The Plant Spirit Podcast with Sara Artemisia

The Power of Reishi & Adaptogens for Inner Balance with Brandon Gilbert

• Sara Artemisia / Brandon Gilbert • Episode 34

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#034 – What wisdom can we learn from the Mushroom of Immortality?

Join us for an amazing conversation with Brandon Gilbert, founder of Hyperion Herbs.

In this episode, Brandon shares about the supportive and life-changing power of adaptogens and tonic herbs. He offers profound insight into the nature of Reishi, long known as the Mushroom of Immortality, and why it’s important to know plants and mushrooms in their natural, raw state. He also shares how his connection with Eastern Philosophy informs his life journey and experience with herbs.

Brandon Gilbert is the Founder of Hyperion Herbs, and he’s been studying Eastern philosophy since the age of 14. After experiencing the profound effect of tonic herbs, Brandon founded Hyperion Herbs to share purely potent tonic herbs and make them accessible and easily available.

He teaches classes and workshop on a variety of subjects ranging from alternative health, healing modalities, herbalism, internal arts, to Eastern philosophy, and he’s the founder of the YouTube channel HyperionTv.com.

You can find Brandon at https://www.hyperionherbs.com/ and on IG @hyperionherbs 

For more info visit Sara's website at: https://www.multidimensionalnature.com/
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Learn how to communicate with plant consciousness in the free workshop on How to Learn Plant Language: https://www.learnplantlanguage.com/

Sara Artemisia:

Welcome to the Plant Spirit Podcast on connecting with plant consciousness, and the healing wisdom of Nature. If you'd like to learn more on how to communicate directly with plants, visit www.learnplantlanguage.com to register for the free workshop, that's www.learnplantlanguage.com. I'm your host, Sara Artemesia and I am deeply honored and excited to introduce our next guest to the show today. Brandon Gilbert is the founder of hyperion herbs and he's been studying Eastern philosophy since the age of 14. After experiencing the profound effect of tonic herbs, Brandon founded hyperion herbs to share purely potent tonic herbs and make them accessible and easily available. He teaches classes and workshops on a variety of subjects, ranging from alternative health, healing modalities, herbalism, internal arts, and Eastern philosophy and he's the founder of the YouTube channel, HyperionTv.com. So, Brandon, thank you so much for being here. I am really excited for our conversation today.

Brandon Gilbert:

Yeah, thanks so much for having me on. I really appreciate the opportunities.

Sara Artemisia:

I just love your connection with the herbs with the plants, and particularly, of course, with Reishi, which we'll be diving into shortly. And particularly your experience with the Adaptogens and Tonic herbs. And so I'd love to just start there. Could you tell us a bit about what are Adaptogens and Tonic herbs?

Brandon Gilbert:

Yeah, absolutely. Basically, herbs, there's some you take only like for acute situations if you're sick, or some that are kind of okay for medium term, but not really good for long term because they can, you know, throw your body out. But then when we get to tonic herbs, it's more so something that is fairly safe to take regularly over the long term, and is not really going to necessarily throw your body out of whack or stimulate you in one different direction. like sort of a great example of this as we think about at least in Western herbalism. There's plenty of immunostimulatory herbs like Echinacea, a lot of people have heard of that when we talk about herbs like Reishi or Corsets or Chaga, for example, those are different because they work on your immune system, yes, but they're not amino stimulants, they're more immuno modulators or immune system regulators. So rather than just saying, let's hyper stimulate your immune system to like deal with a threat or deal with an acute situation, which maybe or maybe not is the best scenario is herbs are more like let's modulate and balance out your immune system. So if you have something overactive, like an allergy, let's dial that back, if you have something underactive, like some kind of deficiency, let's kind of bring that up. So that your immune system actually over time gets more efficient and effective for doing all the things that it needs to do. And get just learns to stop attacking itself learns to attack the right things learns to be able to just be a lot better at what is trying to do, which for a lot of people is a major, major issue, like inflammation underlies a lot of issues people are dealing with, even if we just think about stress, if people were stressed or probably inflamed and people are inflamed, they're probably stressed, they really kind of go hand in hand. So working your immune system and balancing your immune system out is really no small feat. And I think the immune system has a lot more to offer and a lot more interesting things than just not getting sick, because I think that's how mostly people think about their immune system is Oh, I got a cold or I didn't win, there's really so much more to that in terms of how it affects your psychology out affects your emotional state, how it affects your digestion, how it affects your ability to recover from exercise or from injury are so many different things. So that's kind of how I look at tonic herbs. Now different herbs might work on different functions in the body. Not all of them work on the immune system specifically, but many of them would have a similar kind of effect on different organ systems in the body. And then when we get to adaptogens I think honestly, just as a caveat, a lot of people overuse and apply it to herbs that aren't really adaptogenic. But I that word. tend to not really even get engaged with because I'm just happy people were interested in the herbs and like, well, let's not argue about, you know, using terms correctly, I think there's really actually very few genuine adaptogens. The true genuine adaptogen, in my opinion is an herb called Gynostemma, that maybe not a lot of people have heard of, but we can definitely circle back and get into that herb because it's one of my favorites. But basically, an adaptogen is similar to a tonic herb, which is why we can be interchangeable in that it can go into your body and modulate a lot of different functions in your body, whether your immune system or circulatory function or respiratory function or your adrenal function, and basically just kind of modulate the HPA axis so, the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenals. So really modulate that axis, which in the most simplest terms, helps your body adapt to stress more efficiently and effectively, which is where the term adaptogen came from, and kind of the most famous application of them and really were the result of the original research that was done, and Russia and China kind of even came up with the term. So that's kind of in a nutshell, what adaptogens and tonic herbs are, and why I think they're quite, and they are quite interesting and unique in the herbal world, because not a lot of herbs are really in that elite category.

Sara Artemisia:

Yeah, one of the things I love about adaptogens it's so interesting, I'm so fascinated by this is how they really honor an act on what the body needs. And so if the body needs to be up regulated, the adaptogen will honor that if the body needs to be downregulated, the adaptogen will honor that. And I'd love to hear more about some of your favorite adaptogens. I mean, you mentioned

Brandon Gilbert:

Sure.

Sara Artemisia:

what are some some others that you just absolutely love?

Brandon Gilbert:

Yeah, I mean, I think Gynostemma is a great one, Holy Basil, or Tulsi is also a great one. Reishi is obviously, really, really high up there. I'll say Ginseng, but I'll say that with a pretty huge caveat because pretty much anything you can buy. That's accessible, I probably wouldn't take or recommend unless it's American. Ginseng is just such a pain in the ass in terms of an herb that it's like, I don't even mention it because it's just so far removed from anything accessible to personally, that's one of my favorites. So yeah, those are those are some of the great ones. I mean, people call Goji berry and adaptogen. But like I don't, it's not really an adaptogen. But it's a great tonic herb, and it's a very it's a fruit, I think I think people can even grow them. And I mean, I know people in Portland that grow them in their yard. I've seen it I've seen it actually it was the old neighborhood I used to live in, I would be on a walk. And I was like, wait a minute. It's a Goji berries, like someone just had hanging over their fence. I'm like, this is cool, good for them. Dexandra is also another great. Maybe a little ounce maybe a bit more pathogenic than Goji. But it's also a little more aggressive. Because I don't know if you've ever tasted Schisandra, but it's quite aggressive, it's quite. There's nothing that tastes like that berry. I mean, it legitimately has like five or more flavors all at the same time. Like it's mind blowing. So yeah, those are definitely some of my favorites and ones that I've used the most over the last 15 years.

Sara Artemisia:

Yeah, I love that about Schisandra, too. What you just mentioned though, that I want to come back to and really do a deeper dive with is Reishi because this is

Brandon Gilbert:

Absolutely

Sara Artemisia:

such an incredible adaptogen. I mean, like we were talking

Brandon Gilbert:

Right.

Sara Artemisia:

about earlier, it is known as the mushroom of immortality, because you have such a close and long standing relationship with Reishi, I'd love to hear more about about Reishi. Like, can you tell us more

Brandon Gilbert:

Sure.

Sara Artemisia:

about Reishi and your experience with this incredible being?

Brandon Gilbert:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it goes back thousands of years in China, for example, I think probably goes back to where before China was even China before it was even united as one country. Because the first Emperor of China had Reishi on his like Imperial stuff like his scepter patter Reishi mushroom on the top of it. So like it might it might have been important. I mean, the fact that the most important dude in the whole nation has that on his stuff and he has it on his robes, like and it's in the artwork, it's all over. And like they there might be something to it. So yeah, there's there's a whole there's a whole lot of that. But I think that's really what drew me to it in the first place because it just struck me as this otherworldly kind of supernatural kind of science fiction sort of character. Which I was like this is more interesting than Dandelion, which I love Dandelion. Don't get me wrong, but I mean, it's Dandelion, like it's not like a dynasty based on it. So for me, that's what really pulled me to it. And the fact that it had so many associations with like spiritual cultivation and meditation and all those things because, you know, back in 2004, or five, when I first started doing and I was also really getting into yoga and getting into meditation and stuff and was very diligent, I would do like 30 to 45 minutes of breathing every day, an hour of sitting and an hour or two hours of like, asana practice, like every single day, like it was a three to four hour routine every morning. And I always had Reishi tea with that, and just like massively enhanced what I was doing. So I think even if people don't have those interests, like they're not like meditation, or spiritually inclined, just the anti stress calming effects, the ability to feel more clear, and sharp, mentally, I think is amazing, not not even touching on the immune system benefits, the benefits for the liver, for the kidneys, for the digestion, for the lungs, for the cardiovascular system, like Reishi has so many benefits and so much going on that I did like a seven or eight hour audio course, you just have that one or entity and it's and it's the most scientifically researched herb on the planet. Like it has more going for it than any other anything else that's like, clearly there's something to it. It's just what I'm trying to get across. And that's probably why at least for me, it was so impactful, and really changed my life. And I've got thousands of clients over the years that have said pretty much the same thing. And when I have clients that like cry, if I'm out of stock of ratio, like what I need it, I need it. I'm just like, sorry, man, like it'll, it'll be back soon. So yeah, it changed my life. Absolutely. It has changed a lot of my clients lives as well.

Sara Artemisia:

So interesting. Could you tell us more about that the this aspect of how, in your practice with

Brandon Gilbert:

Sure.

Sara Artemisia:

meditation and this sort of thing that you experienced this? Enhanced, enhanced, whatever you were doing, you said, How did you experience that with Reishi? Like, what did you feel either in your body in your energetic field mentally, like, what did you notice about that shift that was occurring when you worked with Reishi while you're doing these things?

Brandon Gilbert:

Yeah, I mean, I think one of the most easy aspects to explain is just the fact that it really lowers your stress, and changes how you handle and respond to stress, which again, this is another one of these things that is kind of like trivialized is like oh just stressed like I'm either calm or I'm not. But there's so much more to that, in my opinion, and also what I've learned through years of training and cultivation, is that the vast majority of people's personality is their fight or flight response, like how we function in the world is the vast majority of the time our fight or flight response. If we didn't have a fight or flight response, we would have no sense of competition, no sense of like, I need to get up and go do something like we would be completely worthless to modern world without the fight or flight response. So it's like it's a major, major onion to be peeled back. It's not just like, Oh, I'm calmer, I'm not. It's like there's so much more in terms of like, your identity, your belief systems, you experience a situation and you arrive at a set of conclusions. And then that informs your future decisions. But that's also based on wherever your stress responses. So I'm just trying to point out these examples of like, just modulating that one thing can profoundly impact how you live your life, the decisions you make, how you interpret events, how you interpret things, people say to you, how you interpret your own thoughts and feelings, which if you're changing that basic mechanism, you're really working with, really the some of the core mechanics of your identity, the relationships, you're in the choices you make, the identity you form, and that just goes back to your fight or flight response. Because if you're in an event like that, and you experienced something negative in your fight or flight response doesn't engage, you're just kind of like, okay, this is not for me, I appreciate the opportunity, but I'm going to be exiting immediately and I wish you the best. But you're not going to carry that forward into the next situation and pre judge everyone else based on something else. So and that's kind of a lot of our identity, positive and negative. So, at least for me, it's a circle back to your original question. It kind of puts you in more of a centered, calm place to be able to reflect on these different aspects of your identity, how you arrive at certain conclusions, why you feel that certain way, and not necessarily from a place of trying to, like, it's not like going to a therapy session and be like, so tell me about your feelings or like, tell me about this experience. It's just like, it just is put in front of you. And it's up, it's apparent to you, it's not like you had to try to do it, or strive for it, it's just like, here, here's the information. And he might be like, not into that, or he might be like, okay, I accept. So at least to me, it was a lot of that which if you're trying to self reflect or grow or change, then obviously that's going to be important thing, especially when we talk about health problems, because so much of health is just, like illogical. Whether it's digestive issues, circulatory issues, auto immune system, stuff, like it's all, a lot of that just comes back to like your fight or flight response and how you show up in relationships, and how you can actually process and digest food. But if you can, if you're going to arrive at a more centered and neutral place, then that's going to like, really have a huge impact on your life, which is, like I put, for example, I put out a video a week ago, it was called the boring truth of how I stayed healthy during the pandemic. Because people would ask me, like, are you following this doctor? Are you following that doctor? Are you following this thing and that thing, and this protocol, and this supplement, and all these different things that I'm like, I'm literally not doing any of those things. And I'm not worrying about it or paying attention to it at all. I'm doing exactly what I was doing before. Like, I didn't, I didn't change anything. Because I was just, you know, doing basic health things, exercising, sleep, whatever. And taking tonic herbs that were already making my immune system strong for the last 12 years. I was like I didn't really need to pivot because I was kind of already in a good position. And I'm like going to extremes. Sometimes it's necessary, but as like a health strategy or as like a lifestyle choice is not great. Like it's not a it's not a great way to live your life. People ask me like, "how can I have more energy?" I'm like, relax, stop trying to have more energy, and I guarantee you'll probably have more energy. Which is leads me to a funny anecdote about Reishi. People will take it and be like, this isn't for me, I feel depressed, I feel very lethargic and tired. I was like, "No, you're probably just not stressed." Your stress level just came down a little bit. And because you're used to functioning at such a high level, any adjustment below that, to your mind feels like such a step down. But I'm like you're just closer to neutral. You're not depressed, you're not like tired, you're just less stressed. So yeah, that's kind of a long winded way. I've tried to come at it from a different angles and try to illustrate the ways in which it really impacted me and also really like turned parts of my brain on and increased my intelligence and my creativity. Because if you're operating more from that place, like creativity, at least for me, back then it was more, it was almost annoying. I'm like, I have other things to do. Like just stop, like, I don't have time to sit here and just write all this down, like I need to go do other things stop. So like it just eventually you go to like another place. Because you know, I was always very quiet, very reserved, not very intelligent, not very articulate, not creative whatsoever. And all of a sudden, one day, it's just like the other extreme people were like, can you stop talking? Can you just shut up? Can you not? Like, give dissertations? Can you give me a short answer? Like I'm just like, oh, so I mean, it's just and I attributed, obviously, a decent portion of that, of course, the Reishi. I mean, I was doing a lot of other things, just you know, eating well and exercising just basics. But I think Reishi really, because the other thing too is like if your fight or flight response chills out, your inflammation goes down, your immune system gets better that changes your genetics, like that has like a whole epigenetic thing of certain things turn off certain things turn on, though, it's like maybe you can develop into the person that you were originally posed to be. But a lot of maybe a rough childhood or a bunch of stressful responses, distorted that and now you're able to kind of like, recalibrate, so you can kind of maybe go back to more of that central place. So to me, I think Reishi is one of the best things for that more psychological peace. Because you know, there's a lot of mushrooms that work on the immune system. It's great, but nothing really has the kind of psycho emotional, spiritual kind of thing that Reishi does. And that's also like, corroborates what people have been saying about it for thousands of years so.

Sara Artemisia:

Yeah, so interesting that that longevity with the history there. How would you describe the energetic personality of Reishi because it's so interesting to me as as a modulator of the system where it can meet us where we are at, because there are certain herbs plants that I work with mushrooms, we're all feel a certain kind of energetic quality or personality in my system when I'm working with them or how would you describe that for Reishi?

Brandon Gilbert:

I don't know if we have necessarily relevant cultural examples. So I'll kind of have to use one that's maybe not that familiar to people. But I've just met people in my life that are just completely on a different level of functioning, like you meet them, and they know everything about you. They read your thoughts, like they literally know everything about you without you saying anything. Reishi to me is kind of like that. It's like meeting someone is not this extreme, but it's kind of like it to where you're gonna go on a date with like, the hottest person you can think of, right? But when you actually show up and get to the date, you're actually a little kid. And you're like, oh, no, like, what happened to that? And then everything you say, and do it you just just like, seems so stupid and trivial and you're like, what am I doing? So Reishi is not quite that extreme, but I feel like it, at least for me has can have that vibe. Because you're like, look, look what I can do. And it's like, really, you're still you're still really on that thing. Okay. It's, it's kind of like maybe how you would like talk to a child of like, look, I can tie my shoe. Okay, like, that's amazing. I'm happy for you. But you got a lot of other hills to climb in your life.

Sara Artemisia:

Amazing. I love that connection with herbs, how there's just certain nerves out there like that. Or it's like, they are so wise. They're so wise. And clearly Reishi has been, you know, worked with like that for millennia. So.

Brandon Gilbert:

Quite a long time. Yeah.

Sara Artemisia:

Yeah. Incredible. I love that story, too. I'd love to hear to more about your, your experience with Reishi in its natural state, like do you have any stories? Or could you tell us a story about connecting with Reishi in Nature, and maybe how that influenced your journey?

Brandon Gilbert:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, just for context, the way I started with herbs was a very humble beginning. I mean, pretty much all for the vast majority of my life, I had like no money. I mean, living off of like, $300 a month. I remember when I started one of my first businesses that I made, like $600 in a month, I thought I was rich. I was like, Oh my God. And then when I made$1,000, like, Oh my god. So very humble beginnings, I was just buying whatever raw Reishi and making teas and tinctures out of it, doing thin like fasting, like not eating for a day or two days or three days and taking the herbs. And then like when you're at that level, like everything hits you way more, you're way more sensitive to everything. For better or worse. I mean, I don't really recommend it. But you really want to figure out what someone's doing. And that's a great way to do it. That's kind of how I started. So then eventually, as I got a little bit older, then I was able to find it in the wild quite a few times. And it was always, you know, for years, I didn't find it at all, it was like I want to go find it. I just always came up empty. And then eventually, I remember like the first time I found that it was just, I mean, majority of the times that I find I found that it was always kind of a serendipitous thing of like, I'm walking and then something's like look over here and I'm like, oh, wait across the field. There it is. And the people I'm with are like, how did you see that? Now I'm just like, I don't know, I just there it is, like, it's like, there's this tree stump and then there's like a little gap in the leaves, that just you can barely see the outline through this little gap and the leaves like 100 yards away, and it's like, there it is, I gotta go find it. So like just crazy stuff like that. And then eventually I got to kind of know its pattern and be like okay, it's gonna be in this kind of environment or in this kind of angle. So then once I dialed into that and figured out the actual kind of like the window, the harvest window, and I kind of was able to find it a lot more easily. So I'm like, Alright, now I know where you hide, kind of one of those things. And then it actually a few years ago, I was walking in Forest Park in Portland, which is like, you know, the largest urban park in this in the city. And it was walking on this trail and then on the right side of the trail was kind of like a big hill like that went up, right? And then there was a tree that was fallen that was had like fallen down the hill. It was a pretty big tree. For whatever reason me and my friend went off the trail and just walk up the tree. No idea why like it's just so random. It's nothing. And then all of a sudden, we're as we're turning around to walk back down the tree, looked down the right side of the tree and there's like Reishi for days. I'm just like, dude, what? Like we're in a forest park. And we just went up this random tree for no reason. And then we looked down, I've just barely happened to like glance down on the right side and see it through the gap of the leaves like out there it is. So we harvested there. So I mean, so many crazy stories like that. And I remember some of the first times of finding it and like making tea out of it, taking it home, it's just such a rewarding, like, oh, I went, and I found this. And like, I got Springwater, I'm gonna make tea with Springwater that I got myself from a mushroom that I harvested myself. And you know, and then make tea out of that, share it with some friends and then being like, am I having like a low dose like psilocybin trip right now, like, it's just hitting you so hard, and you feel it go through your body, and you just feel just different changes and like, because the thing is there's there's environmental pressures that we're all relating to 24/7, gravitational and atmospheric, but it's like, so sometimes you take things, you just feel these, like weird pressure shifts around your body, and you feel like the environment and just Reishi at least in those early days, with some of the wild harvest and stuff, we'll just have those, like, major pressure ships, which was quite interesting. So, you know, that's really where I started. And that those experiences really inform how I develop products, how I choose products, how I choose what to sell, how I talk about things. I mean, it's just kind of really laid the foundation, which you know, if 10, 15 years ago at this point, but it's quite, quite interesting.

Sara Artemisia:

Love that. Yeah. And so powerful to connect with Reishi in its in its natural state of love that story of connecting with it just in your backyard there in Portland. And I'm curious, in your experience, why is it important to really know plants and mushrooms in their natural state, if we're working with them as medicine?

Brandon Gilbert:

I mean, I felt like in some ways, it's like getting to know a person. I mean, at least, you know, in modern times, it's common for people to sleep with strangers, never really been my style, or never really made a lot of sense to me. But people do it. And I think, at least from what I've heard from people, it's genuine, it's typically not the best experience, typically someone you know, and have comfort with and rapport tends to have a better experience, you feel more comfortable, and whatever. So I feel like it's kind of similar with plants, like you really need to kind of get to know I mean, it depends if we're just talking about the one who was like, I need to just I'm really busy, I just need to take something to fix, like it helped my immune systems like cool, don't worry about it. Just, we did all the hard work for you just like, here's the here's the thing, just take it, it's fine. But I mean, people were like really wanting to go deep, and really wanting to like, go on that side of things, and I think is quite important, especially if they have the luxury of time to be able to do that. And I think especially in the modern age, it's everything is so mental, and everything is such a stress on our nervous system. Being in the woods, or at least being in a garden or doing something a little more natural, I think it's just getting more useful for people even just to not even for like enhancing spirituality just like maintaining sanity, it's like, maybe just just that is probably recommended. Because I think just as a, as a side note, in my opinion, I think we're gonna see more and more people just getting absolutely shredded by the modern world, because our nervous systems aren't prepped for this amount of information for this amount of data and for the amount of choices we have to make. And things we have to filter and then we saw, I mean, I think we saw a preview of it over the last two years of the pandemic. And all the ways in which I think a lot of people are permanently harmed. I'm not even talking about the actual event itself, but just all the ways all the stuff around it. The information I think is really harmed people, I've seen it myself and once I started traveling again, going to places and being like whoa, like people's nervous systems are toast. So I think yeah, for those even just those reasons, like connecting with plants in whatever way you can, even if it's just like hugging a tree for God's sake, like just something, whatever you can do, I think just for your nervous system alone, I think is going to all this stuff that's like weird and hippie, like is going to become more and more normal out of necessity, because people are going to need it because the system's gonna fry them. But the in terms of like a business, you know, because I have a business I have a company I create products that sell products. So at least for me, understanding and connecting with the plants on a personal level is important because of that is what informs the end products that I sell and share with people Because it's like, a lot of companies just come on the market. And they literally I call them like Google a business where people go on Google and say, like, what's, what are the best herbs for cognition? And then Google says, Here's the top seven things for cognition. So then they go to a contract manufacturer and say, hey, can you put these seven things in a capsule? Because I saw on Google that they're the best thing for whatever. And I can think of a dozen companies that are literally just that, you do that, then you hire some celebrity to say that they helped formulate it, or they're involved with it, and boom, you got yourself a multimillion dollar company. You're gonna be, you know, wrecking people's livers in the meantime. But so at least for me, my goal with products is to be like, hey, the plants are good. I like the plants. I want my product to be representing the plants, but just in a more concentrated, potent and easy to use form is like, I've literally, that's I think I just quoted some emails that I wrote years ago, because people were like, well, what's your philosophy and creating products, and I that was literally I was like, well, Reishi is amazing. But it's kind of a hassle to use in its raw form. And it's not necessarily quite as potent as an extract. So like, in terms of creating a product that a lot of people could just easily access here, but I wanted to still maintain and mirror the actual original thing, because the original thing is great. So that's kind of like a little more of my mindset, rather than going like super biochemical, or super just marketing, sales oriented. Just trying to kind of blend it all together into something that's genuinely holistic and genuinely going to represent the original personality of the plant.

