Well, I will answer that with a rhetorical question...why wouldn't they go together?
They have the same affect.
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Both yoga and cannabis bring your awareness and attention into your body.
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Both yoga and cannabis relax you.
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Both are a journey to knowing yourself by revealing shadows, traumas, wounds, and truths.
I will delve into those deeper a bit later.
First, let me tell you my experience with Cannabis and yoga.
I took my first hit from a joint at the age of 16 and loved the instant feeling of relaxation, the head rush, the insights, the flow of inspiration, the shift of perspective.
My friends would comment I was a natural philosopher and psychologist when I was "high" or maybe that part of me was just revealed more. Suddenly I understood the world in a different way, and I really enjoyed articulating my ideas to friends who were willing to listen.
Cannabis and I had a co-dependent relationship over the years. I often turned to Her to cope, relieve stress, slow down, and connect in intimate relationships.
When I first studied at the yoga institute in my young adulthood, I remember my teacher having a discussion about "drugs." He stayed neutral really, not negating the psychedelic and euphoric experience drugs can provide. But I have always remembered this comment he made about yoga, meditation, and "drugs." He said, if you get high and then you go meditate, you give all the benefits away to the drug.
That stuck with me. I believed it.
Over the years, I kept my "habit" hidden from most. Only few close to me really knew I was a cannabis user behind closed doors and maybe socially when the situation called for it. If I ever mixed cannabis and yoga, somehow I felt not good enough, that my practice was somehow of less value.
I never felt like I could give reverence to Cannabis in my life and what she actually provided. Instead I felt shame and guilt that was imposed from a patriarchal society that didn't understand Her magic, Her power, and Her healing properties.
The day cannabis became legal in Canada may have been one of the happiest days of my life. It was finally validation that the plant I loved and used to help me was no longer criminalized. I wasn't "bad" anymore. Maybe the stigma could start to be released, I hoped.
Then, about a year ago, my path crossed with a beautiful soul and plant medicine teacher who offered me a totally different and Divine perspective.
She said, Cannabis is DIVINE FEMININE. Cannabis has been degraded by the patriarchal society, misunderstood, devalued, criminalized, stigmatized.
Cannabis really is our flow and relaxation. Cannabis is a plant healer. Cannabis makes us softer and more receptive to receive. In fact, Cannabis was used for thousands of years before the last 80 years or so when Cannabis was stigmatized.
Cannabis is a gift from Mother Nature.
The truth is “No other plant has been with humans as long as hemp. It is most certainly one of humanity’s oldest cultural objects.” (Ratsch 1997). Cannabis has been an integral part of most cultures.
When I remembered this truth about Cannabis, the DIVINE FEMININE PLANT HEALER, I embraced Her. I allowed her to take me wherever I needed to go and found myself deep in yoga positions or sensing mantra on a whole other level, perceiving the sound vibration with more sensitivity.
Are you curious about using cannabis with yoga?
Yoga and cannabis bring awareness and attention into the body.
Cannabis relaxes the nervous system, the fight or flight response, and taps into the parasympathetic nervous system. When we are relaxed, we can get out of our heads and into our bodies. When Cannabis is combined with yoga practice, stored and repressed emotional blockages can absolutely be transmuted. Essentially, you can heal yourself of past traumas and wounds by intentionally using cannabis with a yoga practice and using your body to release.
Yoga and cannabis relax you.
We live in a world that is generally driven by masculine energy - production, moving, doing, going, climbing up the ladder. So many of us can't relax. We have been conditioned to fit in this society. The stress of the world has strained nervous systems to live in this state of "fight or flight." Our nervous systems don't recognize that there is actually not a threat to life in most situations. So anxiety, depression, and disease are rampant.
Cannabis allows relaxation, again, because it slows down that fight or flight response and taps into the parasympathetic nervous system.
Yoga and Cannabis are a journey to knowing yourself by revealing shadows, traumas, wounds, and truths.
I've heard from people that cannabis makes them anxious or paranoid. This response actually reveals a truth. One can look at their life and delve deeper. Where does fear hold them back in their life? Cannabis is simply showing you what needs to be uncovered, so then you can choose to let go of the fear and heal it.
The same goes for tension or discomfort in the body. Cannabis can reveal that lower back pain or that ache you didn't notice before. Every area of your body is related to emotional patterns and mental beliefs. Cannabis is showing you where you are storing this repressed energy. If you don't let it out, it needs to go somewhere.
Cannabis has connected me to the DIVINE FEMININE in me; the healing energy. I have a relationship with my womb like never before. I have healed sexual trauma from my past. I connect more on a daily basis to the power in my womb, my feminine energy, and I flow more with her. I allow myself pleasure. I trust my intuition more, resulting in feeling more bliss and relaxation.
I have a community on Patreon where I teach yoga and hold monthly Sacred Cannabis Circles. Check out this preview.
Who am I?
I'm Heather! I'm a mom, nurse, yogi, plant medicine self-healer, and dancer of the day who guides anxious, overwhelmed humans to bypass anxiety, connect to their desires, feel moved to make waves, come home to stillness and be radiant and free.