Bob's Red Pill #20 - Reishi Mushroom

The first Bob’s Red Pill in this series was on tonic herbs, and arguably the number one tonic herb of all time is reishi mushroom, native to China. It has been consumed by humans for well over 5,000 years, and perhaps much longer than that. It is the most scientifically studied herb of all time. It holds a mystique unmatched by any other natural substance — there are dozens of articles and blogs about reishi, speaking in a reverent, almost religious tone, documenting the authors’ transformation through stumbling upon the reishi tradition. Well, consider this piece as an addition to the genre.

Reishi, or Ganoderman Lucidum (the most famous and widely cultivated of various reishis), is a hardwood fibrous mushroom, notably bright RED in color, sometimes shockingly so. Both ganoderma and lucidum infer “sheen, shine, bright”, in reference to the distinctly lacquered chatoyancy of the fruiting bodies, but could just as easily refer to the spirit-enhancing effects of ingesting reishi. Shen is the concept used in traditional Chinese Taoist tonic herbalism, akin to our soul’s light (like a candle flame), which can be augmented through certain breathwork patterns, spiritual practices, and consumption of certain herbs. Reishi is by far the most notable example of a shen herb.

I’ve mentioned this story before, but my first interaction with reishi was dramatic. I was working at a health retreat center, which turned out to have a staff and clientele very focused on the esoteric side of natural healing. My boss in the supplement dispensary was always letting the new staff try all sorts of new herbs and supplements, it was a very fun time. My first day in a new role, where one of my tasks was working customer support, led me into my very first phone call with an extremely disgruntled customer. Just before taking this call, my boss handed me my first mug of reishi tea. I had no idea what it was. The brand was the now defunct Shaman Shack, founded by Rehmannia Dean Thomas, who has been on our show three times.

During this call, I became more and more flustered and stressed out, as the customer began grilling me for our error, truly freaking out. The mistake had nothing to do with me, as it was my first day in the new role, but I wanted to succeed and make a good impression. I felt I was losing the moment and began to panic. That is, until I got about halfway through my mug of reishi tea. It felt as if someone had cracked an egg of golden light and peace on my skull, and this feeling began to trickle down my head, flooding my nervous system with an indescribable “all is well” feeling. I wrapped up the call, and was instantly enamored with this herb.

[After the fact, my boss informed me that the caller was a famous “Zen meditation” author with several books to his name, ostensibly on the subject of remaining calm in life’s situations. The customer service issue was was ultimately incredibly minor. Ironic…]

Before this reishi experience, I was no stranger to psychotropic drugs or altered states, especially cannabis and magic mushrooms. This feeling was distinctly different. Complete calm yet heightened awareness, no jitters, no paranoia, centered in a feeling of love and kindness. Like Dean says, reishi, while beneficial every day, is non-habit forming, and completely beneficial. I began reading Dean and others’ takes on reishi mushroom, and found they all generally agreed with one another, and my experience matched theirs exactly. Notably, many of them spoke in very esoteric language, saying that reishi “finds you” at a certain point in your life. I certainly was searching for peace at a young age, after an incredibly tumultuous few years. My first reishi ‘download’ felt almost too good to be true.

I’ll also add this: it’s unlikely this was a placebo effect, for two reasons. One, I was given the mug of tea with a “try this” preamble, no mention of what feeling I should be looking for. Two, I was trying new supplements and modalities on an almost daily basis, none of which had this specific shen effect on my nervous system. The post hoc analysis only mirrored what I felt organically, unprompted.

Following this experience, I tried virtually every reishi product on the market, which is quite a bit less than the current offering in the 2020s. I quickly realized, however, that I had started with the best possible form — a concentrated 10:1 extract of wildcrafted reishi fruiting bodies (aka actual mushrooms). Most products on store shelves were ground up mycelium grown on oats or rice, with a very high alpha glucan content and very low beta glucan content. Or, many products weren’t extracted at all, just offering a ground up reishi mushroom, with its compounds forever locked away from human digestion and assimilation by the fiber known as chitin.

However, and I must stress my disappointment, even other 10:1 reishi extracts did not offer the miraculous shen-stabilizing effects of my initial mug of tea. Furthermore, years later, the reishi from Shaman Shack didn’t hit the spot either. This is far from a critique of Dean Thomas. I was learning that perhaps a true ‘downloadable’ reishi product was rare and elusive, it felt like I was chasing a (Chinese?) dragon.

I have no doubt that a high quality reishi extract is always beneficial on a physiological level, particularly for immune health. If the extract is rich in brown/red color, dissolves easily in hot water, and tastes bitter and strong, it is all but guaranteed to contain the compounds that make it the most scientifically verified herb on Earth. Also, a balanced immune system (reishi is dual-directional, calming overactive immune systems rather than merely stimulating) is sure to lead to a calmer, healthier life. However, I must be honest that there are certain rare reishi products that seem almost magical, impossible to be mistaken for the others. I often hesitate to recommend reishi to other new herbal enthusiasts, because so many of the products in stores today are expensive and quite literally useless. Compared to schizandra berry, another of my favorite herbs, most health stores offer a bottle of capsules of a mid-tier schizandra that still produces a noticeable effect. The “you can really feel it” phenomenon is one of my favorite aspects of Taoist herbalism. Unfortunately, the reishi quality varies so widely these days, with a small percentage of products capturing the true spirit of the herb.

Perhaps this is meant to be. Reishi has always been elusive, hidden in forests, had to be hunted down and properly prepared. Hermits knew the best spots for procurement, while the masses either go without or consume an inferior product. Reishi has been masterfully cultivated for centuries, and I believe there are some excellent reishi farmers. The reishi from farms is called duanwood, where inoculated logs are semi-buried and left to fruit into reishi mushrooms, then extracted. Often, spores are purposefully left to form, creating another interesting reishi product.

