White Penis Envy Mushrooms

Does Strain Matter?

We receive numerous questions about whether the specific strain matters for psilocybin therapy.  People often become quite dogmatic on this topic, leading to subjective opinions and heated conversations.  Here, I aim to provide a more evidence–and logic-based approach–to the topic, discussing how we approach it at Satya Therapeutics in a service center setting. The short answer is: Mushroom strain does not affect the outcome of psilocybin therapy.  What does affect the outcome is choosing an experienced psilocybin facilitator, preparation work, set-and-setting, the amount of psilocybin consumed, and integration work after the journey.

What Does the Research Show?

There is no research on how different strains perform in psilocybin therapy.  All medical research is based on using synthetic psilocybin, meaning every patient receives the exact same amount—usually 25mg—when participating in a research study (e.g. Johns Hopkins).  Pure psilocybin administered to patients results in significant healing, as study after study has proven.  At Satya Therapeutics, we believe the research: mushroom strain does not matter for psilocybin therapy in a research setting.  Pure psilocybin results in healing. Is it possible that different mushroom strains could produce better or worse results? The research is silent on this, and we will likely never have an answer due to the costs and logistics of conducting such studies.

What is a Strain Anyway?

A Google search on “Golden Teacher Spores” yields about 4,200,000 results.  People often claim, “Golden Teachers are the best for learning new life lessons.”  But which Golden Teachers are they referring to?  Are all 4,200,000 results the exact same genetics yielding the exact same potency every harvest? Growers know that each spore from a Golden Teacher mushroom will produce a different genetic variation. Golden Teachers are part of the psilocybe cubensis species, which includes thousands of different variations like Penis Envy, Blue Meany, and Golden Teachers.  Even a monocultured strain (homogenous) will have different attributes depending on the growing environment. Additionally, an individual homogenous mycelium culture will eventually die out, with each successive generation weakening. The reality is: There is no such thing as a strain beyond what you have in front of you. One grower’s Golden Teacher is different from another grower’s.

Mazatapec Mushhroom

Why Do Some Strains Make You Feel Different Than Others?

We don’t believe this is necessarily true.  Every psilocybe cubensis mushroom has attributes such as psilocybin potency, psilocin potency, and other psychedelic compounds.  If you consumer a gram of Golden Teacher containing 0.5% psilocybin and a Blue Meany containing 1.0% psilocybin, you will feel a much stronger effect from the Blue Meany because you consumed twice as much psilocybin.  In an unregulated environment, people believe there are differences between strains due to varying potency.  Satya Therapeutics operates in the legal psilocybin therapy market, where we are required to test each batch of mushrooms for potency. We find that clients react consistently to the total amount of psilocybin they take, not to the different strain names.

People Claim They Can Tell the Difference Between Strains!

It is possible in the context of how many mushroom journeys a person has done.  Just as some people can tell the difference between two wines grown in Napa, people who do a lot of journey work appear to be able to tell the difference between strains.  However, answering this question would require blind tests with equal amounts of psilocybin, which is unlikely to happen. The reality is that 90% of the people visiting Satya Therapeutics’ Southern Oregon Service Center have never tried a psychedelic before, and most of our clients will never try psilocybin more than a few times in their lifetime.

Halo Mushrooms

Focusing on Strain Minimizes the Value of Preparation, Facilitation, and Integration

If we focus on the strain, how important is the preparation work done by the client?  And if we focus on strains, how important is the facilitator?  The focus should be on the desired outcomes and how to best achieve those outcomes. We prefer to trust the psilocybin (trust the mushroom) to do what it is supposed to do.  The mushrooms can always be trusted along with our inner healer.  Evidence from our service center shows that the role of the facilitator and the level of preparation significantly impact the outcome of the journey. In over 500 client journeys, strain has never mattered.

Healed is Healed!

Clients who visit us for psychedelic-assisted therapy want to heal from serious mental health issues. In many cases, psychedelic-assisted therapy—regardless of the strain—heals their symptoms. Clients never ask, “What strain healed me?” It makes no difference to them.

Conclusion

Strain does not matter in the outcome of psilocybin therapy.  Satya is the only legal psilocybin therapy service center that also holds a separate grower license.  We grow a number of different mushroom varieties.  The reason we grow different strains is to find the highest potency mushrooms offering the highest yields.

BS Teachers (Golden Teachers)