Sara Artemisia:

That is wonderful. Yes, I wish everyone did that. And,

Brandon Gilbert:

well, hopefully they don't, because my business will be irrelevant. Keep doing what you're doing. Keep mass dosing people with nootropics and biochemical whatever, like it's fine. Just keep doing it. Which I mean, that does have its value. You know, that's it has its place. This depends.

Sara Artemisia:

Oh, Funny. You know, one. One last question here. I'm curious. Kind of a big one. But I'd love to hear more about your connection with Eastern philosophy. And really, how would you say that informs your experience with plants? And mushrooms?

Brandon Gilbert:

Yeah, I mean, I think the general short answer is that those philosophies and the practices that generated the philosophies, like influences me as a as my core perception, so that changes everything that I do, basically, because the thing is, in terms of, like, understanding knowledge and understanding philosophy, in terms of the West, we have a completely different, and even modern times, we have a completely different idea than basically the people that originally created Eastern kind of ideas. Whereas our ideas, like we can write down wisdom in a book. And like, because we've thought of it and wrote it down. Now. It's like wisdom. And it's true. And it passes down through time. And it gets old to people like, wow, it's old. So it's good. It's true. Whereas, majority of Eastern stuff, it's not the case at all, like actual, the actual key teachings of things like Taoism or Buddhism, it's not in books, it's never been in books, it'll never be in books. Like, case in point, basically, like what's in books is not what those people are actually doing and what they actually believe because there's actually a hierarchy to teachings and philosophies. Basically, the point that I'm trying to get to, is in terms of like, these kinds of philosophies, whether it's Taoism or Buddhism, which were my interest. It's not like, people read it, and we're like, oh, yeah, that's true. So now, I think that it's more so like you do the practices and follow the tradition. And whether you like it or not, you've ended up thinking and think seeing things in that way. It's like kind of the opposite of how we tend to approach knowledge and learning and these kinds of things. So like, you know, there's things that I heard from these traditions or heard from my teacher that I didn't like I didn't agree with and then two years later, I'm like, oh, yeah, I actually think that way now without even realizing it. Because I just did the things and I just changed the way I look at things. So why I say that is because Reishi has a big connection with Taoism in particular, she originates in China, more or less. So for me, when I originally got into Reiki, I was like, I want to know why these people were into that. And then I want to know, the practices, the ideas, the worldview, the cosmology that made them think this thing is cool. Like how they got from A to B to C likes I love C, but how do they get there, that's what I want to know because if they got there, I would like to get there, too. And I'd like to go to wherever other crazy places that they must be in to have they discovered this thing, that's amazing. So that's kind of like that informs kind of every aspect of my life, you know, for better or worse. And I think especially for Reishi, because it's so intimately connected with so many of these things. And because the thing is, at least in in many of the initial stages of internal training, the goal is neutrality. Like it's not, don't be attached or be happy, or whatever stuff you read on Instagram, it's more like be neutral, more like, get rid of your personality, and go back to a neutral position. And I feel like Reishi kind of has a similar effect, or it almost kind of can make you a bit boring, because you're not like, at least for me, my life is way more boring than it used to be because I'm not, like even it's and this is just kind of like a side benefit is like, going back to the fight or flight thing is it makes dropping bad habits easy. Because if you have a bad habit, and you do it and you don't get the like chemical response, you're probably not going to do it. Like if someone gave you a piece of cake that had no flavor, you're not going to eat it. Because you're not getting anything out of it. I mean, yeah, maybe like, oh, it's amazing texture. But if it has no flavor, you're not going to eat it. Or if you eat a piece of sugar, and you feel nothing for it, you feel no chemical reward, you feel no sense of joy, then there has no power over you. You're just like, oh, I can take it or leave it. No problem. So at least for me, just kind of tying this all together, like, at least for the initial stages of Eastern training, it's basically get you back to that neutral place. So your fight or flight response is actually turned off, which kind of makes you kind of boring. And then Reishi is kind of like saying, hey, let's get back to this neutral position as well. So you can just kind of chill out and see things a little more clearly, and try to be a little more centered, and not so extreme in your emotional reactions and your opinions and your views and your thoughts because that's really where that's honestly to be honest, that's where diseases, diseases on the extremes, typically, like when I see people that have really extreme opinions, they never strike me as healthy. I never look at them and be like, they look extremely comfortable. And at ease, and really, really feeling good in their body. Like I know, I've never come across that same thing, I've never seen one in that seeing someone in the throes of an emotional reaction I've never been like, they look very comfortable. They look very at ease, like it's the opposite. So I think Reishi tries to pull people to that. Which is not to say you can't have emotional things you can enjoy things I look at it's like, you know, those like kind of like toys. And they also have like these boxing things where you punch them. And they have like a big weight at the bottom for you hit it and it just always bounces back to center. Basically, it's like I think it can help stabilize that mechanism towards like, okay, you get angry, but you just get pulled right back to center doesn't linger for three days or a week or 30 years, you get sad flute, you just get pulled back to center. So it kind of stimulates that response, which I think is really what we need. Because having emotions is cool. Having the same emotion every day for 30 years means you're probably going to be sick, ultimately. So that's kind of, I think, how it all kind of ties together at least in my, in my experience.

