Please allow me to correct you, modern humans whose Mitochondrial DNA and fossil evidence indicates that modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago. The Holy Herb and plant life in general, is Millions of years old, before man. It’ not wishful thinking, I don’t wish, they don’t work, you have to make things happen…
[QUOTE=Pear Martini;26971]That is profound, I will be stealing that from you![/QUOTE]
I agree with your Teacher about taking drugs, however The Holy Herb is not a drug, this is what the ‘modern’ drug companies want you to believe. Plants have amazing benefits, since the dawn of Man… Holy men (and women ) in India, Africa, everywhere, practice Joga with the Holy Herb IF they need it.
[QUOTE=jaybee;23297]i love to do yoga when i have had a puff. this is not to say i only do yoga when stoned. far from it. however you could probably say the opposite - that when i am stoned, i always do you yoga. for me marijuana heightens my sensitivity - in how my body feels, to feelings i am having, to issues that need to be dealt with that i am too busy to think about or have been brushing under the rug so to speak. i do not smoke alot, but find myself thinking i should do it more regularly - like once a week - as a tool to keep myself focused on how my body feels and where i am at in my life. (i do not like to smoke too much as it makes me very tired after the high has worn off.) while stoned i allow my body to move and stretch not according to how a yoga pose “should” be, but to how my body feels it needs to be moved. This often turns out to be poses, that i had previously not even known existed. As a tool for spiritual development i think it works well for me too. I can spend hours focused and concentrated on a topic. in fact this is probably why i dont smoke as much as i think i should, because it takes up so much time to get through all the “work” that needs to be done on myself. Time which doesnt often get allocated to me, in a busy schedule of daily life, family and work.
as for marijuana giving you the munchies and therefore not being good for yoga. i find that i do not get munchies while stoned. i tend to drink more water, and if i want to eat anything, it will be fresh fruit. I have less dedication to healthy food when straight.
so in conclusion - fo me - marijuana and yoga go together well. i use it like a tool to get different and heightend perceptions on my body, and my mind. The insights and feelings i have from these experiences can then be applied to my life and worked on, while i am straight.[/QUOTE]
Well said!! We are supposed to live in the moment… Not have ‘clutter’ in our minds, when this happens we can make our pictures of the future form a reality, I’m sure any Jogi will agree. Some of us need to focus on the now, The Holy Herb will allow you to do that.
[QUOTE=prasad;22863]Dear tt,
You took me wrong, You see timelessness and egolessness is some of the attributes of God, just a fraction of a second gives you such a feeling to do it again and again, what will happen if you are merged with him for eternity.
The same thing happens with mj.
Try to understand, its just a realization god gives to tell you what HE is, its entirely up to you to choose.[/QUOTE]
100% correct Prasad!
gurumeet I say “at least 150,000 years” you say “200,000” and you claim that that yoga and marijuana have been practiced together since the start of mankind - so what can I say. You know of something that I have never heard off. Please share your evidence that yoga and marijuana have been practiced together for 2000 centuries.
[QUOTE=DoestheDog?;27043]gurumeet I say “at least 150,000 years” you say “200,000” and you claim that that yoga and marijuana have been practiced together since the start of mankind - so what can I say. You know of something that I have never heard off. Please share your evidence that yoga and marijuana have been practiced together for 2000 centuries.[/QUOTE]
The evidence has been provided and I’ll Explain. Consider it is generally accepted the age for the Earth and the rest of the solar system is about 4.55 billion years (plus or minus about 1%). The last ice age happened around 20,000 years ago, Consider how many cycles have we been through… Regardless of how old Mankind is, picture a caveman sitting in the lotus position ( we didn’t sit on chairs so everybody did it 
and eating his natural diet of vegetables and Herbs, to say he did not use The Holy Herb, does not allow for logic… I should ask you my friend, to provide the evidence he did not…
I think we are coming at this from different perspectives so I am going to leave it there
[QUOTE=gurumeet;27039]I agree with your Teacher about taking drugs, however The Holy Herb is not a drug, this is what the ‘modern’ drug companies want you to believe. Plants have amazing benefits, since the dawn of Man… Holy men (and women ) in India, Africa, everywhere, practice Joga with the Holy Herb IF they need it.[/QUOTE]
Cocaine and Heroine come from the earth. They are natural, does this make them Holy as well?
