The Science
THE SCIENCE OF MICRODOSING
Small, steady doses. Real shifts in how thousands of people say they feel, focus, and live.
What Actually Changes
WHAT SHIFTS WHEN PEOPLE MICRODOSE
In one of the largest surveys of microdosers ever gathered, this is what people said changed: in their mood, and in the healthier habits that grew up around it.
*Self-administered and self-reported, approximate. Based on Anderson et al. (2019), Harm Reduction Journal, from a sample of nearly 300 microdosers.
Start Here
WHAT IS MICRODOSING?
Microdosing means taking a very small, sub-perceptual dose of psilocybin, roughly a tenth of a full dose, on a gentle repeating schedule. You do not trip and you do not lose your day. You go about your life with a quiet lift in the background: steadier mood, sharper focus, a little more ease.
The idea is simple. Not a peak experience you step out of your life to have, but a small, consistent support you weave into it.
The Grondlegger
Dr. James Fadiman, the father of microdosing
The practice as we know it was mapped by Dr. James Fadiman, the Stanford-trained psychologist widely called the father of microdosing. In his 2011 book The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide, he described microdosing in detail for the first time and showed that it could be approached with structure instead of guesswork.
Since 2010 Fadiman has gathered thousands of first-hand reports from people microdosing all over the world, turning scattered personal stories into the foundation the entire field now builds on. We build on that foundation with our own protocols, developed for psilocybe and shaped around real results, rather than one fixed schedule.
Our Approach
FIND YOUR SWEET SPOT
We do not believe in one fixed dose. We believe in finding yours, and in the inner work the microdose makes possible.
You rise until you feel the sweet spot, then step just below it. That steady, sub-perceptual dose is the one you carry through the rest of your cycle.
Start low
Begin your cycle gently, below what you think you need. Low and steady is the starting point, not the goal.
Rise slowly
Increase step by step across your cycle, paying close attention to how each level actually feels in your body and mind.
Find the sweet spot
The point where the lift is clearest: mood, focus, and presence quietly online, without ever tipping into too much.
Settle just below it
Step back to just under that peak. This is your preferred dose: the benefit is fully there, yet always gentle and sub-perceptual.
Complete your cycle
You finish the cycle at your preferred dose, the one that is truly yours, not a number handed to you from a chart.
More than a dose: Resonance
The dose is only half of it. We believe microdosing is a doorway inward: a tool for resonance, introspection, and honest self-reflection.
Used with intention, the microdose helps make the subconscious mind conscious, bringing quiet patterns, feelings, and insights into the light where you can actually work with them. That inner practice is where the real shift happens, and it is the heart of the Earth Resonance method.
Two Different Things
MICRODOSING VS HIGHER DOSES
The same compound, used in two completely different ways, with two different bodies of evidence.
Gentle and frequent
Microdosing
- Sub-perceptual, about a tenth of a full dose
- Taken on a repeated schedule, woven into daily life
- No hallucinations, no time off
- Aimed at mood, focus, and steady wellbeing
- Evidence still emerging, much of it anecdotal (pioneered by Fadiman, 2010)
Rare and profound
Higher Doses
- A full psychedelic experience
- Done once or a few times, with preparation and support
- Always guided, in a controlled setting
- Studied for depression, anxiety, and addiction
- Strong clinical data from leading universities
- FDA Breakthrough Therapy status since 2018
The Real-World Signal
WHAT MICRODOSERS REPORT
Asked in their own words what microdosing did for them, this is what nearly 300 people named most.
*Self-administered and self-reported, approximate. Share of microdosers spontaneously mentioning each benefit. Based on Anderson et al. (2019), Harm Reduction Journal.
Backed By Research
WHAT THE STUDIES SHOW
From large real-world studies to the strictest placebo-controlled trials, here is where the science stands today.
Real-World & Naturalistic Studies
Large and encouraging, tracking thousands of people as they microdose in daily life.
Scientific Reports 2022 · with Maastricht
The largest sample yet
Following 953 microdosers and 180 non-microdosers for about a month, researchers found small to medium improvements in mood and mental health, and better psychomotor performance in older adults.
PLOS ONE 2019
Mood and attention
A systematic study of real-world microdosers reported less mind-wandering and improvements in mood and attention across the study period.
Harm Reduction Journal 2019 · Toronto
What people say it does
From nearly 300 microdosers, improved mood was the most reported benefit, alongside focus, creativity, and easier, healthier lifestyle habits. The charts above come from this study.
Psychopharmacology 2018 · Leiden University
Creativity, measured live
At a microdosing event, researchers tested 36 people before and after a microdose. Both convergent thinking (finding one right answer) and divergent thinking (generating many ideas) improved, while raw intelligence was unchanged.
Placebo-Controlled Trials
The strictest test, and a clue to why the method matters: mindset, intention, and context do real work.
Scientific Reports 2022
Real, felt effects
With 34 people and a true placebo, a microdose produced clear subjective effects and measurable brain changes, strongest in people attuned to the experience.
eLife 2021
People felt better
In a large self-blinding study, microdosers felt clearly better over four weeks. Much of that lift came from mindset and expectation, the very things a protocol is built to harness.
Biological Psychiatry 2019
A measurable mood shift
Controlled low doses of LSD produced a measurable shift in mood, confirming that even sub-perceptual doses register in the body and brain.
What This Means
WHY THE PROTOCOL IS THE METHOD
People consistently feel better when they microdose, and the best-controlled studies show that intention, mindset, and context do much of the work. For us, that is not a caveat. It is the whole point.
If structure matters this much, then the protocol is the method: a measured dose, clear intention, reflection, and integration are what turn a promising compound into a real practice. Fadiman proved microdosing could be structured. We take that further with our own protocols, and we collaborate with the microdosing researchers at Maastricht University to keep building the evidence.
SOURCES
- Fadiman J (2011). The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys. Park Street Press.
- Anderson T et al. (2019). Psychedelic microdosing benefits and challenges: an empirical codebook. Harm Reduction Journal.
- Rootman JM, Kuypers KPC et al. (2022). Psilocybin microdosers demonstrate greater observed improvements in mood and mental health. Scientific Reports.
- Polito V & Stevenson RJ (2019). A systematic study of microdosing psychedelics. PLOS ONE.
- Prochazkova L et al. (2018). Exploring the effect of microdosing psychedelics on creativity in an open-label natural setting. Psychopharmacology.
- Cavanna F et al. (2022). Microdosing with psilocybin mushrooms: a double-blind placebo-controlled study. Translational Psychiatry.
- Szigeti B et al. (2021). Self-blinding citizen science to explore psychedelic microdosing. eLife.
- Bershad AK et al. (2019). Acute subjective and behavioral effects of microdoses of LSD in healthy human volunteers. Biological Psychiatry.
Start Gentle
MEET PSILOCYBIN THE CALM WAY
Microdosing is the gentlest first introduction to psilocybin. Begin with a measured protocol, premium sclerotia, and a day-by-day guide that turns the science into a real practice.
Start with the StarterFIND YOUR PROTOCOL
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