The Mind at Large

so I figure now would be a good a time as any to talk about my next subject: Tripping

I'll start off with shrooms (magic muSHROOMS), mostly because it was my most recent experience, and the fact that its a hell of a lot less complicated than LSD or anything else.

so what makes these shrooms magic? Well, the mushrooms that make you trip contain two important chemicals: psilocybin and psilocin. These are both psychoactive compounds that interacts with the neurotransmitters in your brain to mimic the effects of seratonin (that happy feeling chemical.).  With these increased seratonin levels comes changes in perception, mood, mild visuals (things may appear to shift and melt), and a general feeling of complete Euphoria.

What does it feel like to trip? Well.....its really kinda hard to explain, and the feeling varies slightly from stuff like shrooms to LSD. If I had to sum it up in one word, I would choose Fragile. When you're tripping, your senses are open and everyday things just seem to bombard you. Something as simple as listening to a song can be a taxing thing on your brain. Little things can startle you and even go as far as to completely scare the crap right out of you.

Your emotions run wild and become drawn out. For example, if you feel sad for whatever reason for say a minute, It's about 10 times more intense and that minute will feel like an eternity. Which is awesome if you're having a great time but it can be pretty terrible if you're not. However, I never have heard of anyone having a "bad trip" on shrooms. That kind of stuff usually happens on acid, but thats for another post.

What your body goes through: When people trip, they experience whats called "Rolling." to put it in the most basic terms, you're touch sense is wired. Things that feel cool when you're sober just feel amazing.

Now from what I've experienced on shrooms, the trip can be broken down into a couple of stages.

1.Speeding.
This is the first sensation. You feel alive, and you just want to run around and do everything because you have so much energy and your body and mouth move faster than your mind can keep up. It can get a little ridiculous at times, especially when theres more than say 2 people tripping. Speeding typically lasts about an hour or so

2."Woah"
After you come down from speeding, you start to feel pretty funny. You look at stuff and zone out really easily just thinking about a certain thing. It could be a song or something like watching your fingers move. Anything seems interesting, you might even find yourself talking about how awesome the carpet is in the room you're in. This is where things get interesting, you start hearing/seeing things in different ways and its all so beautiful. This is the longest of the stages lasting about 3-5 hours depending on the strength of the shrooms.

3.  Come down
At this point, things start returning to normal, but you still feel some residual effects. Nothing too extreme, but you may still be quivering or feeling a bit out of the ordinary, these effects will last for another 2 hours. While you're coming down, you may feel exhausted and just want to sit and do nothing.

Afterwards: Trips can be life-changing experiences for some people. If nothings stimulating you, you'll start to analyze yourself, which can be good and bad. You may see your faults and make a promise to change them. If you're a spiritual person, you may feel a lot more enlightened of your religion. It all depends on the trip.

Now I gotta admit, this post was REALLY hard to write, trying to describe a trip to someone who hasn't experienced it is really a tough thing to do. Personally speaking, I think everyone should experience it at least once, it really opens your mind and makes you aware of everything going on around you. Everything seems to just...fall into place.
With that being said I think I'll end it here, With more info on Shrooms and psilocybin in the next post.
Keep those questions coming!