Namastoke everyone, and welcome to the benefits of pairing cannabis with yoga. Grab your mat and your bud and meet us with an open mind.
Yoga has been practiced for centuries to alleviate stress, reduce physical pain and awaken the body and mind to new experiences. Sounds familiar, right? And while yoga is designed to produce a “natural high” when done right, that doesn’t mean you can’t enhance its best attributes through medication with cannabis.
Getting started
While you may not have a ganja yoga studio near you (it’s a real thing!), you can still take 30 minutes or so before you hit the mat to let your strain of choice help guide your intention.
First-timers should consider microdosing or using less than 5mgs of THC, since balance and coordination are so important in any practice. You’ll want to have mental clarity to focus on your breath, and hybrid strains can settle your active mind without making you catatonic in child’s pose.
If you’re more advanced in your yoga journey and are looking to energize your core strength or muscle-building vinyasa routines, then introducing sativa strains could help you attack those Warrior poses with a renewed sense of purpose. These strains are also great to pair with a daytime practice, or in an outdoor space where you can connect to your external environment.
Yogis who want to maintain complete purity of mind can benefit from inflammation-relieving CBD strains or oils, which can help you get deeper into that hip-opening pigeon pose while you focus on maintaining proper alignment.
What to expect
Like cannabis, the possibilities with yoga are vast. Some routines are more active than others, such as flows designed to get you moving, while other methods like yin will wind you down after a long day and put you in a state of deep relaxation. If you’re new to yoga, it’s a bit like being new to medicating – you might find it beneficial to dabble until you find what works best for you.
If you’ve selected a nice indica or mellowing hybrid strain, consider trying an at-home yoga routine to get comfortable with the newfound effects cannabis has on your consciousness. The last thing you want is to walk into a studio class with red eye in your third eye and pull focus. The same strains that are great for nighttime use are perfect for a gentle stretch-based routine.
Experiences may vary, but as long as you haven’t overdone the cannabis intake (dabs + downward dog = not ideal), you should feel a renewed sense of connection between your mind and body. You might find that you’re more accepting of your limitations within your practice, focusing less on the technical aspects of different poses and more on the feeling within you.
Whether you’re new to yoga or have been half-mooning for years, we have the strains and the knowledge to take your practice to the next level. Come see us at Sol Flower today.
