PT429 – Tony Shields – From Mycophobia to Fungi Fever: The Psychedelic Space's Growing Interest in Functional Mushrooms
Psychedelics Today
Psychedelics Today, LLC
4.6 • 598 Ratings
🗓️ 4 August 2023
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Kyle interviews the Founder and CEO of FreshCap Mushrooms and host of The Mushroom Show on YouTube, Tony Shields.
He talks about how an early interest in lucid dreaming sent him down a psychedelic path, and how, as his interest in mushrooms has grown, he's watched the culture shift from a narrative of mycophobia to one of appreciation and interest. With FreshCap Mushrooms and The Mushroom Show, he aims to provide much needed education around this vast and mysterious world of fungi.
He talks about the thriving psilocybin scene in Jamaica, and how, through filming a documentary there, he learned how much communities still don't know about mushrooms, how much tourism supports the country, and how much of a special vibe Jamaica has for psilocybin retreats.
And he discusses much more: why lion's mane should help with concussions and TBIs; indications mushrooms could heal, from long Covid to paralysis; concerns over over-medicalization; why Terence McKennas' ideas weren't as crazy as many thought; visiting mushroom shops in Canada; the secret language of mushrooms; where psychedelic people can start to learn about functional mushrooms; and why, if he could embody any mushroom, it'd be cordyceps.
Click here to head to the show notes page.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | To our New York City community, join us for a rare and intimate in-person evening, August 10th, with Kyle Buller and David Drappkin from Psychedelics Today. |
| 0:09.0 | They will be diving into the depths of their own profound near-death experiences and sharing how these transformative encounters shaped their psychospiritual paths. |
| 0:19.0 | There are intriguing parallels between psychedelic, |
| 0:21.7 | non-ordinary states of consciousness and near-death experiences, as they both unveil the hidden |
| 0:26.5 | connections that bridge these remarkable realms. In this event, David and Kyle will talk about |
| 0:31.6 | death, exploring how it can enable us to engage more authentically with life itself. And after the |
| 0:37.2 | fireside chat, |
| 0:38.0 | there will be a thought-provoking Q&A session. Don't miss this special occasion as we bid David |
| 0:43.3 | Drapkin farewell before his exciting move to Israel at the end of August, making an evening |
| 0:47.9 | of celebration and reflection. You can find the ticket link at psychedelics today.com |
| 0:53.5 | slash welcome and scroll down to events. |
| 1:07.2 | Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Psychedelics Today. This is your host, Kyle Buller. |
| 1:29.9 | And today on the show, we get to chat with Tony Shields, who's the CEO and founder of FreshCaps. Tony is an internationally recognized mushroom educator with over 10 years of cultivation experience. And he's also the host of the FreshCap YouTube channel, which has gone viral with over 28 million views and over 350 loyal subscribers. |
| 1:35.3 | He's the author of an e-book called Mushroom Powered, the history and science and benefits of the world's most fantastic fungi. And we'll be releasing a new book this fall called |
| 1:40.2 | Mushroom Power, The Life Changing Benefits of Functional Fungi. You can learn more about Tony and his work |
| 1:47.6 | over at Freshcap.com. And then you can also check out his podcast and video series on YouTube, |
| 1:55.3 | The Mushroom Show, or you can just type in Fresh Cap over there. It's a really fun interview and a little bit different. |
| 2:01.7 | We dive into psychedelics and talk a little bit about what's going on in Jamaica, |
| 2:06.6 | but we also talk about functional and edible mushrooms, which is fun. |
| 2:10.9 | I feel like we haven't really talked about this topic too much on the show. |
| 2:14.2 | So yeah, it was fun to kind of dive into something a little bit different and learn |
| 2:18.0 | all about functional and edible mushrooms. We chat a little bit about Lions Main and concussions |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Psychedelics Today, LLC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Psychedelics Today, LLC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.