Buzzapp Master 
All products featured on Self are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
It was late into the pandemic and I was a single mom living with my toddler in Los Angeles. Somewhat new to the area, I didn’t have a lot of friends—you know, that “village” they say you need to help raise a child. Social distancing made playdates especially difficult, so many days it was just me and my daughter. After she fell asleep, I’d work into the night as a freelance writer, pitching and reporting on stories, hoping to have enough work to be financially self-sufficient but not too much because I didn’t have childcare. Honestly, I didn’t want it; I feared the possibility of infection that came with having a part-time babysitter. One thought was a constant in my whirling dervish mind: I cannot get sick.
So I didn’t drink, I didn’t smoke cannabis—which was not only legal but very much a part of the culture in Venice, where I was living. I ate mostly food from the farmer’s market. I hiked beach trails with my daughter daily and did sound bath meditations I found on YouTube. Still, I was burning the candle at both ends and my anxiety was ever-present.
Eventually, vaccines came out and things began to return to the pre-pandemic normal. I felt a wash of relief about any physical dangers, yet still, in the back of my mind, I’d been introduced to the vulnerability of being a parent, and a single one at that. The experience of living through the pandemic highlighted the weight of responsibility and a need for what felt like elusive control. I craved a state of calm that could wash over me, without me exerting much effort, because honestly, I was tapped out.
One day, I met a mom with a daughter my kid’s age at a pool. This mom was young, chic, and cool. We had similar tattoos. We hit it off, and she eventually told me about her husband who ran a company that sold psilocybin gummies. Yes, psilocybin, as in the psychedelic compound that’s found naturally in “magic” mushrooms. I immediately thought back to the mushrooms I had done in my 20s, which gave me a full-body high that lasted for hours. The mom adjusted her infant on her hip and clarified: The gummies were formulated to give you a microdose, or a small amount that’s just enough to “take the edge off” but not enough to get you high or cause a psychedelic experience.
The thought sounded appealing—I’d just weaned my daughter after three years of breastfeeding and started having a glass of wine to relax at the end of a long day. But I didn’t like the way alcohol made my body feel. Curious about whether microdosing could help ease my parenting stress, I took my new friend up on her offer and tried out a week’s supply of gummies she gave me. My daughter had just entered preschool and I had my mornings free. I began taking one 0.15-gram psilocybin gummy every other day.
As my mom friend promised, the microdose didn’t give me any psychedelic experiences, though I did feel a slight euphoric tingling sensation upon first ingesting them. After taking them every other day for a few weeks in the morning, I noticed feeling more relaxed and comfortable in my skin. I wasn’t “buzzed” and didn’t feel impaired in any way. By 3 p.m., when I had to pick my daughter up from preschool, I was perfectly lucid. I also noticed I was grinding my teeth less at night.
In 2025, microdosing psilocybin is becoming even more popular than it was a few years ago—especially among moms.My experience, while very new to me, isn’t totally unique. In fact, microdosing has become to our generation what chardonnay was to mom groups of yesteryear—and personally, I prefer the vibe of psilocybin.
Daniella Gruenspecht, a licensed school counselor, mental health counselor, and founder of Shemaya Sanctuary, specializes in leading people on therapeutic journeys, including those using psilocybin. She tells SELF that these days, moms come to her for guidance on microdosing in droves. She even treats a Montessori teacher who microdoses while teaching. Books like Microdosing for Moms: A Beginners Guide to the Wonders and Benefits of Magic Mushrooms for Today’s Busy Mom and groups like Moms on Mushrooms indicate a rise in the microdosing trend. Back in 2022, around the time I discovered microdosing, NPR ran a segment about the thousands of moms who were microdosing as a way to cope with the anxiety of parenting.
We can attribute some of this popularity to the decriminalization of psilocybin, bringing users—moms among them—out of the shadows. In California, along with states like Oregon, District of Columbia, and Colorado, psilocybin is decriminalized; in many other states like New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, decriminalization is up for active legislation.
Microdosing mushrooms made me feel calmer, more connected to the universe, and overall less tense and overwhelmed by daily stressors.A microdose, or small amount of a plant active, is meant to be sub-perceptual, Gruenspecht explains. Meaning, you want to take a quantity that’s just enough to feel the relaxing effects but not enough to make you trip or feel high, she adds. There isn’t a single agreed-upon definition of a microdose, but some research suggests approximately 1/5 to 1/20 of a recreational dose; for psilocybin, this typically ends up being around 0.3 grams. However, potency can vary greatly, so it may be difficult to know exactly how much you’re taking without some trial and error. And, as Gruenspecht sees often, each individual can have a different reaction, “depending on how sensitive you are.” But again, there’s no real way to measure what makes someone sensitive, or what exactly that means, so it’s all a bit subjective.
At microdoses, psilocybin may, as Gruenspech puts it, “help you attune to frequencies of the planet and notice synchronicities.” If this sounds a little woo-woo, I hear you. (We are talking about taking psychedelics here, after all.) But noticing meaningful coincidences or signs from the universe had a positive effect on my mood: Even in times of distress, it made me feel more connected to the universe, and it ignited a sense of magic, hope, and purpose all rolled into one—which is, incidentally, what inspired me to become a mom in the first place.
