Marijuana and yoga

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#141

[QUOTE=EndlessSky;44385]Rechaka, when you are ready to give it up, you will. Three days ago, I decided I was tired of feeling muddy, and the smell of bud actually turned my stomach slightly, so I’m going on a 6 months yoga hiatus from cannabis. =) I have sworn my yoga to Lord Shiva, so now I’m under His care for the next 6 months, and it feels really good.
The major thing that did it for me is backwards bending- when there is cannabis in my system and I do an intense backwards bend, I have a really strong tingling/heat in my crown chakra and it doesn’t feel pleasant. I have the distinct impression that it’s my energetic body clearing extra stuff it doesn’t need out… I’ll report back in a few weeks and let you know how I’m doing. :::grins::: I really love getting stoned too, but I figure that when I start again in June, it’ll be that much sweeter.
Namaste and bright blessings![/QUOTE]

EndlessSky

I really appreciate the positive vibes and insight into your world! I trust that Lord Shiva will serve you well.

I’m still a pot head, but coming up to 3 weeks of daily yoga. I just had about a week without any herb on a vacation to FL (which is when I logged on this forum again) and have lost about 10lbs in the last few weeks also. I have been getting so high on yoga (and the breath) recently, without a doubt the high from yoga and mindfulness is way more satisfying than getting baked…

I look forward to hear how it’s going :slight_smile:

Namaste

#142

Just started my yoga practices 3 month ago. Would anyone suggest a diet?

#143

[QUOTE=BorrowJam;44455]Just started my yoga practices 3 month ago. Would anyone suggest a diet?[/QUOTE]

Pizza, Guinness and hash brownies. Just a suggestion :wink:

#144

[QUOTE=rechaka;44482]Pizza, Guinness and hash brownies. Just a suggestion ;)[/QUOTE]

This I was doing before my yoga practices. :stuck_out_tongue:

#145

Just had to comment. about me 3 years in a hot vinyasa practice and 7 years smoking pot. I didnt used to mix them but I medicate for pain and during teacher training 10 hr sessions i would slip away to medicate and i found that my practice became much more focused and silent. I agree that smoking mj is not good if u have asthma or any of that but to say that it causes significant lung dmg is crap. Cigs do. I quit cigs 6 months ago and my ability to breath increased 10x and if anything my smokin of mj went thru the roof as i was using it as a crutch when trying to stay clean.

Teachers say alot that yoga is all about your practice but this is one of those things like being vegan or red meat free or gluten free whatever your studio’s fad of the month is just because these stupid little things aren’t a part of your practice doesn’t make your personal practice any more wrong or right then somebody who is a vegan raw food 7 day a week yogi (they probably look like Gandhi ten weeks into a hunger strike but hey some people think runway models are perfect 10s)

the comment about the seeing someones aura…that struck me as a load of shit. Unless of course every pot smoker who’s aura she saw was smoking that dirty ass cartel weed while possibly working as a hitman for them on the side. then if that’s the case i see completely how she saw what she claims. I think it is true that if you smoke dirt your gonna have dirt in you but if u smoke some pure properly prepared medicine(with out turnin it into ash, HELLO once the all the green color is gone u can be pretty sure all the THC is gone stop hitting it.) your not going to have toxic side affects. Yes i have seen weed that looks like it would damage my body just by holding it.

Mj is a natural herb. it even falls with in raw food standards if u want to apply them if it was grown completely organically. yes THC has some receptor inhibitor bullshit going on but it helps people with pain and concentration with out any toxic reactions happening in you (the good stuff anyway)

sure you can use to much. hell drinking to much water before a yoga class will screw your practice up way more then smoking to much weed. of the two drinking too much water is the only one that could possibly kill you. sure its a far out statement, but its a truthful statement.

the best teachers say listen to your body, mine says to get high and practice yoga. I do it 7 days a week work permitting. I even go to class sober sometimes to shake it up but it become monotone and i dont get the mental clarity at the end of class if I dont smoke before.