Pot is pot, its not as potent as beer and wine but I have trouble understanding how pot can be holy to someone… are you a rastafarian?
Gurumeet, I want to add that I smoke marijuana about 2-3 time a month. This is social smoking, that I do in the comfort of my friends apartment. I believe marijuana should be legal for a plethora of reasons but I am afraid that if I smoke before practicing yoga, I will not be able to benefit from it when I do not smoke. I understand the relaxing properties of marijuana.
Its actually decriminalized in my home state of Massachusetts, but here in Florida its no joke and its not as socially acceptable here as well.
Be not afraid for that is the fear that has been instilled in you. Remember, Fear, doubt, worry do not exist, they are inflictions from our surroundings since birth… It is unfair to compare The Holy Herb to the drugs you mentioned, they are the fake one’s like all the other modern drugs the companies make. It is the oldest medicine known to man and is mentioned in all religions, I suggest to do your own research. I am not a Rastafarian but I know of them. The USA is a young country, 2-3 hundred years… some states are ahead of the others, I wont hold that against them, show them with knowledge and wisdom…
Heroin and cocaine are, of course “from the earth”, but at some remove. The refined forms of these truly helpful plants are an object lesson in the ways of human greed in all it’s forms. Opium poppies are powerful medicine - maybe one of the only “cures” for the common cold (in that the only real cure is good, restful sleep, which they certainly provide, along with relief from coughs). The relief from pain which opium provides, or conversely, the relief from fatigue which is afforded by coca leaves (taken by mouth with lime, or as a tea) are both good things. When we run into trouble is with the greedy ways of the mind - “Well, if a little is good, then a lot must be awesome!”
Regardless, a teacher of mine once said that drugs are like being a tourist. They’re great for getting you acquainted with places you might not otherwise ever experience, but you’re just visiting. You’re on a bus, seeing the whole thing through the window as it rushes by, and if you’re lucky you might get to see a couple of points of interest up close. But eventually you have to go home, to where you live. If you want to live in this place you just visited, it’ll take work, and you’ll have to get off the bus.
I’ve used marijuana to get over some rather difficult emotional problems, and to relax some of my debilitating anxieties that were making it tough on me, but ultimately I know that it’s not a viable long term solution, which is why I’ve used the opportunity of feeling better to restart my yoga practice, so that I can live in a more peaceful state permanently.
As Alan Watts once said, “If you get the message, hang up the phone.” One should always be wary of taking advice from jesters, but that one sounds about right.
Marijuana is the neurotransmitter for the Neurosomatic brain circuit. If you want to learn more about this, search for Tim Leary’s Eight circuit model of consciousness. There is also a book called “Prometheus Rising” that goes into more detail about exactly what Neurosomatic brain circuit is. Leary believes that the neurosomatic circuit is akin to what Tantrics refer to as the Kundalini force. Below is a quick quote from "Prometheus rising " connecting marijuana and activating the kundalini power.
Temporary neurosomatic consciousness can be acquired by
(a) the yoga practice of pranayama breathing and (b) for those
who can handle it, by ingestion of Cannabis drugs, such as
hashish and marijuana, which trigger neurotransmitters that activate
this circuit.
You can find this book online by typing “Prometheus Rising pdf” into a search bar. I would just post the hyperlink, but im not allowed to do that until i have made more posts.
I don’t believe it is ever truly helpful to use a toxic substance to alter your state of consciousness. I question how genuine the experience is when arrived at through artificial means. What you take from that experience would always somehow be less than if the experience unfolded genuinely.
To me, using drugs to induce a “cosmic experience” is analogous to using training wheels to ride a bike. The goal being, that at some point, you should be able to have a cosmic experience on your own. The problem with the analogy is that the training wheels are junk and don’t really work and you get scrapes all over your legs from banging them. Okay, so maybe that went a little off where I wanted it to go.