My practice of microdosing also slowed me down from rushing from one task to another during the course of my day. This is a commonly reported effect of the plant compound, according to Gruenspech. “You’ll start to notice small things that are working out as you cultivate your inner flow,” she says. The benefit of microdosing, as she puts it, is to create a “shift in mood, bringing magic to the mundane.”
To me, this translated to feeling gratitude: I was able to shift my perception and focus on the positive and the wonder of life more readily, rather than the tiny tragedies that made anxiety creep up. For example, after dropping my daughter off at preschool and taking my gummy, I would spend some time outdoors among the cacti and hibiscus plants, soaking in their beauty. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by parenting, I felt lucky that I was able to share the magic of this natural world with my daughter. Then, I’d settle in for a day of work as a freelancer and consultant, developing content plans and marketing campaigns for a tech company and taking Zoom meetings. I’d prep my daughter’s post-preschool snack with a sense of confidence and clarity.
Research on psilocybin is in its early stages, so experts don’t yet understand all the potential benefits and risks.While many people, including myself, will anecdotally praise microdosing for easing anxiety and improving mood, the research here is still pretty slim—after all, the compound has been illegal in the US for quite some time, which makes it nearly impossible for scientists to get funding for research.
What we do sort of understand is what psilocybin does in the brain to produce those feel-good sensations. “Psilocybin binds to serotonin receptors and those receptors are found in high concentrations in areas that involve thinking, perception, and mood,” Rachel Yehuda, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience, who directs the Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine, tells SELF. This could explain the shift in perceptual thinking and elevated mood many (including me) experience, but “we’re not sure whether activating those receptors is, in fact, what is causing the subjective effects that people feel when they take psilocybin,” Dr. Yehuda explains.
Dr. Yehuda emphasizes that despite its decriminalization in many states and some promising early research on depression specifically, psilocybin is not yet approved for treating mood disorders, trauma, or PTSD. “A lot of people say that after they take it, they experience a shift, but that’s a claim that’s kind of hard to investigate objectively,” Dr. Yehuda says. “That is the reason people are trying to study psilocybin and other related compounds in clinical trials.” Even if we could prove the way psilocybin works in the brain is what leads to its feel-good effects, “we still have to be able to demonstrate a little bit more clearly than we have to date that these treatments are effective,” she adds.
This isn’t to discount the potential. Dr. Yehuda, who has dedicated her career to investigating how psychedelics can help people heal from trauma, believes that these compounds may be able to play a huge role in mental health, even though the research is not quite there yet. As she puts it: “This is the best thing happening in the field of mental health, but it’s just not ready for prime time yet.” For example, she shares, “We’ve been using MDMA-assisted therapy for COVID veterans, and for most of them, they feel like they don’t have PTSD anymore; they’ve worked through their trauma.” The key here, she adds, is likely the fact that these substances help people better dig into their subconscious, giving them insights about themselves and material to talk about with a therapist.
Although Dr. Yehuda notes that microdosing psilocybin under the guidance of a mental health counselor presents fairly low risks, she does have concerns about people using psychedelics on their own to self-medicate. “This may bring up emotionally complicated feelings, put you in touch with traumatic memories, or make you feel negative mood states, even though you were hoping for it to put you in a positive mood,” she explains. In other words, psychedelics in any dose might unlock traumatic memories without warning, and if you’re not in a safe space, that can be distressing—and even dangerous. Without more research, it’s difficult to know how likely this is and how to avoid it when using these substances.
As for my experience: I microdosed for about six months, stopping when I moved from Venice back to my hometown of Brooklyn. It’s funny to think a physical trip impacted my psilocybin journey, but it felt like the right time to stop. In hindsight, though I didn’t arrive at this conclusion at its onset, I credit microdosing with allowing me the freedom to decide what was best for my family, even if it meant giving up dusty palms and a house near the sea. A return to the bustling community of city life, where I had a deep web of friends and family I could lean on for support, would alleviate many of my parenting anxieties around isolation. I was so rigidly holding onto this idea of living at the beach for magic, but a little magic showed me that wonder has no physical bounds.
Who’s to say my journey with psychedelics is over; let’s just say, I’m psilocybin-curious. I’ve heard of retreats where moms can go on journeys (under the supervision of a guide) while staying in a cabin in the woods—which sounds like a blissful way to connect with nature and reconnect with myself and the magic I found following a period of darkness. I haven’t signed up for one yet, but I’ve been strongly considering it. Because I personally believe in the joy of microdosing: I was a fairly new parent when I began my journey, and it taught me that, while stress is always part of the gig, finding ways to preserve my sense of wonder—for life, nature, the universe, and, always, the beach—can make everything feel a little lighter.
Related:
I’m a Therapist Who Tried MDMA—Here’s How the Experience Shaped My Perspective on Psychedelic Therapy12 Realistic Tips for Managing Mom Guilt, From Mothers Who Get It8 Things to Know Before You Try Ingestible Cannabis ProductsGet more of SELF’s great service journalism delivered right to your inbox—for free.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings