There are tens, if not hundreds of music genres available nowadays, and millions of Spotify and YouTube playlists continue to be created every day. That can make it a bit challenging to navigate and understand which music would be most suitable for something as delicate as a psychedelic trip.

Should you choose an existing playlist? Or should you create your own, and if so, what songs/music to choose and in what order?

Worry not, we have you covered in everything you need to know about music playlists for your psychedelic journey in this blog post.

What role does music play in a psychedelic journey?

Music plays a crucial role in navigating and guiding a psychedelic experience. In shamanic cultures, singing songs and playing instruments live during a ceremony is an integral part of journeying with plant medicines, such as ayahuasca, psilocybin mushrooms, peyote, and many others.

Most psychedelic therapists, shamans, and psychonauts themselves describe that music helps to create a supportive setting and experience the journey on a deeper level, being able to surrender and navigate the potentially difficult parts with more ease and trust.

During the journey, at some point, it may become necessary to be able to focus attention on a single point in your experience to help you ground, be present, and collect yourself in case the journey becomes too overwhelming, intense, or simply too scattered. Great tools for this can be something that is ongoingly present in your experience, such as your own breathing, a sensation in your body, or even music that is being played.

How to choose the best music for your mushroom trip?

If you are new to psychedelic experiences and this is going to be your first time (or one of the first times), it can be worth mentioning that even if you prepare a playlist for yourself that you think is going to be amazing, during the experience itself you may suddenly realize that this music is not suitable for you at all. It is completely okay to prepare a few readily available playlists that you can have easy access to in case you wanted to change the music during your trip. In the best-case scenario, you would have a friend or a trip sitter who can help you to tend to your needs and help you switch the music if necessary.

Aside from that, it could be worth asking yourself – what kind of music do you like to listen to daily? And would this music be suitable for times when you wanted to, perhaps, meditate, or experience deep relaxation? For most people, the answer would most likely be, no.

The music that we may listen to every day might not work well at all for a psychedelic experience. The experts in psychedelic journeys say that it can be wise to choose either non-lyrical music or music whose lyrics can be in a different language or simply sounds made by voice, meaning nothing.

Ideally, it’s something that you cannot easily understand as the lyrics themselves can carry you away on a certain path in your journey. To get the most out of your mushroom trip, you want to be able to go with your own flow and follow your own intentions and allow the most authentic experience to unfold for yourself.

Beginning of journey/ on-set music

This part of the journey begins when magic mushrooms have been ingested either through chewing them, drinking them in a tea form, or through eating food where they have been mixed in. The waiting period for desired effects begins, and it can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes to start to experience the first effects taking place. During this part, the music ideally is supportive, unfolding, and forward-moving.

It can take a while to start to experience the next stage of the mushroom journey, which is known as the “peak”.

Music for the peak of the trip

Music at the peak of the journey may become secondary; there is so much going on, that ideally, music at this stage is rather slow, deep, flowing in and out of moments of silence, and reflective of transcendental forms of consciousness experienced by the person tripping. At this stage, it is especially important to have non-lyrical music playing.

Come-down/return/ending of the journey music

At this stage, it is more than okay to choose pieces that are somewhat familiar, positive, and inspirational, and can even contain lyrical music. It can feel as if you are slowly coming out of a dream or intense, deep meditation. Anything that can help to support that “return”, will be perfect for the end of your journey.

Recommended playlists for a mushroom trip

Choosing a ready playlist or creating one that is approximately the same length as the mushroom journey itself (and is reflective of the different stages of the journey) will most likely be your best option to ensure supportive music during your experience.

A typical mushroom journey will last approximately 4-6 hours, however, some people can have a longer experience.

We have listed a few playlists of different tastes and needs to help you choose one or a few that you feel you would resonate with most.

Remember that what can be perfect for one, can be perhaps “okay” or even completely unsuitable for another person. Feel free to go through your chosen playlist to get familiar with it, and therefore, avoid potential surprises.

Psilocybin Research: John Hopkins, Sacred Knowledge, William A. Richards (6 hr 6 min)

Dr. Richards, a researcher in experimental psilocybin treatment, has spent some time putting together this playlist, which, surprisingly, mostly consists of classical music pieces. It ends with some lyrical songs towards the end of the journey with artists like The Beatles, Enya, and Louis Armstrong. This playlist, rich in its diversity, can come as a surprise to many. However, according to years of work and research, this is said to be scientifically one of the most suitable playlists to listen to when on magic mushrooms.

You can find the link for this playlist here. (6 hr 6 min)

Psychedelic Therapy Playlist by Mandel Kaelen (5 hr 30 min + 5 hr 22 min)

This playlist consisting of part 1 and part 2 can be described as ambient, dreamy, slow, soothing, and calm, also containing some vocal parts as well as neo-classical music pieces. Well-known in the world of creating playlists for psychedelic work, Mendel Kaelen is a neuroscientist and a music nerd. If you are looking for non-distracting music to listen to while on your magic mushroom journey, this could be the playlist for you.

Link for the playlist nr 1 here. (5 hr 30 min) 

Link for the playlist nr 2 here. (5 hr 22 min) 

East Forest – Music for Mushrooms (8 hr 39 min)

This unique playlist was created by an Artist East Forest specifically for psychedelic practitioners with the intention to bring ritual to psychedelic journeys. With lots of nature sounds and dreamy, ambient tones you will feel as if you have entered a blissful, dreamy state and feel cleansed afterwards.

You can find the link for this playlist here. (8hr 39 min)

What other playlists could you try?

If none of the above is to your liking, there are plenty of individually created playlists found on both Spotify and YouTube you could check out. Make sure that your music is available to you is free of advertisements, as this could easily disturb your journey.

What you choose in the end, comes down to your personal taste. There are many people who prefer to listen to trippy music, psytrance, and techno music while on their trip, and many who choose something more tribal, shamanic, or soothing and calm. It all comes down to your personal preference. You could even listen to meditation music, or skip music playlists altogether and play some songs whenever you feel like it at any part of your journey. There is no right or wrong way to go here. Prepare, experiment, feel it out, and most importantly, - have an amazing trip!

Here are some other potential playlists/music for you to check out that are available on YouTube. Feel free to give these a listen and see what catches your eye – oops! – we mean, ear. :)

• Calm, soothing, Celtic, dreamy, emotional. (3 hr 4 min)
• Modern shamanic, more fast-paced, tribal, drums. (2 hr 28 min)
• Deep shamanic drums. (3 hr 3 min)

We hope that you managed to get enough information on how to choose the best playlist and/or music for your magic mushroom journey, and perhaps you even found the ideal one already!

If you do take magic mushrooms, do so in a supportive, safe environment ideally with a friend or trip sitter who stays sober and can look after you. And if you are new to magic mushrooms, we wrote an article that will help you prepare and have a safe trip.

Stay safe and happy journeying!