Everything that we do is influenced by the health of our nervous system. Our perception, our consciousness, our ability to walk, to breathe, to socialize. When you're angry as an inflammatory state, when people are depressed, they're immunologically depressed. When they're happy, they're immune systems at a higher state of readiness. I think Soloshaibin is the most important new molecular medicine for building communities, respect, and kindness and cooperation. It brings us together in a unified field of consciousness and being that I think has tremendous potential positive benefits for the future. My college's Paul Stamets is the world's foremost authority on my college and the healing power of mushrooms. His incredible work reveals how mycelium connects ecosystems, inspires new medicines, and might even help heal the relationship between humans and the earth. We have a crisis of creativity. We need to have a quantum leap in consciousness. The chemical industry has inflicted so much harm to biodiversity. It's unraveling the very foundation of the ecosystems in which we've evolved. Funds I'd eliminate the need and the necessity

and the intensity of using these chemical solutions.

Conventional medicine and conventional agricultural practices

and mycelium lowers the need for toxicity

increasing the immunity of the ecosystem.

What do you believe is the intelligence of the universe

that produced a mushroom that has this transformative capacity? We are fallible. We are in adequate to understand the enormity of the concept of God. We will die. We will decompose. Make friends with the fungi now because they're going to get you. We're in a stream of a molecular universe that has a continuum that goes through billions of years. We're all part of one giant consciousness. It makes me feel better about my own mortality. We're all in this together and it's a great thing. Hi, I'm Mayan Bialik. And I'm Jonathan Cohen. And welcome to our breakdown. We're covering everything today. Are you ready to change the world? Are you ready to be part of a revolution in how human beings can better interact with each other and with ourselves and with the entire universe? Also, what if we are not designed to be sick? What if we are living in a way and a fundamental way that explains a lot of the ailments and conditions that we all face? And what if you're not broken? What if you can change? What if there are ways in nature that can help you be less stressed, be less anxious, feel happier, feel healthier, see colors brighter, have better connections with people, be more interested and creative. More interesting. So many people are struggling and there are ways to get over that struggle. Before we introduce who our guest is, a disclaimer, we are not providing medical or legal advice. Obviously listeners should speak to a doctor before engaging in any course of what we're going to talk about in a particular microdosing. We're going to be talking about psychedelics today. That's part of the conversation. And psychedelics are still illegal in many places. We're not encouraging anything illegal. We are here to share the latest scientific insights from our guest. And our guest is none other than my collegeist, Paul Stammitz. He's the author of eight books and recently spoke at the United Nations. I cannot overstate the significance of Paul Stammitz in what he describes as an awakening, a global awakening of an understanding of the role that fungi, mycelium, and mushrooms play in our collective health and our collective consciousness. His new book, Silicide and Mushrooms in their natural habitats, a guide to the history, identification, and use of psychoactive fungi is available now. It's really, really a beautiful book, and it's a full-color guide to Silasibon mushrooms, but his entire body of work is dedicated to his love and reverence for all things fungi. And he also talks a lot about the expansion of consciousness, which is so related to a lot of the conversations we have here on Miami, Alex breakdown, understanding how our perspectives can change, how we can feel more connected to something greater than ourselves and interconnected with one another. He's also going to talk about how psilocybin is used in therapeutic environments to treat some of the most difficult to treat trauma conditions. And in addition, he's going to reveal some things that were not even covered in the incredible documentary, fantastic fungi, which he shares his entire journey. And there's things he didn't even include that he's going to share with us today. Also, just because in case that wasn't enough, we're going to talk about the amazing applications that fungi can have in other areas, like agriculture and home building. Like it's just mind blowing. If your mind isn't blown, I'll be suppressed. And if you've ever been diagnosed with anything relating to inflammation, depression, anxiety, or trauma, we cannot wait for you to listen to this episode. It's a pleasure to welcome to the breakdown, Paul Stammitz. Break it down. Honored to be here. You are one of the first people that we ever thought of talking to when we started this podcast. And scheduling and the universe has brought us to this very day when we finally get to speak to you. I learned about you from the documentary, a fantastic fungi. And I was instantly, I mean, wow, it is not really even the word. I, I, I did my graduate work in neuroscience. I did my undergraduate work in neuroscience. And I went with a fellow colleague of mine. And we were so, you know, fascinated. And I just, you know, completely floored by the implications, not just of understanding the world of fungi, but in particular your story. Many people tune into this podcast to understand the intersection between science and spirituality to give legitimate credence in clinical ways to some of the things that many have dismissed in many cases for decades and sometimes for millennia. Rick Doblin is a friend of the podcast and we've delved into consciousness pretty much from every angle that we can think of, but you know, you really are kind of the master of all things consciousness and expansion. So we're just so honored to get to speak with you. Well, you're over exaggerating my importance, but I appreciate the compliment. I wonder if, you know, some people may be learning about you for the first time, and we're going to get into many components of fungi, their environmental role, their implications for, you know, sort of larger cohesion and connectivity. And we are also going to talk about not only psychedelic effects of mushrooms, but also some of the clinical implications for treating some of the things that, you know, the pharmaceutical industry makes the most money off of trying to treat. And, you know, some of the things that ale many of us. But I wonder if we can start with a bit of your origin story. I think that's one of the most powerful components of your story. I wonder if you wouldn't mind telling us the story of your stutter. Okay, well, as deeply personal, but it's a good story. I grew up in a small town in Ohio. I was the youngest of five children. I have a twin brother, it's five minutes older. So I came from an industrialist family I developed a stuttering habit. And let me just tell everyone out there when you're around a stutterer, don't make fun of them. That's cruel. You know, it's just, it's mean, mean-spirited. It's a social anxiety issue. The type of stuttering I had, I would not stutter the animals, wouldn't stutter when I sing, but you don't wanna hear me sing. That's a... But I couldn't look at people in the eyes, so I looked on the ground all the time, and I found mushrooms, fossils, and turtles. I became a... I fell in love with a turtle family, snapping turtles, wild turtles in my backyard pond, and I go down there and feed them and talk to them. It was a very difficult childhood. I had this debilitating stuttering habit and typically stutterers tend to be higher than average IQ. Our minds and our thoughts streams would go way ahead of our speaking ability and then we get stuck stuck in a loop, and then it becomes embarrassing. And then like looking into a mirror, you feel more stressed, et cetera. So that was my childhood growing up. Until, and I think that, you know, most people see him, fantastic fun. I don't want to repeat the whole story, but did it hurt really? Do it's a psilocybin mushrooms?

