Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Christian Rasmussen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Christian, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I love this question.
Honestly, everything that I’m doing sort of seemed to fall into my lap. I wasn’t necessarily striving for anything above the fact that I wanted to do something big here and I wanted to help people. I wasn’t sure what that looked like, but I felt it and I believed it whole heartedly.
As it often is, it was through some of my darkest moments that the path was illuminated for me. I was going through benzodiazepine withdrawal in 2019 – coming off of prescription anti-anxiety medication – and about ready to call it quits. I was a year into this process and potentially looking at years of suffering when I found these beautiful orange mushrooms with white dots growing on a hike. They seemed to call to me, beckoning me to pick them. There was this potent sense that they would not only help me and play a large role in my life, but that I had something to offer them.
To make a long story short, I ended up doing a bunch of research and found one woman online who claimed they healed her brain going through benzodiazepine withdrawal. I learned about the pharmacology and found they hit the same receptor sites that benzodiazepines damage. After enough research I decided to try them and within 2 weeks of microdosing it felt as if I was healed 70-80%. It was miraculous.
6 months later the business was born, and now we are the largest amanita retailers and distributors in the country. We’ve seen hundreds if not thousands of people come off of prescription medications, and 10s of thousands of people find healing, growth and evolution in other areas of their lives.
It’s been a really rewarding and fun thing to go through and experience. But all this said, I feel that this is just the steppingstone for my larger purpose here. I have an idea of what that might be, but I’ve also been intimately learning to ride the wave and see where life takes me.
If I’ve learned anything about finding purpose, it’s that resistance is the largest factor in deterring one from finding their true calling. Relaxing into the flow of things and letting the universe unfold seems to be the only way for me to navigate this path.
The universe has an interesting way of bringing things into alignment when one is fully present and open.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I founded and run MN Nice Ethnobotanicals. We’re the largest vertically integrated ethnobotanical company in the country, focusing primarily on Amanita muscaria.
What we’ve found is that Amanita seems to be one of the most powerful and healing plants this world has to offer, which is fascinating seeing as it’s also the most well-known mushroom in the world – that iconic red mushroom with white dots that one finds everywhere from Mario to Alice in Wonderland. Some of the earliest cave paintings are of Amanita muscaria, and it has been depicted in religious artwork throughout the centuries. It’s even the mushroom emoji on your phone!
We focus heavily on ethical sourcing and customer service, and have fostered a relationship with each individual customer, which goes a long way in building trust and community.
We have a lot of fun things in the works, including releasing a podcast that will be interviewing individuals that have used this most iconic mushroom to grow and heal, giving our customers a platform to tell their own personal story and share their experience with Amanita.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
It’s hard to create a business and a movement around something that one isn’t inherently interested in. I have always been extremely fascinated and interested in various plants and mushrooms and how they are used and their history in various cultures around the world. I’ve utilized various plants and fungus throughout my life for my own personal development and health, and have spent thousands of hours studying everything from the pharmacology of various plants and fungi to the anecdotal experiences people have while using them. When there is a deep personal interest in something, the drive and passion are already there, so when the opportunity to start working with spreading these products came, there was an effortlessness attached to it. As they say, the only way to really do great work is to truly love what you do.
I’ve also had to learn and lean on my resilience throughout this journey. We’ve had some major setbacks along this path, which have seemingly all been orchestrated to help me learn lessons and grow and dismantle blocks in the way of us expanding to where we are looking to go. I’ve learned more and more how in the end, these types of events are really only setbacks if we allow them to be. They often come before large expansive periods and unfortunately are when many people tend to quit. Having the strength, resolve, and resilience to make it through them and find the beauty in the lessons and dismantling of any blocks is a really powerful skill to develop.
Communication and the ability to listen and build personal relationships has also been extremely important. In this business, this doesn’t just go for one-on-one conversations with individuals but includes building a personal relationship with every single customer we have. We obviously can’t have a conversation with each individual customer, but we can build a platform in which each customer can get to know me as an individual and understand why I’m doing what I’m doing. We can build trust through integrity and transparency, and I believe we’ve done that in a really unique and powerful way.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
As far as the business, it’s always education. There is a huge misconception that Amanita muscaria is poisonous and toxic, which is completely unfounded. What we’ve found time and time again is that it’s one of the most well tolerated psychoactive plants/fungi in the world, and its efficacy is truly astonishing.
With a product like this, there seems to be a bridge of education that needs to be crossed with each potential consumer. One of our main focuses is figuring out how to cross that bridge effectively. Me getting on podcasts and doing interviews like this helps a lot. We just finished filming an educational series, which will hopefully be uploaded to the website by the time this interview is posted. We work intimately with creators and affiliates to help educate their audience. I also travel around the country and speak at various conventions and events to help educate spread the word.
One of the most fun aspects of this business and this mission is being able to educate the world about this most iconic and powerful mushroom.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mn-nice-ethnobotanicals.com
- Instagram: mn_nice_ethno
- Facebook: MN Nice Ethnobotanicals
- Twitter: MNNiceEthno
- Youtube: @MNNiceEthnobotanicals
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