Cannabis Liberation and the Spirit of Yoga, Meditation and Journeying

Cannabis is a sacred plant. In ethnobotany, the study of the relationship between plants and people, the plants and fungi we call sacred have psychoactive or psychedelic properties. Through altered states of consciousness, they can lead to personal transformation and healing. Around the world and throughout history, sacred plants have played a significant role in the development of civilization. They are considered invaluable treasures, so revered that many cultures simply refer to them as “the medicine.”

Humans have respected cannabis—also known in different times and places as marijuana, ganja, pot, and many other names—as a medicine and a spiritual ally for millennia. The plant is packed with natural pain relievers like the anti-inflammatory cannabinoid CBD (the non-psychoactive one getting all the attention right now). While its most famous cannabinoid, THC, offers psychoactive (sometimes even psychedelic) properties that can heal the soul.

When paired with yoga, cannabis provides a holistic mind-body-spirit journeying experience. This is not about “stoned yoga,” but about promoting a healthy “high” relationship with cannabis as a sacred plant spirit medicine—which starts with respect. This is a love story about the divine partnership between cannabis and yoga. Humans have coevolved with cannabis for a very long time.

Yoga practitioners are celebrating her liberation with the newly legal recreational status in many states (and all of Canada) by offering classes and workshops designed to take full advantage of cannabis, whether through vaping, consuming edibles, elixirs or drinks, or smoking. These teachers offer a virtual wealth of education about this much-misunderstood and maligned plant to everyone who takes their classes—and they consider that a great privilege.

For over a decade, I’ve been practicing yoga with my husband, who has been devoted to his own practice for forty plus years. These days, there’s almost always cannabis involved. Practicing with the plant helps me to drop into the wisdom and bliss of union with more depth and purpose.