Essentially, when you take in that perceived “good”, you are simultaneously doing “harm” to your body. So no matter what experience you have with drug assistance, it is tainted.
I have partaken of the herb, though I never did it very frequently and I have not done so in many years. It was a college thing. The physical feeling one has when “high” is very similar to the way it feels to be connected to spirit. If you have a true heart connection to spirit, you feel this way all the time without drugs. When you choose drugs, you rarely get to come to know the true spiritual connection, because you become dependent on the artificial one. Or, the artificial one is nothing but a major distraction along the way.
Why is it here in The US MJ is known as drugs? When in India it is simply known as ‘Bhooti’ (Herb), along with other herbs it is considered a medicine. Could it be the ‘real’ drug companies have a say in that? Throughout the ages sages and mystics have prescribed this medicine that has been misused (maybe starts in college…Goddess )
According to a PBS show I saw a couple of months ago on the Botany of Marijuana it’s evolving rapidly as if in a symbiotic relationship to our use of it. Thought I’d throw that in the mix. For the record I had my share back in the Day and don’t anymore for 2 main reasons : I’m on the road I want and smoke in any form is bad for lungs. I enjoyed exercise ( conventional and stretches ) more on Pot back then and might now, but I’m believing it would be a surfeit on some level and besides the point. Namaste
My experience with smoking pot is that it is a good ‘creative thinking’ or ‘meditative’ experience, but rarely enhances the active ‘doing’ of something.
For example; I’m a painter. Although there have been some exceptions (mostly happy accidents) I have not produced any work that I found was as profound in sobriety as it appeared while I was creating it. Yes, once under the influence of several dry martinis and at 2 a.m. I produced a painting that still astounds me. But, the consequences of relying on that level of intoxication coupled with high degree of failure makes it a destructive souce of inspiration.
The same applies to practicing yoga. First, the physical influence - rapid heart rate, smoke in the lungs, early fatigue from ‘coming down’ - makes being high counter productive to the practice. Second, I enjoy the level of focus as a state mind to be sharp. For me, that means not having the distraction of being stoned. My mind wants to wander all over the place, which works in some situations but not during practice.
Those are my wandering thoughts.
I don’t suppose I could give an informed opinion on the compatibility of marijuana and yoga as I have barely started practicing yoga. I would propose this;
Though there are traditional purposes for yoga, to focus or to increase health and flexibility, there are many things such a practice could be used for. In this case I can imagine yoga being used to put oneself into a different mind state. Marijuana is used for the same. I am personally a fan of exploring different mind states of all sorts thus I think it would be beneficial for me to experiment with the combination of the two.
That being said I would doubt that one would be enhanced by the other. Yoga is yoga, marijuana is marijuana, to combine them would be to distract from one or the other experience. The experience of yoga really could not be enhanced by marijuana because that would change the experience fundamentally.
I am a certified Bikram yoga instructor, and also a medical cannabis patient in the state of CA. I have the prescription for cannabis for chronic neuropathic pain- a condition I was left with after a kidney surgery 8 years ago. I no longer smoke cannabis, because my lungs and body really felt impacted the next day when I did, so I now eat my medicine, or vaporize it.
For me, cannabis was extremely useful when I first started to practice. I started out having intense pain on my left side from a surgical scar. Cannabis made it possible for me to quit opiate painkillers, and to practice Bikram yoga enough to start getting the pain relieving benefits of the yoga practice. If I hadn’t had the painkilling properties of the cannabis, I don’t believe I would be where I am today on my yoga path.
I now use cannabis more than I should, I admit. I have created a mental association between cannabis, fun, friends, and comfort that keeps me coming back. When I do stop smoking, my practice becomes clearer, my mind becomes clearer, and I feel far more in tune with my real Self. During my periods of extreme sobriety, I feel so good- so much clearer, and so much higher than cannabis has ever made me feel. Then, however, it happens: I want to sleep, and can’t fall asleep…or I want to relax, and am keyed up physically…or I want to have companionship with friends who smoke…and thus, the cycle of desire starts again, and thus I vape or eat cannabis again.
