Mushrooms, Medicine, and the Quiet Intelligence of Nature
Mushrooms occupy a strange and beautiful place in the story of life. Neither plant nor animal, they form a third kingdom—Fungi—whose role in Earth’s biology is so foundational that without them, complex life as we know it would likely not exist. Long before forests rose skyward, before animals walked on land, fungi were already here, patiently engineering the planet’s transition from bare rock to living soil.
In recent decades, mushrooms have also stepped into the scientific spotlight for another reason: their profound interactions with the immune system and their emerging relevance in cancer research. This is not mystical speculation—it is grounded in biochemistry, immunology, and evolutionary logic. Fungi have spent hundreds of millions of years defending themselves against bacteria, viruses, and environmental stressors. In doing so, they evolved molecular strategies that modern science is only beginning to understand.
To study mushrooms is to study Earth’s original survival engineers.
The Two-Mile Mushroom: Earth’s Largest Living Organism
Hidden beneath the forests of eastern Oregon lies one of the most astonishing biological facts ever discovered. Beneath the trees of Malheur National Forest, scientists identified a single fungal organism stretching nearly two miles across, covering more than 3.4 square miles, and estimated to be over 2,000 years old.
This organism—commonly known as the Humongous Fungus—is a single genetic individual, composed not of a towering structure but of a vast underground mycelial network. What appears above ground as scattered mushrooms is merely the fruiting body. The true organism lives below, silently exchanging nutrients, sensing its environment, and adapting across centuries.
This discovery shattered assumptions about size, age, and individuality in biology. It also revealed a deeper truth: fungi are network-based lifeforms, optimized not for speed or dominance, but for persistence, communication, and resilience. These same properties—distributed intelligence, adaptability, and immune modulation—are precisely what make mushrooms so interesting in modern medicine.
Before Trees, There Were Mushrooms
It may come as a surprise, but fungi colonized land before trees. Hundreds of millions of years ago, Earth’s surface was largely barren rock. Fungi were among the first organisms capable of breaking down minerals, secreting organic acids that slowly transformed stone into soil.
These early fungi partnered with primitive plants, forming symbiotic relationships that allowed plants to survive on land. Without fungi, roots could not access nutrients. Without roots, forests could not form. Without forests, Earth’s atmosphere would not have stabilized oxygen levels in a way that supports animal life.
In this sense, mushrooms are not accessories to ecosystems—they are architects of habitability. Their mycelial webs function as biological internet systems, redistributing carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and signaling molecules across entire landscapes. Modern forests are not just collections of trees; they are fungal-tree superorganisms.
This evolutionary role matters when we consider mushrooms and human health. The immune system itself is an ancient, pattern-recognition network. It should not surprise us that compounds evolved to coordinate ecosystems can also influence immune coherence in the human body.
Mushrooms and Cancer: Immune Intelligence, Not Magic
When mushrooms are discussed in the context of cancer, it is crucial to be precise. Mushrooms are not chemotherapeutic agents in the conventional sense, and they are not cures. Their significance lies elsewhere: in immune modulation.
Many medicinal mushrooms contain beta-glucans and related polysaccharides—complex sugars that interact with immune receptors such as macrophages, dendritic cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and T-cells. Rather than attacking cancer cells directly, these compounds help the immune system recognize, coordinate, and respond more effectively.
Cancer, in many cases, is not simply uncontrolled growth—it is a failure of immune surveillance. Tumor cells learn to hide, suppress signaling, or exploit regulatory pathways. Mushroom-derived compounds appear to work by restoring immune pattern recognition, increasing communication between immune cells, and improving the body’s ability to respond appropriately.
This is why mushrooms are often studied as adjuncts—supportive agents used alongside conventional therapies, not replacements. Their role is regulatory, not aggressive. They help the system remember how to do what it evolved to do.
