Indeed, there’s a whole new way to experience the magic of Aspen. On April 15, Aspen’s first natural medicine healing center, under Colorado’s Natural Medicine Health Act, opened for public consumption: Sanctum (535 E Hyman Ave, sanctumjourney.com). Operating as a popup within Aspen Shakti, the decade-old subterranean yoga and wellness studio known locally as a “heart cave,” Sanctum serves carefully measured doses of psilocybin (the psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms), guiding clients on immersive psychedelic journeys in a safe, certified, soothing environment that is also home to sound healers and massage therapists.

“Our model is very intently focused on preparation and integration…the whole person in the healing container,” says Sanctum founder Skippy Mesirow, a former Aspen City councilman who is on the 15-member, governor-appointed Natural Medicine Board that helped craft the state’s regulatory framework. “Ninety-five percent of long-term efficacy in terms of behavior change is not the medicine itself; it’s everything that surrounds it.”

A custom strain of hallucinogenic mushrooms is in development by an Avon cultivator for harvest later this year, and partnership with the nonprofit Aspen Psychedelic Resource Center will open up equitable access. (Curious folks who seek ceremony benefits sans tripping can choose a sober alternative option: facilitated holotropic breathwork, thought to mimic a psychedelic experience.)
The intention, according to Mesirow, is to help seekers heal in community while feeling the Aspen Idea: “A balance of embodiment, headiness, and universal connection or spirituality.”