#146

All for legalization, but seems a silly thing to add to one’s practice.

#147

don’t know how to delete …

#148

[QUOTE=moomin;27360]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.[/QUOTE]

I have been following this thread with interest … and i LOVE this post. The bus analogy seems juuuust right to me - especially in regard to more potent hallucinogens. : )
Also, YES about the not being a long term solution. I had a year of pretty intense pot smoking - just the typical post-college life. No big deal, and still got my stuff done. But I’m past it now.

#149

[QUOTE=Goddess Tapping;27398]
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.
.[/QUOTE]

I’m just devil’s advocating, but I found training wheels very useful when i was a kid. They never scraped my legs, either! 8)

#150

Namaste.
just came in touch while browsing & i like something of you, don’t know what. i dont smoke, i’m into couple of yoga asana/pranayama/dhyana/self realisation/kundalini/sahaj yoga/vegetarian and just eat little ganja/drink with tea almost every morning and the same feeling goes to stop the desire to eat the green and to mingle more/vaporise my mind with him/shiva/brahma/xyz…
Thank you. Take care. Nothing except, Love.

#151

?How do you feel about yoga and marijuana. Are they compatible??

I don’t like the idea of talking someone in nor out of anything but if I was recommending; never would I suggest practicing yoga under chemical influence. The developing synapses may become dependent on the substance? Having said that, I don?t even consider my morning practice without a cup of warm green tea.

#152

“How do you feel about yoga and marijuana. Are they compatible?”

The word Yoga simply means Union, it does not refer to bending the body or controling the breath in various different ways. Any means towards Union is a method towards yoga. And if everything in existence is one, how is your consuming marijuana not yoga ?

Whether consuming drugs can assist you towards yoga, is a totally different thing. There are certain methods of using drugs, not unlike shamans, as a means towards the expansion of consciousness. In the Rig Veda, it mentions an ancient drug, soma. It was many rishis and sages under the influence of soma that many of the writings of those scriptures had come into being.

But the fact is that if you are to use drugs as a way towards transformation, you need to have already come to a space of tremendous awareness and balance. Otherwise, you are bound to become entangled in it’s intoxication. And for a yogi, even to be under the influence of a drug, one can still remain absolutely centered and balanced. For one who has not come to such a grounded state of being, consuming drugs or any other intoxicating substance is going to be tremendously dangerous. And they are not consumed for the sake of being intoxicated, eventually all those methods are to be abandoned.

This is why ordinarily in the yogic sciences, it has been prescribed to avoid all kinds of intoxicating substances - for the simple reason that you may become entangled in the experience. That is also the same reason why celibacy was recommended, because very few can become involved in sex without becoming a slave to the experience. Otherwise, there are methods which use sex - that is what the left handed tantric approach is.

There is no absolute method towards the Truth - just relative skillful means.

#153

I would hope any young or impressionable person reading this thread would consider a yoga practice without first. Someone told me I was going to turn into my father some day. I try to make the best decisions and recommendations I can at the time. I mentioned to my 22 year old son more than once; ?life is difficult enough, not sure mind altering substances makes it any easier?, hopefully I?m not keeping someone from their divine destiny.

#154

[QUOTE=bjoy;53434]Namaste.
just came in touch while browsing & i like something of you, don’t know what. i dont smoke, i’m into couple of yoga asana/pranayama/dhyana/self realisation/kundalini yoga/total vegetarian and just eat a little ganja/drink with tea almost every morning and the same feeling goes to stop the desire to eat the herb and to mingle the self with him/shiva/brahma/xyz…
Thank you. Take care. Nothing except, Love.

