Yoga & Marijuana: “Ganja Yoga” Uses Marijuana to Liberate Your Body
When you want to stretch, relax & breathe…try ganja yoga. 
Yoga mat, marijuana, water pipe, water bottle. Got it.
I inhale a fine bowl of Bubba Kush marijuana outside a private yoga studio. Then I go to yoga class, enjoying the stretching, relaxation and peacefulness yoga gives me.
But if it weren’t for the Bubba Kush, I probably would fail at most of the yoga poses. Why?
Well, I’d been doing yoga for several years, but after a severe soccer injury I couldn’t bend or move without pain so it hurt too much to do yoga.
My doctors gave me pharmaceuticals with cool-sounding names like Soma, Flexeril, Vicodin. They didn’t get rid of my pain or tightness, but they did make me feel sick.
That’s when a friend took me to a “ganja yoga” class. Ganja is a word Rastafarians (like Bob Marley) use to describe marijuana.
The class was in a “secret” yoga studio in Vancouver, Canada. Some people openly advertise ganja yoga. I even saw an advert for “nude ganja yoga.” Wasn’t quite ready for that
Inside the yoga studio were six other people, including the teacher, Ananda.
Her name was the base root for the word “anandamide,” which is the scientific name for the natural chemical our bodies produce…a chemical almost identical to THC.
The word ananda means “bliss.” Yoga and marijuana certainly give me bliss.
In fact, marijuana is the safest muscle relaxer, anti-inflammatory, and pain reliever on the market. Which explains why Big Pharma works hard to keep marijuana illegal.
Ganja yoga's combination of marijuana medicine and yoga helps me break through pain and muscle cramps that yoga alone could not break. I am able to more successfully do the yoga moves, and it feels much more "profound" and healing.
After the classes, Ananda talks about the science of how marijuana clears away tension, pain, and swelling so you can do yoga postures with more precision and less resistance.
“Marijuana relaxes the body, but there’s an intellectual and spiritual side to combining marijuana and yoga,” Ananda explains. “Marijuana helps you focus more on the moment. You pay closer attention to breath and body and get away from tension and excessive thinking that block awareness and relaxation.”
Ananda notes that marijuana has long been considered a medicinal and spiritual herb in India. Like marijuana, yoga has been used for medicinal and spiritual purposes for thousands of years. In India, Yogis and “sadhus” (high-level yoga/marijuana/meditation experts) consume marijuana in a tasty, spicy drink called “bhang.”
Yoga derives from medical-spiritual systems from India and Asia that utilize natural methods and materials that increase energy, strength, peace of mind, longevity, and stamina.
“Some purists object to getting high and doing yoga, but measured use of marijuana and working with a trained yoga teacher in a professional yoga setting is very therapeutic, and it's part of a time-tested cultural tradition," Ananda says.
Ananda offers these insider guidelines for when you want to combine marijuana and yoga:
- Become a proficient yoga practitioner before you start doing ganja yoga.
- Most people find that Indica and Kush marijuana is more body-centered, an thus better for yoga, than Sativa marijuana.
- Marijuana edibles can produce a more even, manageable high for yoga, compared to smoked marijuana.
- If you’re going to smoke marijuana before yoga, wait ten minutes after smoking, and then start your yoga postures.
- Monitor your heart rate, balance, and breathing.
- Don’t push too hard. Marijuana is a pain reliever, and in some cases it masks pain responses that would prevent injury.
- Don’t use your ganja yoga class as a stoner social experience. Focus on the yoga.
- Alternate doing yoga with and without being stoned.
- Study a yoga book.
What I’ve seen as a ganja yoga student is that yoga and marijuana come from a shared cultural tradition that promotes my health and peace of mind.
Try marijuana yoga—I’m betting you’ll get those benefits too!
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Tuesday, 21 August 2012