Amazing Facts About Mushrooms
Largest organism on Earth – A single fungus in Oregon outweighs blue whales and spans miles underground
Biological recyclers – Fungi can digest lignin, plastics, petroleum, and even radioactive waste
Immune educators – Mushroom compounds “train” immune cells rather than overstimulating them
Longevity specialists – Many mushrooms produce antioxidants and stress-response molecules that protect DNA and mitochondria
Ecosystem mediators – Over 90% of plants depend on fungal partnerships to survive
Mushrooms thrive not by domination, but by cooperation—an evolutionary strategy increasingly relevant to complex diseases.
Top 3 Mushrooms for Immune Support
1. Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor) – Rich in PSK and PSP polysaccharides studied for immune activation and adjunct cancer support; widely researched for enhancing immune responsiveness
2. Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) – Known as the “mushroom of immortality,” reishi supports immune balance, stress modulation, and inflammatory regulation rather than simple stimulation
3. Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) – Contains lentinan, a beta-glucan shown to enhance T-cell function and innate immune coordination
Each of these mushrooms works best not as an isolated pill, but as part of a broader strategy that respects nutrition, circadian rhythm, stress regulation, and metabolic health.
Conclusion: The Wisdom Beneath Our Feet
Mushrooms are reminders that intelligence does not always look like speed, conquest, or visibility. Sometimes it looks like patience. Sometimes it lives underground. Sometimes it waits thousands of years, quietly holding ecosystems together.
From shaping Earth’s earliest soils, to forming the largest living organism on the planet, to offering modern science new ways to understand immune coherence and cancer resilience, fungi stand at the crossroads of biology, medicine, and philosophy.
Doctors say, watch out for sodium! But we need sodium, as long as it is the right kind. We have no bioelectricity in the body without sodium.
Let’s take a look at how the body charges its bioelectricity and how the quality of our sodium makes a difference.
Body Electricity
Ever feel out of energy? Lethargic? It is probably because your body is not charging properly and the energy charging minerals of our electrically-charged materials, electrolytes, are absent from our diet.
Our bodies are electric. It is like a DC (Direct Current) motor, connecting to energy supplies from the sun and the earth then creating flow in the body with internal electricity, electrolytes. These are charged minerals. The main ones are
Sodium
Magnesium
Potassium
Calcium
Electrolytes
Since they are charged, just like electrons flow from the earth to our bodies when we walk barefoot, the cells have a flow of bioelectricity across the cell membrane. Depending on the charge of the electrolytes, the sodium and potassium in particular, work through a cellular opening, the sodium-potassium pump. The differences in charges maintain the electrical homeostasis of the cell, and either charge flows into the cell when there is a deficiency, or charge flows out when there is an excess.
The bottom line is, we need electricity in our cells. Therefore, we need electrolyte foods like sea vegetables or vegetables like leafy greens or root vegetables.
One of the main reasons this is important is hydration. If we don’t have enough of these minerals, we can’t easily absorb water. We can drink a ton of water, but it is not absorbed since it needs to work with electrolytes, also to nourish the cells.
There is an excellent product, Beam Minerals and they are specialized in this area. I always recommend food for natural electrolytes, but their products are a great support to catch up.
Lastly, sodium is your friend, as long as it is natural. We need it, but processed sodium or iodized salt is like a poison in the body. And, if you are a coffee drinker, add a dash of salt. This will counteract the bitterness, the acidity, and make sweeteners less needed.
When I was young, we called it going outside or going for a walk in the woods. Now it is called “Forest Bathing” or “Shinrin Yoku” in Japanese, where it is now a fad. That sounds much more elegant for sure.
The trees not only smell great, which is medicinal like essential oils, but they also provide us with life-supporting oxygen. Just as we breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, they breathe in carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. This is true synergistic support from Nature.
Sunrise Medicine
If you can do this at sunrise, even better. You get the sunrise sunlight frequency medicine from the rays of the sun up to around 10 degrees, and set the entire endocrine and bioelectrical system in proper rhythm for the day, all the way from the brain to every part of the body.
If you can stop and touch your bare feet to the ground, even better. You receive free antioxidants from the earth in the form of electrons and energy from the earth.