I know that my next step in my yoga practice is to become all yoga, no cannabis. But in today’s world, especially in CA, that is easier said than done.
For my yoga teacher training, I abstained from pot for 9 weeks. It took me 5 weeks of practicing Bikram yoga twice a day to feel totally at baseline. My use before my teacher training was constant, heavy use (oral and vaped) for the previous 2 years. I do consider it a miracle that I no longer need painkillers. The yoga has healed me and is continuing to do so.
When I partake of cannabis, I feel a warm dulling of the senses in general, along with euphoria. For a long time, I used cannabis in a spiritual context, especially in rituals for the Hindu dieties- specifically Lord Shiva. When I quit opiates, I would pray, vape, then dance ecstatically for Lord Shiva for hours. It was amazing, and I am very grateful for the experience.
Now that I’ve been practicing my yoga for two years, I am noticing a few things. In the first 6 months of my practice (fairly intensive, Bikram yoga 1-2 times daily plus more postures at home), cannabis helped improve my stretches due to the ‘calming’ and meditative state it placed me in, as well as helping me with pain control. I didn’t like to practice without it. Over the first year of my Bikram yoga practice, I noticed that the more yoga I did, the less cannabis I needed in order to achieve the desired effect. I went from needing a medium dose of oral cannabis 3 times a day in addition to vaping high-grade constantly throughout the day to taking half a medium strength edible in the morning, and perhaps one in the afternoon, no vaping necessary. I believe this alone is testimony to the efficacy of yoga in the pain-killing arena.
I definitely believe that cannabis and yoga are complimentary, because both are healers…but after a certain point of practice, I believe the cannabis becomes a hinderance rather than a help towards finding union with the Self.
As I progress on my yoga path, I am starting to do much deeper work with the breath and the heart rate. Now, if I partake before practice, I have difficulty controlling the heart rate and it is uncomfortable to control the breath. The more yoga I practice, the less marijuana I want. I believe that it will be best for me to stop cannabis for a while…and I understand it’s all the process of the Ego detatching from Desire, however, I find cannabis so enjoyable on a personal level that I’ve been delaying this break for myself. Yes, I admit, the desire is strong, and undeniable. I am currently observing my own behavior, making myself aware of my actions and practices, and am praying to God to put so much yoga in my heart that I have no room left for cannabis. With practice, I know it will happen.
=) All have different paths to walk to the Divine, but we are all going to the same pinnacle. I believe that cannabis can be a useful ally and tool, but that eventually, for me, it is time to put Herb aside and get down to Business.
I wish all who read this LOVE, JoY, TrUTh, and the Greatest of GOOD HEALTH!!! Namaste.
Wow!!! I’ve never considered getting high before practicing Yoga.
But if those of you that believe there are benefits to said practice would kindly send some marijuana to my address (I’m looking at you Skye) I will GLADLY experiment with it and give you an unbiased opinion. Don’t worry, I don’t think Chevy Chase would mind.
W. E. Hall
5179 hwy 608
Newellton, LA 71357
Seriously though, in an existence of many lives, I believe that everyone will go through a phase in which cannabis, or something similar, will be incorporated into your spiritual growth. And, of course, I have no idea if this phase is at the beginning, middle, or end of our journey to perfection. I do know this; there are stories of Yogis living for long periods of time on nothing but milk. There are even more far-fetched stories of Yogis living for long periods of time on nothing but air.
The theme that I’m trying to shed light on is that in upper stages of enlightenment there seems to be value placed on conditioning ourselves to want and need less as we progress. I believe that said abstinence would include cannabis as well.
That’s:
W. E. Hall
5179 Hwy 608
Newellton, LA 71357
Or give me your address and I’ll just drive over and retrieve it.
Namaste, Endless Sky; and Yuk-Yuk, Namaste, TallHorseman. The yama dealing with honesty is alive and well with you.