Climb up into a tree.

There was a lightning storm, wind storm, highest tree in the landscape. I thought it was going to be electrocuted. I ate way too many mushrooms. I had bought mushrooms before. There are button mushrooms injected with an LSD and there's all fake. It's just because stills not mushrooms are so hard to acquire in the early 1970s.

But I got some of these dried mushrooms from Florida and I thought, oh, I ate the whole bag because last time I didn't do anything. So that was a little bit more potent than I expected. So on top of this tree when it came on because I thought, look at the view scape and a thunderstorm was coming and the winds came and It was it turned out to be a ferocious, you know summer when I went in thunderstorm in Ohio people from Ohio know this well And I was terrified And I had vertical because I was just so high So I grabbed on to the tree as a mad access moondy into the earth and And then I just was thrown into the beauty of nature and even though it was frightening, it was visually fantastic. Because every time there was a lightning strike, it was a fractalization pattern which I had not seen before. The atmosphere was liquefied. So there's this sort of liquid waves who come through and lightning strikes and factual, beautiful colors. And then I realized I'm likely to get electrocuted up here because it's the tallest tree in the whole landscape. And so I thought, well, I survived this experience. What do I need to work on? Because I know I'm not stupid, and I know I'm a good person. And so I said to myself many times, stop stuttering now or as a mantra over and over. And I realized, in retrospectively, I didn't mention this in the movie. Fundamentally, I know I'm a good person, and I love who I am. It doesn't matter what other people think. And so when I came down out of the tree, just full of love for the universe, love for nature, feeling like I'm one part of one giant consciousness. It was an epiphany for me spiritually because I had a Christian background. And for those Christians out there, I would just tell you that Jesus, like a shepherd,

leads the flock, but I had a very interesting

and informative discussion with my mother,

who's a devout charismatic Christian leader.

I mean, she was a big name, that movement.

I said to my mom, I know you're spiritual,

I feel spiritual too, but do you,

let's do a thought experiment? Do you agree that your concept of God, you know, God is omnipotent, all knowing. She goes absolutely. I said, and you agree that humans are not, right? We are fallible. We are inadequate to understand the enormity of the concept of God. And she goes, yes.