Plastic shoes insulate us from the earth. These days, there are kool shoes that do not insulate us from the earth, but open pathways from our bodies to the earth even while walking. They are called earth shoes or you can use attachable strips on the bottoms of your shoes. Check out the intuition Physician Dr. Koniver, the earthing expert.
One tip too, if you are looking for a little more weight-bearing for bone strengthening, when you walk, add a couple of light weights to your ankles, or as some do, wear a weighted vest to get more resistance and strengthening of your bones for your walking workout.
Either way, get out into Nature since it is our interconnected partner for optimal health and healing.
Research shows: Spending time around trees can reduce stress, improve immunity, lower blood pressure, and accelerate recovery from illness or trauma. Furthermore, when you hug a tree, you release a hormone called oxytocin – known as the hormone of love and trust – which gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling. So you don’t even need a whole forest, you just need one tree! With these benefits so easy to gain, does being a ‘tree hugger’ sound like such a bad thing?
The Mushroom Connection
No surprise, there is amazing synergy happening in the world of Nature, and we should use this as a model for our lives and society. Mushrooms feed trees, and trees feed mushrooms. The sugars from the tree go into a massive underground network of mushrooms, and give energy to the mushrooms while at the same time, minerals and nutrients go back to the trees. If this relationship did not exist, the trees of our world would never get beyond 2-3 feet tall. Can you imagine!
The Dao of Connecting with Nature
In my practice, after over 25 years working with people for holistic healing, it has become more and more important to see how people must integrate all aspects of their lives, for total healing and long-term success. We should drink water, but drink healthy water free from toxins and charged by the vortex flow of energy in the earth. We should eat food that ideally is being grown locally from the same elements of the earth that are also nourishing, growing, and feeding us, and above all, be free from unnatural and neurotic chemicals. We should look at the world from a nurturing, beneficial, benevolent perspective.
And, we should socialize with humans, plants, trees, the planets, the sun, and animals. In a book called, The Secret Life of Plants, we learn that even plants that were treated poorly respond negatively to the environment and mean visitors. The superpower of kindness can overcome all challenges and accelerate our healing, too.
We were not born in a lab, so why go to a lab for solutions? We did not come into existence with a heart of hatred, but instead, we were all born with a heart of compassion, which unites us with all sentient beings and all elements of our universe. Be connected, be whole, be healthy, and be grateful for all we have in this amazing world, and be a witness to it yourself, by simply taking a walk in the woods. And, once in a while, smile and look up at the amazing universe that made all of this happen.
1. Introduction – Different Microbiomes? – What is the Probiotic-Based Immune System?
The immune system has many names, and these days, the common term is the microbiome. Did you know that we have many microbiomes throughout the body?
The microbiome literally means the small living environment or domain. A microbiome is a small universe of living flora or bacteria in different parts of our body. It is specialized for the different areas and accordingly, it has different sets of flora to do different tasks. The key is a proper balance and abundance of friendly bacteria everywhere. Here are three main examples.
Skin Microbiome:
The skin microbiome includes key bacteria such as Staphylococcus epidermidis, Propionibacterium acnes, and **Corynebacterium species**, which protect against pathogens and regulate skin health. Disruptions can lead to acne, eczema, and infections. The skin microbiome interacts with the gut and mouth microbiomes and influences mental health via the gut-skin-brain axis.
Gut Microbiome:
The gut microbiome is a vast, living ecosystem of trillions of microorganisms—mostly bacteria, along with fungi, viruses, and spores—that inhabit your intestines. They work together to digest food, create essential vitamins, produce neurotransmitters, strengthen immunity, and maintain overall health.
Key Microbial Groups:
Bacteroides – Break down complex carbohydrates and plant fibers into short-chain fatty acids (like acetate and propionate) that nourish intestinal cells and support metabolism.
Lactobacillus – Help digest lactose, produce lactic acid, and keep harmful microbes under control by maintaining an acidic environment in the gut.