Most “wildcrafted” reishi is duanwood farmed reishi. Even Ron Teeguarden, ambassador of Taoist herbalism in America, and founder of Dragon Herbs, an elite purveyor of tonic herbs, seems to notice the difference between truly wild and cultivated reishi. From the Dragon Herbs website:

Wild Red Reishi, because it is WILD, possesses more Shen than cultivated varieties of Reishi. Most hot-house Reishi, which is usually made from only the artificially generated mycelia, possesses little Shen, if any. No herb on earth is more capable of supporting the development of Shen than WILD Red Reishi.

However, I’ve also heard Ron speak extremely highly of good cultivated reishi, and he claims to consume it every single day. If I were to wager a guess, I’d say that he uses cultivated reishi as the “workhorse”, and uses the rarer wild reishi for the more esoteric effects.

Currently, the most shen-supportive reishi extract I can find is from Superfeast Herbs. This is an unsponsored endorsement. I’ve tried several high-potency extracts of reishi over the last few years, and Superfeast is the only one that has had a pronounced shen effect on my system.

I’d love for this mystery to be solved. Why are some cultivated reishi products so much more spiritually beneficial than others? What constituents, if any (beyond beta glucans and triterpenes) create this effect? Can it be quantified? A lot of these products are from the same suppliers, just packaged under a different name. Are there farming techniques that create a more shen-heavy reishi?

DHT

Many are concerned about medicinal mushrooms and their effect on male hormone systems, libido, testosterone and DHT levels, etc.

I’ve found this to be a largely baseless concern for most men, including myself. It is true that reishi, in cell line studies, decreases DHT more than any other mushroom. It’s not clear how well this translates into human male physiology.

The vast majority of men with this concern are mostly concerned with decreased libido and becoming less manly. This is a valid concern among any male biohacker, no one wants to self-castrate themselves, even slightly. Like every male herbalist, I’ve experimented with endless libido-enhancing tonics, many of them originating from the Taoist system. The Taoists were humanity’s original sexual enhancement researchers.

Even among Taoist celibates, sexual energy was still enhanced and transmuted, rather than suppressed, like other religious systems throughout the world. Every Chinese emperor had a Taoist master herbalist on call to aid them in this realm. In my personal view, if reishi or lion’s mane have any deleterious effect on male libido, it is very slight, and well compensated for other tonic herbs like cistanche and epimedium (in addition to countless others). Still, experiment for yourself. It’s possible you’re a hyper-responder to hormonal effects of mushrooms and should avoid them — yet I’d argue even in this case that it might be part of a bigger problem of one’s physiology.

This excellent article from Logan Christopher of Lost Empire Herbs goes in-depth on the issue. Logan is an herbalist who is very focused on peak male performance, and even he says the following:

So here’s why I’m not concerned with using reishi despite wanted to keep my DHT levels optimal.

With this research, it’s looking at the very complicated reishi through a very narrow lens. That’s how science works. And it can teach us important things, but must always be brought back into a bigger picture.

Taking reishi isn’t going to cut your DHT by 80% like it did in the rat cells above.

I am not interesting in using a single “active” constituent of reishi, instead I want the “intelligence” of the whole mushroom. And I don’t really consider reishi a “hormonal” herb. In any case its effects are far less than some of the other herbs we have in this realm.

Now, there may be a few people that are very sensitive to DHT inhibition that might want to avoid reishi for this reason. If that’s the case, according to the above chart you likely want to avoid just about all mushrooms. As always we recommend experimenting and finding what works for you personally.

Well said.

Stacking

When you find a good reishi, you can reliably combine it with other calming herbs to make a truly potent elixer. I’ve found tulsi to be my favorite, but chamomile and lemon balm work as well. Or, you could stick with classical Taoist combinations, offered by Dragon Herbs (Pearl Shen, Supreme Shen Drops) or supertonicherbs.com (Shift formula). These formulas make any other spiritual practice or modality so much more effective, it really is quite profound.

Mushroom of Spiritual Immortality

While reishi is a “daily tonic”, and appropriate for everyday use, I do find it beneficial to cycle it. While it is non-tolerance or habit forming, it is still fun to “rediscover” reishi many times throughout the months, years, and decades. At any sign of a tumultuous season of life, however, you’ll find me consistently taking reishi to weather the storm.

I have yet to see any other modality — biohacking with amino acids, therapy, saunas, cold showers, etc. — that are as powerful as consistently applied tonic herbalism. All it takes is the right quality of herbs, in the right combinations for you. What’s interesting about the tonic herb market in America is almost all the purveyors are small business operations, run by people extremely passionate about these herbs. I have yet to see anyone use the sale of these herbs as purely a path to wealth or power.

In ancient Chinese paintings of reishi, it is often found right in the center, between the earthly and heavenly realms. It is clear that reishi has long been thought to be a bridge between Heaven and Earth. Spend a few moments perusing some of the articles about reishi on the internet, in particular the ones that go beyond basic immunological benefits. There is a common theme of reverence for this mushroom, echoing throughout time and space. I find it stunning that, if Taoists’ theories about “wild history” are correct, we’ve been consuming reishi as a species for over 10,000 years. It’s amazing that reishi has had a resurgence in the modern internet age, and I’m incredibly grateful that we live in a world with such easy access to these tonic herbs from all over the world. We are truly blessed.

To your health!

Psi

[P.S. — again we emphasize that none of the brands mentioned have a sponsorship with Rare Candy as of the publishing date of this post, for complete transparency. We are, of course, not opposed to such deals for products we truly believe in. Perhaps we will carry mushroom products someday soon.]