I say, well, therefore, our definition of who God is is fraught with error. It's erroneous. It's inadequate to the concept. And yet we've conceptualized and created these religions. And she knew where I was going with this. She's pretty smart. And she goes, well, yes, yes. But so my first experiences, you know, were very much at first dominated, you know, with Christianity. But then I saw Jesus and this portal of mushrooms expanding into something far, far greater, far beyond any individual. And so it was a very spiritual experience because I had an understanding of this concept of one giant consciousness. And so I descended the tree in the next day as I told in the movie. There is this woman, a young lady that I liked a lot, but she was a mistutterer. So who's going to associate with me, right? I'm not attractive. And I saw her walking on the sidewalk and I normally would look looked down because I don't want people to talk to me because I would stutter and send bearers in. Some people make fun of me, very humiliating. And I looked at her in the street in the eyes and I said, good morning. And she looked at me and she said, good morning, Paul. It was the expression of kindness from her that just invalidated everything I did. And so I stopped stuttering. Now I do stutter occasionally as there's a drinking and a loud bar, you know, there's so much noise as hard to articulate. Someone asked me how to grow mushrooms, it's feeling like feeling a well at teaspoon's like okay where do you want to start, you know, so there is this cacophony of noise destruction that sometimes it lists it's my stuttering.

But I met some really famous people, you know, and who doesn't start it right, you know, that Bill Gates and like I don't know what to say. So yeah, but largely it's 99% cured and it's really because I realized that I am a good person. And that's all that matters. Can you look at yourself in the mirror every morning to know that you are trying to do good in the world? And I affirm that. Some people may disagree with me, but that's your opinion. My opinion counts more than anybody else in the opinion. And then my snapping turtles were my friends. So I hung out with my snapping turtles. That's why I wear the turtle. This turtle island, it's my snapping turtles. So I raised for many years and I would pet them and hold them and never got picked. And also on my dead head, so Terrapin Station is one of my favorite socks. This episode is sponsored by Wondering Jews and Open Door Media Brand. If you've ever found yourself feeling like you have more questions than answers, you're in good company. The Jewish people have been like that for thousands of years. Wondering Jews with Michal and Noam is a podcast where two of today's most dynamic Jewish voices, Michal Beton and Noam Weissmann, dig into the biggest questions about life through a Jewish lens. It's the kind of conversation where you'll laugh, learn something new, and probably shout and disagreeman at least once. Michal and Noam tackled the tough topics, like anti-Semitism in America, what happens after we die, and the future of religion, with guests like Brett Stevens, Michael Rappeport, and Sarah Herwitz. In this past month, in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, they've been celebrating some of the Jewish lives and institutions that have shaped American life from food to music

and comedy, thoughtful, joyful, and always honest, that's wondering Jews with Michal and Noam a production of Unpacked. Find it on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube and make sure to hit subscribe. Check out wondering Jews with Michal and Noam podcast and subscribe at unpacked.bio-nmx My Mbox breakdown is supported by by optimizers. You know, I struggled to get good quality sleep And I just assumed it was stress but as I learned during Paramanopause and Manopause your hormones shift in a way that affect your magnesium levels and low magnesium It makes it makes everything harder, not just sleep, focus, mood, your tolerance for stress. That's why I have added magnesium breakthrough by by optimizers to my nightly routine. It's a blend of seven different forms of magnesium designed to support relaxation and overall sleep quality. Try it. See if you wake up more rest and refreshed. You've got nothing to lose and a lot to gain. Bi optimizers offers a 365 day, no questions asked money back guarantee. Magnesium breakthrough is a huge breakthrough to improve hormonal balance, to help with focus, decrease brain fog, improve sleep hygiene overall, bi optimizers makes it very easy. Jonathan, what do they get when they go to bioptimizers.com slash breaker and use the code breaker? You get 50% off your entire order and a free bottle of massimes. Bioptimizer is best selling digestive enzyme. That'll be added to your order automatically when you use our exclusive code. That's a $20 product free on top of your discount already. This is a limited time offer and while supplies last, you can't get it on Amazon, you can't get it in stores. This offer exists in one place.

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So maybe you were already thinking about it, this is the sign.

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