reasons people are using Amanita to heal themselves, over other substances: Many people feel uplifted and balanced months and possibly years after stopping their microdosing journey.

But don't just take my word for it. When 6000 Amanita muscaria microdosing participants were asked how stable the effects were after they stopped microdosing Amanita:

• 74% said the effects were stable
• 21% only felt effects while microdosing

You can read more about this study in the blog: "why microdose Amanita muscaria"). 

What would a year of microdosing Amanita look?

After being consistent with Amanita for a few months, and following a protocol, like one outlined above, you may only need to take it occasionally, or in phases to continue to see benefits. 

Here's some examples of what others do after they are happy with how they feel after microdosing with Amanita for a bit:

• Work: Take it only on Mondays and Tuesdays, when it's more of a struggle to stay happy and motivated at work
• Mood Boost: Continue to take it a few times a week when you are feeling down
• Social: For those who struggle with social anxiety, you may only need to take it before social gatherings so you can be confident and social with others.
• Learner: Take it in 2 month phases once or twice a year.
• Free: Never take Amanita again and continue to feel balanced and happy throughout your life

Conclusion

Amanita muscaria is a unique mushroom with its own energy and benefits. Though microdosing is most commonly associated with psychedelics, Amanita can also be microdosed. Just keep in mind that Amanita is not a psychedelic and needs to be treated differently when microdosed.

But don’t fret. Stay consistent and listen to your body and you will be on your way to mastering the art of microdosing Amanita.

And if you'd like to learn more about the benefits of microdosing Amanita muscaria or why someone would want to microdose over macrodose, read "Why Microdose Amanita Muscaria"