High With Cannabis And Yoga Asanas? Being in a state of ‘high’ and practicing yoga asanas may sound bizzarre, but this is an accepted state. From time immemorial, we have heard about the medium of drugs with the practice of meditation and asanas. There are instances where even the Gurus or the guiding teachers have suggested this. There are always justifiable reasons for these. The ascetics of India, the Aghoris, who are an elusive set and sect of people, also practice this combination. Let us delve more into the combination of using cannabis, a well known drug, along with yoga asanas.
And to decide which type of yoga asanas you chose to practice when consuming cannabis, check this post.
Why Are The Two Linked?
It has happened in a very natural manner that yoga came to be associated with the use of psychedelic drugs. We suppose that this is because both have a lot to do with the mind. Yoga and cannabis have been linked together for centuries. People have used cannabis to enhance their practices, minds, and spirituality. In Hindu tradition, Lord Shiva (supreme god) gifted his people with cannabis to help them find enlightenment and inspiration. Recent discoveries have also shown that combining cannabis with yoga lifts your spirit and elevates your practice. Improved flow and visualization help you acknowledge and manifest your intentions in meditation, creating a deeper inward connection and shift in consciousness.
Is It Credible Information?
First of all, let us find out the real facts: whether it is true, that people do really consume narcotics such as Cannabis, to combine with their yoga practice. According to Nate Simons, who runs a Yoga school in Europe, says that people like to link the two, because they already have an air of exclusivity and elusivity about them. Both have a secretive air about them as well. We know that these have the power to grant some serenity in life, taking us away from the daily rigors, and also take us away from the harsh reality of pain.
How Does It Help Enhance The Practice Of Yoga?
Is it worth the hype? Can cannabis really enhance our practice? The quick answer? Yes. Cannabis’s healing and restorative properties are legendary among healers. It’s said to help those suffering from a variety of ailments – including cancer, epilepsy, muscle spasms, and a spectrum of mental health conditions. It transports us to another realm, by numbing us of the pain that we go through, and also by adding the zing to the practice of yoga as well. This is because cannabis contains cannabinoids – chemicals that mimic those our body naturally produces, that helps promote healthy appetite, memory, inspiration, and movement. Luckily, with more countries working to legalize cannabis, this powerful medicine is becoming increasingly more accessible.
Emotional And Physical Well-being
Incorporating cannabis into your yoga routine can simultaneously increase your emotional and physical well-being. It allows the practitioner to fall deeper into meditation as it relaxes the frontal lobe, letting the mind experience what our muscles do – flexibility and expansion. If you read books by experts who intersperse psychedelic elements into the practice of relaxing physical movements, you will realize that each complements the other. Every movement can flow freely with grace and purpose. It can be a powerful catalyst for generating the happy hormones and a calibrating medium to measure the extent of our emotional well-being.
The Paraphernalia For Bliss
Just as candles, incense, fragrance soft meditative music and semi-precious stones and crystals enhance the ambience, and set the flow of things, likewise, the inclusion of cannabis augments the yoga asanas. Thy mentally prepare us and set the mood. This way, we also raise our vibration in order to support the kind of state we want to transport ourselves. The connection and relationship between yoga asanas and cannabis dates back to many several millennia. Even yogis have resorted to the use of marijuana to improve their poses while doing the asanas and go deeper in meditation and augment the level of spirituality.
Legalization Of Cannabis
Most countries the world over, have started legalizing the use of Cannabis for use with many ailments and pain management. The trending use of Cannabis nowadays covers or extends to the CBD oil. Cannabidiol is a popular natural remedy. People use it for many common ailments. It is one of more than 100 chemical compounds called cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant, Cannabis sativa. As for the use of the Cannabis plant and the leaves, this plant has been in use for the last many thousands of years. The main psychoactive cannabinoid in cannabis is Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It is the one that causes the sensation of getting high that we associate with cannabis. This offers people a panacea for relief from pain and other symptoms.
Of Marrying The Physical With The Emotional
As we all know, yoga is a mix of tough muscle movements, done slowly of course. But, it involves the complete integration of breathwork. This is one of the best ways to practice yoga. When we achieve a state of mental peace and physical action, but beautifully in sync with the other, we know that we have disciplined our mind to weave the breathwork with the physical asanas. There are many contrasting opinions on the use of Cannabis and integrating it with the yoga asanas. Some strait-jacket the use of such mind- elevating drugs to be wrong, and therefore, condemn those who use it, and do not approve.
The Root Of Cannabis
In this article, we are going to take a look at the use of cannabis and how people use it to reach a rapturous state, while they mix it with the art of yoga. Till date, scientists have identified more than 104 different cannabinoids in cannabis. Other compounds identified include terpenoids, flavonoids, nitrogenous compounds, and more common plant molecules. Among these, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has received the most attention for being responsible for the intoxicated state sought after by recreational cannabis users.