Sara Artemisia:

Amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that. And

Brandon Gilbert:

Yeah.

Sara Artemisia:

Reishi the ultimate neutralizers sounds like just grow

Brandon Gilbert:

in a way. Yeah, I mean, but also, I should say as a caveat, it doesn't, it doesn't affect everyone in that way. I've noticed that over the years, some people would kind of just use them GI issues and as that. But from what I've seen, it's also people that maybe don't really want to progress or grow or have any sense of wanting to like, I can just think of in terms of like previous girlfriends around like, I can think of the ones that really liked it and like they were, you know, a bit more open minded and I can think of the ones that were more rigid, and they like took it and just got like loose bowels. So I mean, that's a pretty small, you know, unscientific sample size, but

Sara Artemisia:

I mean, to me that also speaks to that aspect of the individual relationship, right? That when we're working with herbs, work with plants, this is mushrooms. It's that individual relationship is so important. And so we need to work with these, you know, medicines and see what really works for us what really works for our system, so

Brandon Gilbert:

Exactly, yeah, everyone's a little different and you got to find the thing that really you know, jobs with you.

Sara Artemisia:

So tell us, Brandon, how can people find out more about you and your work?

Brandon Gilbert:

For sure, yeah, if people would prefer to hear me wax on, on politically for many more hours, they can check out my YouTube channel where I have like 700 videos, no joke. It's like 700 now, but I've deleted hundreds over the years because they were like so old. Because my videos go back to like 2009, which is kind of embarrassing. So just caveat like, be nice. But yeah, so I have lots of lots of content there about tonic herbs, Reishi, Eastern philosophy, social issues, just randomly, most of them, it's pretty boring. It's the mean, you can all sum it up to like, be more neutral, don't be extreme. That's basically every video, like just another way of saying like, hey, maybe just relaxed. So definitely, they can check me out at HyperionTV there. And then Hyperionherbs.com is my website, where I have all my products there. And then if people have questions about anything, or want recommendations, or wanting to know anything more about any of the different herbs, definitely send an email to there. I do all my own emails and customer service. So I'll get back to people, usually within a day, and try to be as helpful as I can. And even honestly, you know, even if I can't help them, or what I if I don't think what I have will help them. I'll refer people because I actually do that a lot, which I think confuses people, because they'll be like, Hi, I have these conditions what which of your products should I buy? And I'm like, none of them. Don't, don't buy any of them. I don't think it'll really help you. Here's, here's what I think might be better. And they're kind of like, but, but what if I want to buy this one, then I'm just like, doubling down like, I mean, you can but yeah, that's that's where people can find me. And, yeah, I appreciate the opportunity to come on here. Hopefully people have found some value and many of the anecdotes and tangents that have gone on. So yeah.

Sara Artemisia:

Well, thanks so much for joining us today, Brandon. Just so great to connect them and hear more about your experience and learn more about Reishi. Thank you so much.

Brandon Gilbert:

Yeah, absolutely. A lot of fun.

Sara Artemisia:

And thanks so much for listening and joining us today on the Plant Spirit Podcast. I hope you enjoyed it and please follow to subscribe, leave a review and look forward to seeing you on the next episode.