Lactobacillus plantarum – A particularly resilient species that helps protect the intestinal barrier, reduce inflammation, and support nutrient absorption, especially of amino acids and minerals.
Bifidobacterium – Among the first microbes to colonize the infant gut; they digest oligosaccharides, produce B-vitamins, and strengthen immune tolerance while preventing infection by pathogens.
Spore-based bacteria (e.g., Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus coagulans) – Form protective spores that survive stomach acid, aid fiber digestion, and help repopulate the gut after antibiotic use.
Akkermansia muciniphila – Lives in the gut’s mucus layer, supporting barrier integrity, insulin sensitivity, and balanced weight regulation.
Faecalibacterium prausnitzii – One of the most beneficial and abundant species; produces anti-inflammatory compounds and protects against disorders like Crohn’s disease and colitis.
Saccharomyces boulardii(beneficial yeast) – A temporary resident that does not colonize the gut but helps restore balance after antibiotics, reduces diarrhea, inhibits pathogens, and strengthens the gut barrier.
Functions of a Healthy Gut Microbiome:
Digestion – Breaks down fibers, starches, and proteins into absorbable nutrients and short-chain fatty acids that fuel intestinal cells.
Immunity – Trains the immune system, prevents infections, and balances inflammation throughout the body.
Vitamin Production – Synthesizes vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12, and K, which are vital for metabolism, nerve health, and blood function.
Neurotransmitter Production – Gut microbes produce key brain chemicals such as serotonin (mood and calmness), dopamine (motivation and pleasure), GABA (relaxation), and acetylcholine (memory and learning). These communicate with the brain through the gut-brain axis, influencing mood, sleep, and cognition.
Gut-Brain Axis – Enables constant two-way communication between the gut and brain through the vagus nerve, hormones, and microbial metabolites — forming the biological basis for the “gut feeling.”
Whole-Body Balance – Interconnected with the skin and oral microbiomes, helping regulate inflammation, nutrient flow, and immune strength across the body.
When Things Go Wrong:
Disruption of this delicate ecosystem — caused by poor diet, chronic stress, toxins, or antibiotic overuse — can lead to inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, insulin resistance, skin disorders, and even depression and anxiety due to disrupted neurotransmitter balance.
In essence:
The gut microbiome is like an inner rainforest — diverse, self-regulating, and essential to life. When it thrives, your entire body and mind flourish.
Mouth Microbiome:
The mouth microbiome includes Streptococcus mutans, Porphyromonas gingivalis*, and Fusobacterium nucleatum, which maintain oral health and initiate digestion. Disruptions can lead to dental caries, gum disease, and systemic infections. The microbiome interacts with the gut and skin microbiomes and affects overall and brain health via the oral-gut-brain axis.
Remember, with a healthy mouth microbiome and nutrition, 70% or more of cavities fix themselves
70% of our immune system is in the gut, and that is our first line of defense against pathogens, and each microbiome has its job, but that is the most important.
We also have immune cells for pathogens or infections. The infrastructure that produces immune cells production and transport, is in the blood and the bone marrow. such as the red and white blood cells and the platelets. These cells are produced in the bone marrow.
2. Interconnections and Brain Relation – the Gut-Brain Axis
All three microbiomes (skin, gut, and mouth) are interconnected, influencing each other’s health and the body’s overall well-being through immune modulation and metabolic pathways. These microbiomes communicate with the brain. The gut communicates by way of the the vagus nerve, thereby performing immune signaling. A healthy balance in these microbiomes is crucial for maintaining not just localized organ health but also systemic and neurological health, reflecting the intricate web of interactions within the human body.
Fermented Foods
3. Seven Advanced Points to understand, for Supporting our Microbiomes
1. Taking medical antibiotics kills all the flora in the gut, and compromises your immune system long-term.
2. Doctors suggest not taking probiotics when taking antibiotics since they will neutralize them. But, if you take spore-based probiotics, a special advanced probiotic, they do not negatively impact the antibiotics and will work to balance the gut even when taking antibiotics. Natto fermented foods and specific spore-based products from microbiomelabs.com are excellent sources and choices.