Here’s Some Dependable Info & True Facts About It
Hemp-derived CBD products (with less than 0.3% THC) are legal on the federal level but are still illegal under some state laws. On the other hand, here’s another statement- Cannabis-derived CBD products are illegal on the federal level but are legal under some state laws. Checking with your respective state law is important, while you reside in the specific state, and also the laws that govern the places we travel to. We also need to keep in mind and be vigilant about the way each place we go to perceives its use. We need to also remember that FDA did not approve most of non-prescription and over the counter CBD containing medications and products. So, they may be inaccurately labeled.
The Many Uses Of Cannabis When Combined With Yoga Asanas
While we think yoga practitioners resort to the combination of yoga and cannabis for achieving that state of mind, which is tranquil, to say the least, to a better degree, there is a popular belief that Cannabis numbs pain of any kind. Of course, the degree depends on the quantity consumed, as well as the stamina of the subject using it. From time immemorial, that is for as long as we can remember, the cannabis plant has been in use in the ancient civilization of India, where not only the yogis use it, but also the Gods, as mentioned in mythological texts. It could also reduce the intensity and the frequency of some mental ailments.
We covered that in more detail in our article: Psychedelic Yoga. Combining Yoga and Drugs – Pros and Cons
Folklore Backs Uses Of Cannabis
Lord Shiva, the presiding deity of the Yogis and yoga and of renunciation, gifted the cannabis plant to humanity. He, the ancient scriptures say, routinely smoked marijuana to find inspiration and enlightenment, along with drinking bhang, a traditional cannabis-infused beverage. Even today, people in India commonly honor Lord Shiva by drinking or offering bhang. The very intense and faithful loyalists of Lord Shiva, the strange Aghori sect, says that there is nothing wrong in consuming this while meditating or practicing yoga. Infact, they recommend its use. Diehard followers, however old, are supposed to consume it.
The Other Areas Where Cannabis Could Help
The other areas of health where Cannabis can help, is that of cancer and cancer -related symptoms. We can control some of the horrific side effects of chemotherapy, such as intense pain, mouth ulceration and aches in the joints as well as the inability to walk with ease and nausea, through the use of Cannabis. This is just some helpful information. Our focus here is the use of Cannabis while we practice yoga asanas. And the verdict is this- if it can alleviate the pain associated with other ailments, it could contribute in more than 80 % ways to enhance the mood and the mental wellbeing of the person. The combination of yoga and Cannabis becomes an ethereal one, as both focus on the comfort and the comforting aspects.
Many Other Invisible Benefits
Believe it or not!! Studies show that some minute degree of quantity of Cannabis, can also help with the treatment of certain neurological disorders.
Over the years, many researchers have studied, and so have found with inference that CBD’s ability to act on the endocannabinoid system and other brain-signaling systems may provide helpful for those suffering from Neurological disorders. So, when this can help with people’s neurological disorders, then, why not alongside yoga? In fact, one of the most studied uses for CBD is in treating neurological disorders such as epilepsy and MS. With yoga as an art form and its many health benefits, it is bound to improve when people use it during their yoga practice.
Summing It Up, In A Nutshell
Some suggest the use of mood enhancers such as Cannabis, while doing meditation. Apparently, it helps improve the mental state and also relax the physical state of the person while doing the yoga asanas. (To read more about which asanas to practice for a holistic and magnetic personality, check this post.) It helps raise the mood. And it can even enhance the ability to relax and do the asanas at ease, with a lot of comfort. Doing the asanas is not easy with any kind of mood enhancer or medication. The exception is anything with the power to transport us gently and gradually into a state comforting for the physical body. It is supposed to alleviate the pain if we are experiencing any and enjoy doing the asanas.
What The Yoga Gurus and The Sages Of Yore Have Said…
Yoga Gurus state that the use of Cannabis can help one to get a good night’s rest instead of always experiencing the insomnia state. (Though not all gurus are deemed legit – many abuse their powers. To read more about it, go here.) Many say it helps people overcome depression. Not as a substitute to Western drugs, but with reference to them experiencing a pleasantly happy state of mind. Dr. Vineeta Rao, a yoga expert and a medical specialist, says that the anti-psychotic and anti-depression qualities of Cannabis are only too well known by all. When she suggests the consumption of Cannabis along with meditation, she says it is very very healing for the subject. The feel-good factor is one of the many things that is a side-effect of using Cannabis with the yoga practice. If Cannabis has so much worth, then why not?
The Sisters of the Valley, California’s self-ordained “weed nuns,” are on a mission to heal and empower women with their cannabis products. These sisters are on a mission to promote the HEMP products. Based near the town of Merced in the Central Valley, which produces more than half of the fruit, vegetables and nuts grown in the United States, the Sisters of the Valley grow and harvest their own cannabis plants.
The sisterhood stresses that its seven members, despite the moniker, do not belong to any order of the Catholic Church. “We’re against religion, so we’re not a religion. We consider ourselves Beguine revivalists, and we reach back to pre-Christian practices,” said 58-year-old Sister Kate, who founded the sisterhood in 2014. The group says its Holy Trinity is the marijuana plant, specifically hemp, a strain of marijuana that has very low levels of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound in the plant. (REF: NDTV)
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Shanti Arunkumar, Senior Contributor At L’Aquila Active
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