Many representatives of the fungal kingdom can help ensure a long and healthy life by supporting our hormonal balance and providing a healthier, more ethical, and ecological alternative to many stimulants, medications, and synthetic supplements.”
Did you know that if we compared the period during which humans evolved from a savanna-forest environment to an industrialized one to the average human lifespan, it would last only 7 minutes? This means that we’ve made a massive evolutionary leap in a very short time, which didn’t give us the opportunity to develop adequate adaptive tools. As a result, we often aren’t even aware of how stressful modern living conditions can be for us.
Longing for Nature
Most of us intuitively sense how beneficial contact with nature is for our health. Many of us likely feel a deep-seated longing to return to our roots, to live in harmony with nature and its cycles. We’ve grown accustomed to functioning as entities separate from nature, when in reality, we are an integral part of its greater whole, constantly interacting with the earth and its cycles.
Natural Cycles vs. Modern Habits
We’ve shifted to functioning in a daily rhythm, yet we are more cyclical than we realize, influenced by monthly, yearly, and other cycles. Our bodies are in a constant state of chemical fluctuation, with everything we surround ourselves with, consume—both literally and metaphorically—and experience affecting this balance. We’ve become accustomed to living in synthetic spaces, under artificial light, with controlled temperatures, consuming processed foods regardless of season, weather, or time of year. We change time zones and suffer from jet lag, expecting consistent productivity and energy levels every day, regardless of the season or weather. This leads to a cycle of repetition, predictability, and the expectation that things will always remain the same.
Meanwhile, careful observation of nature offers us simple yet profound lessons about the essence of life, where change and impermanence are fundamental. There is a time for activity and a time for rest. Regeneration, rest, pause, and passing all play crucial roles in the cycle of life, as growth and development would not occur without periods of dormancy. Everything has its time, and for things to happen, specific favorable conditions must be met.
The Consequences of Ignoring Natural Cues
As we rush between work, home, and a multitude of responsibilities, it’s difficult to remain mindful of what’s happening in nature and how it affects us. Yet, it’s certainly worth it, as observing nature can serve as a true compass for self-observation and introspection. However, we often lack the space to integrate external processes or the awareness of the internal ones, invisible to the naked eye, that our body performs every minute. Instead, we notice their simple, measurable, and often frustrating effects, such as energy slumps during the day, lowered immunity, difficulty getting out of bed, interrupted and non-restorative sleep, irritability, deep sadness, or panicked reactions to relatively trivial issues. We fail to see, or don’t have the opportunity to address, the root cause of these issues and instead reach for quick fixes like coffee, energy drinks, other stimulants, unhealthy processed snacks, compulsive overeating, painkillers, and medications.
Medicinal Mushrooms as Adaptive Support
Here, medicinal mushrooms can come to our aid, offering supportive effects as we adapt to the challenges of our demanding reality. Fortunately, this fascinating biological kingdom has finally garnered the attention of Western medicine (having long held an important place in Chinese and Ayurvedic traditions), and the knowledge about these powerful organisms is becoming more widespread. While we already know a great deal about them, there’s still much to learn, as approximately 90 percent of fungi remain unknown. We know that they have developed a communication language in which equivalents of words can be distinguished, that some of their species can live for several thousand years, that they can hunt, and even turn ants into zombies. Traditional medical systems and indigenous peoples have been harnessing their benefits for centuries.
Many representatives of the fungal kingdom can help ensure a long and healthy life by supporting our hormonal balance and providing a healthier, more ethical, and eco-friendly alternative to many stimulants, medications, and synthetic supplements. When used appropriately and selected carefully, mushrooms can help regulate our systems and bring our rhythm closer to a more natural state. They can also support those who, due to circumstances like shift work, cannot or do not wish to harmonize with these natural cycles.
Harmony with Nature in the Modern World
Tuning into nature can be challenging in an industrialized and technological world, but with the right support, we can create a harmonious environment within ourselves for regeneration, relaxation, and the strength to continue living in alignment with our natural rhythm. This connection brings a sense of being part of a greater whole and knowing our place on this planet. Take the respiratory system as an example: anatomically, it consists of the upper and lower respiratory tracts and lungs, but from a broader perspective, it’s part of a larger ecosystem. This includes trees that produce the oxygen we breathe and absorb the carbon dioxide we exhale, along with animals and plants that contribute to the growth of these trees. We form a universe of interdependencies and connections, even if we’re not always aware of them in our daily lives. By attempting to bypass the rhythms and cycles imposed by nature, we often strain ourselves and disrupt our body’s natural functioning.
Just as nature has day and night, inhalation and exhalation, activity and rest, our bodies follow the same principle, with times for action and times for rest. Our bodies constantly undergo a fluctuation of hormones responsible for stimulation and relaxation. Neurotransmitters — the chemicals in our brains and throughout our bodies — can be broadly divided into those that excite and those that inhibit. Medicinal mushrooms can be similarly categorized, with some stimulating and others calming.
The Properties of Adaptogenic Mushrooms
Adaptogenic mushrooms have scientifically proven effects on regulating our nervous system, increasing the body’s resilience to stress, and offering numerous other health benefits. They can be used as needed when we feel we need extra support, or they can be regularly incorporated into our diet to replace entirely synthetic supplements and stimulants like coffee or energy drinks. For instance, Cordyceps can effectively replace coffee. It provides stimulation without the crash associated with coffee, while also strengthening the entire body, supporting concentration, and not burdening the stomach as coffee does. It helps us stay active when needed and then smoothly transitions us into a state of relaxation.
A mushroom with a calming profile is Lion’s Mane, which lowers cortisol levels, soothes, and tones the nervous system. It helps an overstimulated body enter a state of relaxation and supports restful, restorative sleep. Its beneficial properties don’t stop there, as like all adaptogenic mushrooms, it has a multi-directional impact on the body.
How to Pursue Homeostasis
Homeostasis, in medical terms, refers to the ability to maintain relatively stable internal conditions through self-regulating biological processes. More broadly, it can be seen as a state of psychophysical well-being that influences other areas of our lives.
Vital mushrooms send signals to our bodies to function correctly and support them in striving for homeostasis, which has measurable effects on other aspects of our lives. With their help, we can attempt to regain instinctive, natural cycles, and once we do, organize our lives around them to become more harmonious, with respect for ourselves and the world around us, creating favorable conditions for living.
Self-observation is key to change. Learning to let go of internal and external pressures and allowing ourselves to be present, accepting, and in harmony with nature is the foundation for a good and beautiful life. We don’t have to reject technology or move out of the city to give ourselves a taste of returning to our roots and a regulated life. Taking care of our well-being by balancing internal processes creates a source of well-being within us, which we can continuously draw from. Learning to respect our energy resources gives us tremendous potential to live in harmony with ourselves, in balance and equilibrium.
Author: Iga Urbańska
