Cannabis and yoga: relaxation program

Imagine a world where you could go to your yoga class with a water bottle, your mat and a joint. This fantasy does exist in California, for example in Ganja Yoga in San Francisco or 420 Remedy Yoga in Glendale. Consuming cannabis stimulates the brain to produce more dopamine. Combined with yoga, yogis believe it can raise your spiritual consciousness in a way that can't be achieved any other way. And this practice is not new.

The Yogas Sutras

Yoga and cannabis have been connected since ancient times. Patanjali's Yogas Sutras, considered the fundamental texts of the practice, were written in Sanskri and mention the use of herbs: «janma osadhi mantra tapah samadhi jah siddhyayah» (powers can be acquired by birth, by the use of herbs, by mantras, by austere discipline or concentration). The text suggests that herbs are one of five methods of lifting the veil of ignorance, also known as the barrier between the conscious and unconscious mind.

And it turns out that’ancient cult of Shiva used weed practicing yoga. They preferred to absorb a drinkable mixture rather than smoke. They also burned cannabis as incense, turning the whole room into an aquarium.

Liz McDonald, yoga instructor at 420 Remedy Yoga, has found that the herb helps her students to meditate. «I find it a wonderful tool for teaching,» she confided to New York Times in 2012. «Disbelief is my biggest obstacle. People don't believe they can feel their heart beat or breathe with their stomach. A little cannabis helps them understand. And if you just want to rest during my class, that's okay too.».

A conscious journey

At Ganja Yoga, Dee Dussault is a yoga instructor who began offering ganja yoga classes in Toronto in 2009. For her, the class is a way «to experience relaxation, pain relief, sensuality and the development of inner peace, on all levels». To this end, she allows students with a medical prescription to smoke cannabis 15 minutes before class. If they do not have a prescription, consumption must take place outside class.

The movements of Dussault's courses are slow and sure, not jerky. Most of the weed varieties and yoga practice can only lead to a new level of tranquility and rest.

The cannabis-yoga combo has a bright future ahead of it, at least in the USA and Canada. Dussault says she will continue to support this combination because «it brings people to a place where they are more open to forgetting the tensions of their body and mind».