#155

@ AmirMourad, back in the early 70?s I was mesmerized by a couple of books: ?Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge?, ?A Separate Reality: Further Conversations With Don Juan? by Carlos Castaneda I think I read them all, every read them? They may interest you. I acknowledged in a previous post the 8 limbs of yoga, however most westerners identify the Asana (physical limb) as yoga. In 1973 I was introduced to transcendental meditation and then explored the other limbs throughout the years; each limb is intended to help the yoking (union) process. My yogi friend?s claim practicing yoga heightens awareness of the subtler energies flowing through us and around us. I?m not sure why but I can?t even take a Claritin without a feeling of disconnect. For me alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and nearly all medications (self or prescribed) have the same separating effect on my mind/body, all these substance seem to deplete my energy levels. I suspect we live in a toxic environment that may also adversely the affect the yoking process; unfortunately the tainted air, water and food is mostly out of my immediate control. I?m seriously considering giving up my weekly bottle of red wine and daily green tea because those are within my control to eliminate. Most of us are products of our environment, my Irish and 1960 influences heavily impacted the first 22 years of my life I partook enough substance festivities for two lifetimes and I plan on sitting the rest of this one out as well as the next one. ?Truth? is like ?meditation? it does not come easy, I?m looking to clear not muddy things, I?m going with the clear body clear mind theory. Is there a right or wrong? I doubt it; it?s more about a balance it?s not an exact science and as much about a feeling as a logical decision. Sorting through all the things ingrained into my psyche throughout the years deciphering needs/wants, happiness/pleasure and keeping my head out of the dead past or the illusionary future has helped me.

?I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good feeling? ~ Frida Kahlo

#156

“In defense of the Pygmies, perhaps I should note that a friend of mine who has spent time with them says that for such activities as the patient stalking and hunting of mammals and fish they prepare themselves through marijuana intoxication, which helps to make the long waits, boring to anyone further evolved than a Komodo dragon, at least moderately tolerable. Ganja is, he says, their only cultivated crop. [B]It would be wryly interesting if in human history the cultivation of marijuana led generally to the invention of agriculture, and thereby to civilization.[/B] (The marijuana-intoxicated Pygmy, poised patiently for an hour with his fishing spear aloft, is earnestly burlesqued by the beer-sodden riflemen, protectively camouflaged in red plaid, who, stumbling through the nearby woods, terrorize American suburbs each Thanksgiving.)”

[I]Carl Sagan, The Dragons of Eden, Speculations on the Origin of Human Intelligence p 191 footnote (pb edition 1978, copyright 1977)[/I]

#157

Thanks, bjoy, that was enjoyable.

#158

man. i think i’d fall over if i was high while i did this. im just starting though and not that flexible / don’t really have that great of balance.

#159

[QUOTE=bjoy;58245]“In defense of the Pygmies, perhaps I should note that a friend of mine who has spent time with them says that for such activities as the patient stalking and hunting of mammals and fish they prepare themselves through marijuana intoxication, which helps to make the long waits, boring to anyone further evolved than a Komodo dragon, at least moderately tolerable. Ganja is, he says, their only cultivated crop. [B]It would be wryly interesting if in human history the cultivation of marijuana led generally to the invention of agriculture, and thereby to civilization.[/B] (The marijuana-intoxicated Pygmy, poised patiently for an hour with his fishing spear aloft, is earnestly burlesqued by the beer-sodden riflemen, protectively camouflaged in red plaid, who, stumbling through the nearby woods, terrorize American suburbs each Thanksgiving.)”

[I]Carl Sagan, The Dragons of Eden, Speculations on the Origin of Human Intelligence p 191 footnote (pb edition 1978, copyright 1977)[/I][/QUOTE]

As I mentioned in another thread: cannabis may simply be a crafty plant seducing worthy cultivators in humanity

#160

That was the theme of a PBS documentary about cannabis , “cannabis may simply be a crafty plant seducing worthy cultivators in humanity” - I didn’t see it all but what I saw was pretty convincing that cannabis sees us a primary pollinators and is adjusting it’s psychotropic elements to attract us all the more. Plant Intelligence- something to contemplate