Shilajit, Too Legit to Quit!
The magick bio-hack that unites yogis, indigenous Chiefs, and Soviet athletes.
Born in the U.S.S.R., I was fortunate to be around some of the brightest minds in health and innovation. Most vividly I remember my best friend’s mother, Alla, a top medical doctor working closely at the time with the Soviet Olympic Team.
Most of us will remember or have heard of the dominating displays of performance by Soviet athletes during a twenty-year stretch from the 1960’s to 1980’s. The Miracle on Ice was only a miracle because the USSR was always expected to win! Likewise, most of us likely assumed there were quite a few secrets and enhancements that made the Big Red Machine as unstoppable as it was.
Aiding athletes in extreme methods of rest, recuperation, and recovery was one of those secrets.
While Alla was not the first to introduce our family to Shilajit, she was the first accredited professional to verify that the legend was indeed true. My grandfather had learned of this magick substance back in the 1960s and had purchased samples from mountaineers of the Altai Mountains. My parents and much of the Soviet community living in Kabul in the late 1970s also had access to this wonder drug.
In fact, the Soviet Union has been studying the widespread effects of Shilajit since the 1950s. Devoting entire research institutes in places like Uzbekistan to the understanding of this tar-like substance secreted during the heat of summer out of the far-flung crevices of high-altitude mountain ranges.
I can’t personally opine on all of the medicinal properties attributed to Shilajit — thankfully my history of trauma, expansive as it may be, is still limited in this scope—but I can certainly speak for some. Most impressive, as confirmed by Olympic doctors and peer-reviewed studies is Shilajit’s ability to enhance and speed up recovery.
The typical bad news delivery experienced by any contact sport athlete, “six to eight week recovery,” can be significantly shortened with daily supplementation of Shilajit.
In fact, in personal experience with simple bone fractures sustained from ice hockey-related injuries, recovery could be as quick as four to six weeks. Any compound that can routinely speed up recovery by 25–33% deserves immediate mention, attention, and recognition.
In a typical 82 game NHL season, speeding up recovery by two weeks alone is equivalent to saving a team an average of $175,600. Two extra weeks of playing time for the Golden State Warriors is worth about $753,600. Now imagine during the course of a regular season and playoffs the actual amount of games that were missed due to injury by the Warriors!
A 25% reduction in recovery time not only would save the Golden State Warriors millions, but it may have been the edge to win another Championship!
Think of Shilajit as something similar to crude oil. Called a fossil fuel because it materializes from the decaying of biomatter. Shilajit is no different except it is found only in high altitudes and takes less time to form than crude oil.
The high altitude mountain ranges where Shilajit dwells have topographies with exceptional ecosystems, clean water, and specifically adapted plant and animal life. All that goodness eventually dies. As it dies, it decays and filters through the earth that tops the mountains, into the cracks and down through the densities of rock and matter. Filtered by time, geology, and pressure of the extreme magnitude of the ranges, the biomatter forms into a sticky, dark substance called Shilajit.
On hot summer days, when all matter expands, Shilajit begins to ooze out of the mountain crevices. Experienced mountaineers using ancient harvesting methods risk their lives traversing and descending into the secret abodes where this magick tar awaits.
Once meticulously cleaned by a laborious process of washing and sun drying, the tar becomes palatable and ready for use. Refined Shilajit can then be consumed in a few ways. It can be administered orally in solution, sublingually, and topically. Before getting too crazy with your Shilajit, I always recommend starting with the solution. Simply dissolving a rice-sized piece of Shilajit in warm, filtered water. Otherwise, the taste and tingle may feel a bit strange to first try the substance sublingually, and topical use requires a large amount of Shilajit — which you will find out, is quite expensive!
What I learned about Shilajit in my three decades of exploration is that it’s in a class of traditional medicines labeled as adaptogens. Essentially drugs that can balance the unbalanced and enhance whatever needs enhancing depending on the dosage and method of treatment. Some may know this class of drugs by their Americanized name of a miracle cure. Other compounds that fit this adaptogenic profile include ashwagandha, Siberian ginseng, and fo-ti.
In reality, Shilajit is comprised of over 85 minerals in ionic form, fulvic and humic acids, and terpenes. All the potheads and medical marijuana enthusiasts just woke up, “did somebody say terpenes, brah?” It’s far too Western to sit here and try to deduct which element or combination of elements produces the desired, magickal effect. In fact, if something is proving to work for thousands of years, digging into the why seems like a fool’s errand.
Rather than wait until you break a bone or pull a muscle, consider the simplest reported effects of Shilajit. In low daily doses, it has shown to improve energy, concentration, memory, and bone and muscle relaxation. I was surprised to find a jar of Shilajit at the mountaintop home of a Lakota Chief and spiritual intercessor. He swore by its properties of pineal awakening and as a valuable tool for meditation and ceremony.
Yogis have likewise used Shilajit for over 3,000 years to improve their focus and the depth of their practice. Shilajit is, in fact, a staple of Ayurveda. So whether you need a serious bio boost to help with an injury or wish to give yourself a morning ritual that helps you focus and perform — Shilajit maybe the answer.
While I spent the first part of my life using Shilajit to get back on the ice as quickly as possible, I now use it mostly for health supplementation, clarity, and preventative medicine. Either way, it’s one of the most powerful substances I’ve ever encountered, and I would recommend to anyone looking to better control their health and biologic processes.
Having tried many Shilajits from different regions, countries, and brands, I find Lotus Blooming Herbs to be the best and purest. And before you get all hot and bothered about the price, which comes out to be around $6.00 a gram, ask yourself, “how much does my weed cost?”
Our world is filled with secrets and miracles from the plant and animal kingdom. Even after 300,000 years of inhabiting this carbon rock, we still know very little about what truly constitutes medicine. I am grateful to have been able to triangulate the effects and benefits of at least one such miracle.
If Shilajit has won gold medals, prevented athletes from missing games, and aided indigenous chiefs and yogis in their prayer and ceremony — perhaps its a good idea to at least try to wipe out your morning coffee habit for something more legit.