3. The best way to boost the immune system is with natural fermented foods since they are loaded with live probiotics, just like the ones in our own gut. And, even if there are only a few strains in the probiotic food, it still enhances the health of the microbiome and increases the diversity even beyond the consumed strains.
4. Some bad flora hide in their particular microbiome to avoid being detected. They create a biofilm. For the reproductive area, to combat persistent UTI infections, I recommend a 3-part natural remedy that addresses the microbiome and the biofilm issue. It is uqora.com and I have used it successfully with patients for many years.
5. Fiber is the food of probiotics. Therefore, the more fiber you eat, the more you feed your microbiome, the less inflammation you have, and the less disease you have, since 70% of disease is caused by inflammation
6. Sunlight is good for the microbiome. I recommend that people with gut issues expose their belly to the sun.
7. Improving the gut microbiome can improve mood and positively benefit depression since the gut creates neurotransmitters and happy hormones like serotonin, which are transferred to the brain by way of the gut-brain axis.
In a 2019 study, women with low vitamin D levels who received UVB light therapy showed increased gut microbiome diversity. The gut bacteria composition shifted to resemble that of hunter-gatherer populations with frequent sun exposure.
If you do take antibiotics, there is one group of probiotic products you can take even when you take antibiotics. These are spore-based bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus coagulans and others. They form protective spores that survive antibiotics, stomach acid, aid fiber digestion, and help repopulate the gut after antibiotic use.
Our water is constantly exposed to toxins and pollution. Water free from pollutants and microbes is critically important. Drink plenty of water and make sure it is clean too.
Distilled Water
One of the leading nutrition and healing institutes in the world is the School of Natural Hygiene. It was prominent from the 1800s and 1900s up to now in health sanitoriums. Sanitoriums are responsible for the invention of Granola, Muesli, and even Kellogg Cornflakes.
School of Natural Hygiene and its healing methodology promote distilled water as their preferred water for healing. You can have it straight or put the equivalent of a sesame seed size of sea salt to charge your water to give it minerals and electrolytes.
Distilled water is not only free of pollutants but also helps remove them from the cells of the body as well, thus purifying the body so it can function as it should. – Dr. Group [GlobalHealing.com]
Many people feel distilled water will deplete our minerals, but here is the science:
Distilled water is open to the atmosphere and absorbs CO2. H20 + CO2 makes H2S03 (carbonic acid) which is what stops it from grabbing minerals from your body.
All water — no matter if it comes from a natural spring, artesian well, or regular tap — may have trace but safe amounts of minerals, bacteria, pesticides, and other contaminants. Distilling rids water of all those impurities. It also removes more than 99.9% of the minerals dissolved in water.
Spring Water from Nature
Of course spring water, charged by the sun, with energy made from the energetic movement and flow in nature, nourished from primordial minerals from the earth, is not too bad either. One thing is, people say that distilled water is empty and can leach minerals out of the body. This is not true.
To get spring water wherever you are, there is a cool website with an international directory: findaspring.com
Counter Top Filters
Whatever you do, get plenty of water. If you have a countertop, check out the specifications and make sure it reoves fluoride. A simple filter like the Clearly Filtered Company is one option, or a classic but internationally-known water filter system is the, extremely effective gravity-fed filter device, the Berkey that works very well.
1. Essiac Tea History – Native Wisdom for a Modern Remedy
The Ojibwa (also spelled Ojibwe or Chippewa) are one of the largest Indigenous nations in North America, part of the Anishinaabe people, with traditional territories spanning the Great Lakes region of Canada and the northern United States. Known for their rich oral traditions, herbal medicine, and deep relationship with the land, the Ojibwa have long practiced plant-based healing rooted in spiritual and ecological knowledge passed down through generations.
