Stress is part and parcel of your day-to-day life. Stress acts as fuel that enables you to accomplish some of your daily goals, such as meeting deadlines at work, calling relationship partners, etc.
Naturally, the feelings of stress should go away as soon as the triggers are no longer there. But if you ever find yourself battling stress even when there are no apparent threats, then you could be suffering from a medical condition. Medical researchers now believe you can relieve stress and anxiety through the combination of cannabis and yoga. A simple guide to cannabis could help you understand its use and benefits in more detail.
How Yoga and Cannabis Relieve Stress
Yoga has been practiced from time immemorial as one of the most effective stress relievers. Cannabis was initially popular in the textile industry before its medicinal properties were investigated. When researchers began studying the plant, they mostly focused on its widely-acclaimed analgesic effects. However, it later emerged that in addition to pain treatment, cannabis could also help with a range of other medical conditions, including stress, insomnia, inflammatory diseases, and nausea.
Yoga relieves stress by incorporating four effective techniques: exercise, breath control, mind control, and relaxation.
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Cannabis mostly relieves stress by counteracting the effects of stress hormones like cortisol, while improving your body’s sensitivity to feel-good neurotransmitters like serotonin. When you consume a cannabis-based product like Shatter, the cannabinoids in the product are introduced into your body through the endocannabinoid system.
The endocannabinoid system is the body’s cell-signaling system that’s responsible for regulating homeostatic balance. Cannabis can interact with your endocannabinoid receptors in a manner that makes your endocannabinoids bind more easily to these receptors. The result is the effective management of pain, anxiety, and other medical conditions.
Research on the anxiolytic properties of cannabis shows that it can help with various anxiety disorders, including social anxiety disorder and post-traumatic disorder.
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Integrating Cannabis and Yoga for the Ultimate Stress Relief
As both cannabis and yoga are excellent for relieving stress, you can combine the two to enjoy their synergistic benefits. The following are some of the ways to incorporate cannabis and yoga for the ultimate stress relief;
1. Start Slow
If you’re new to cannabis, you will benefit from its calming effects by starting with low doses. You want to feel how weed penetrates your system and savor each experience.
Experiment with low doses and allow for a few minutes before you can start your first yoga sequence. When you’re no longer responsive to ambient noises, you know it’s time to hit the floor.
2. Get into the Zone Before Starting Every Yoga Sequence
Again, if you’re new to either cannabis or yoga, you may not know which one should come before the other. Experts generally recommend consuming cannabis before starting every yoga session.
Cannabis products that are high in tetrahydrocannabinol can produce mind-altering effects. At low doses, THC acts as a powerful stimulant and can supply you with the energy required to perform your yoga exercises. And at high doses, the same substance produces sedative and relaxing effects. Shop around and find the best product for you, whether that’s indica weed or Sativa weed, make sure you do your research first!
Since your primary objective is to relax and unwind, you’ll do better with smaller doses of cannabis, especially if the product is significantly high in THC. In addition to its calming effects, cannabis will also produce additional mind-altering properties, such as elevating your mood, all of which are necessary for relieving anxiety.
3. Pair the Right Asana with the Right Cannabis Strain
There are plenty of yoga asanas out there. But not all of them are geared towards relaxation, increased mental awareness, or breath control.
Experts recommend going for floor-based asanas, such as sukhasana and paschimottanasana, to enjoy maximum relief from anxiety. As you want to relax and banish your anxiety for good, avoid asanas that require heightened focus and coordination, such as utkatasana and talasana.
Floor-based asanas should also go hand in hand with the right cannabis strains. Generally, seek to pair your yoga with cannabis strains that are high in stress-relieving compounds like cannabidiol (CBD) and relatively low in psychoactive compounds like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). You can now get THC in many forms, not just from smoking cannabis. For example, you can even get syringes such as those from https://www.
As CBD works against your anxiety, THC will induce a slight euphoria, enabling you to relish every single moment of your sequences. Remember that the goal isn’t to get into a complete state of heightened mental stimulation. Instead, to rid your mind of racing thoughts and intrusive memories.
4. Make the Transition Smooth and Seamless
After every yoga practice, take your time before transitioning back to your normal state of mental awareness. This transition phase is necessary as it gives you control over your journey from the spiritual to the physical world.
You can see two versions of yourself, and in the midst of it all, you’ll be able to know whether cannabis and yoga worked for you or not. The transition phase is also the point where you’ll establish whether cannabis had an intoxicating effect on you or not.
If you feel more intoxicated than relieved, that’s an indication that you experimented with higher cannabis doses. To mediate those effects, you might consider doing a series of pranayamas before winding up the entire session.
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Conclusion
Combining yoga and cannabis is one of the most effective ways to relieve stress, anxiety, and depression. However, you need to be creative in how you integrate the two. Generally, insist on yoga asanas and cannabis strains that deliver maximum stress relief. You can also complement those effects by incorporating other elements, such as soothing music.
Reference Links
- doi.org/10.1177/0269881110379283/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5101100/
- https://weedmaps.com/strains