05/15/2026
What the mushrooms taught me…
Fear of nature is learned.
The very first time I did mushrooms in nature was almost 13 years ago on a camping trip with friends. I wasn’t experienced with the medicine yet, and this was my first time journeying outdoors.
As the 4 grams were starting to come on, I wandered into the forest behind our campsite and sat down beside an old fallen tree. A little while later I felt a tickle on my hand and looked down.
A spider had crawled onto me and was slowly making its way up my arm.
In fascination, I lifted it closer to my face to examine it.
And then I noticed something magnificent:
the complete absence of fear.
All my life I had been terrified of bugs. Looking back now it feels almost strange, but in that moment I realized something important: this fear was never truly mine. It had been learned.
Later on I thought about all the times my mother reacted to the natural world with fear, disgust and panic. As children, we absorb these responses so easily. They settle into the nervous system and quietly become “truth.”
Until something interrupts the pattern.
What amazed me most wasn’t just the absence of fear, but what had replaced it:
curiosity,
wonder,
awe,
and a feeling of kinship with this tiny fellow creature.
That moment started an unraveling for me. A slow shedding of learned fears and false separations that had kept me disconnected from nature for so much of my life.
Thank you, mushrooms. 🍄
Ready to unravel some of the learned beliefs that keep you disconnected from yourself and the natural world?
Come walk with us. ~Nici
🌲 MYCELIUM INITIATION
📍 Algonquin Park
📅 July 10–12
Fully guided, outfitted and supported.
https://www.breathinginnature.com/mycelium-initiation/
📸 Photo by Nici Czerwinski
Black-and-yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia), also known as a “writing spider” because of the beautiful zigzag pattern woven into its web. Completely non-aggressive and an important little guardian of the ecosystem. 🕸️