In the 1920s, Nurse Rene Caisse, a Canadian nurse, learned of an herbal remedy from a patient who claimed an Ojibwa healer had used it to treat her breast cancer. Caisse later refined and administered this formula, naming it Essiac Tea (her surname spelled backwards), and used it at her Bracebridge, Ontario, clinic to help patients with cancer and other illnesses.
In later years, Dr. Charles A. Brusch, who served as a personal physician to President John F. Kennedy and directed the Brusch Medical Center in Massachusetts, became a key figure in the further development of Essiac. Working directly with Nurse Caisse in the 1950s and 60s, Dr. Brusch conducted research on the formula at Harvard, and eventually expanded it from the original four-herb blend to an eight-herb formula, aiming to enhance its therapeutic effects and broaden its healing scope.
The formula became the advanced 8-herb formula I use in my practice. They are very sincere and honorable people with a simple mission of reducing suffering and offering a 100% refund if not satisfied. After many years of reviewing many formulas, I only chose this one, especially since the supplier I use was also connected to the Harvard Review and sticks to the original formulation and preparation.
2. Understanding Cancer
Cancer is caused by a lack of oxygen, hypoxia. This was proven multiple times by the Nobel Prize-winning scientist, Dr. Otto Warburg. When there is a survival challenge in the body, the normal cellular respiration and energy production can not function, and the body resorts to an inferior form of cellular respiration and energy production until the unhealthy conditions are resolved. In the image, you can see that cancer cells produce less energy overall, but enough to keep us alive until we solve the problem.
Anything that interferes with our oxygen availability can increase the inner body condition, enabling cancer, such as the following. An inner terrain of acidity and toxicity can cause cancer.
Poor diet
Inflammation
Toxicity
Nutrient deficiency
Essiac, along with simple dietary changes, works on toxicity, inflammation, and even nutrient deficiency, and above all, acts as a blood cleanser and supports the detoxification of the liver. When we have these challenges, there is less oxygen available, and the conditions for cancer can increase.
3. Essiac Tea Benefits
Antioxidant Activity – Essiac tea exhibits strong free radical scavenging capacity – Studies have shown that Essiac tea contains polyphenols and tannins that reduce oxidative stress by neutralizing free radicals, which may help prevent cellular damage.
Anti-inflammatory Effects – Reduces markers of inflammation in vitroEssiac tea has been shown to inhibit key inflammatory mediators such as nitric oxide and prostaglandins in laboratory models, indicating potential for chronic inflammation management.
Immune System Modulation – Enhances phagocytosis and lymphocyte activity – Certain studies suggest Essiac tea can stimulate components of the innate immune response, improving macrophage activity and possibly enhancing immune surveillance.
Cytotoxic Effects Against Cancer Cell Lines – Demonstrates selective inhibition of tumor growth in vitro – Research has found that Essiac tea extracts reduce proliferation of human prostate and ovarian cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner, though results are limited to cell cultures.
DNA Protection from Oxidative Damage – Shown to protect against DNA strand breaks – In controlled experiments, Essiac tea reduced DNA damage caused by hydrogen peroxide, suggesting a role in genomic stability under oxidative stress. In vitro studies show that Essiac effectively neutralizes hydroxyl and superoxide radicals—reducing them by up to 84%—and protects DNA and lipids from oxidative damage
The recipe should be done exactly as it is in the instructions (anusarawellness.com/essiac), and according to your current condition.
Serious need – 3 ounces 3 times a day. Spreading it out is also a healing strategy, as is often done with herbs, to keep a constant push on the body to get the effect without long gaps
Medium need – 2 ounces 3 times a day. For people in remission
Maintenance – 2 ounces twice a day for ongoing maintenance and support
Remember, the critical recommendation for the best results, is consistency and purity. The blend I recommend, as an herbalist, is pure, advanced, and effective.
5. Conclusion
The tea is affordable, so people can use it long-term, and many case studies and data show that it is beneficial right away and has its strongest impact after about 5.5 to 6 months of consistent usage.
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