October 22nd, 2018
By Marco
Guest writer for Wake Up World
The relationship between cannabis and meditation is rather complex so to give you the complete picture, I’ll start slowly and explain for the unacquainted a little bit about meditation itself, before moving on to meditation under the influence of marijuana and its main potential benefits and disadvantages.
The Basics of Meditation
Meditation is an ancient practice which can alleviate many of the frustrations and tribulations that this modern hectic life brings us.
A wonderful aspect of meditating is that it doesn’t require much of anything – all you need is a peaceful place where you can sit and relax without any harsh sounds or visual distractions.
I suggest you try stretching your body before meditating, this will make the sitting session more comfortable. The other necessities are a comfortable cushion (or a chair that allows you to sit with a proper posture), some loose-fitting clothes, your phone turned to silent… and that’s pretty much it.
Basic Rundown on Meditation Techniques
There are a few basic methods of meditation, so before moving on to more advanced techniques, try these ones first:
Concentration Meditation
This kind of meditation involves the person focusing on one specific thing, which could be following your breath, counting the beads on a mala (Buddhist prayer beads), repeating a word in your mind (a mantra), or closely watching a flame from a candle.
Keeping your mind centered is naturally a difficult task for beginners, but the point of this type of meditation is to get back on track as soon as your thoughts start running away – which gets much easier with time.
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness involves the meditator passively noticing the thoughts that arise without deliberately invoking them, the point of this meditation is to not to get attached to one specific thought, but rather to let the thoughts flow in an uninterrupted stream.
With this technique you can observe your thought patterns moving in a distinct way and training yourself not to automatically judge them as good or bad strengthens your inner peace and overall psychological balance.
Cultivation of Compassion
This type of meditation is frequently used by Buddhist monks and nuns. The basic principle is to visualize a negative event from your past and transform all the bad emotions that relate to it through the power of compassion.
Of course there are many other kinds of meditation – I recommend reading this article for an in-depth view.
How Cannabis Fits Into Meditation Practices
There is a long historical partnership between marijuana and meditation but the history books don’t provide much detail, nor do we know exactly what people were smoking in the past (cannabis was a LOT less potent in the past than it is nowadays), so we should probably focus more on the current state of affairs.
To truly benefit from meditating under the influence, always choose an Indica strain that isn’t too potent, because unlike uplifting Sativa strains, these gentler Indicas will get you exactly where you need to be (relaxed and uninhibited), as long as you don’t push yourself too hard.
If you vape or smoke too much THC, you’ll be left with a mind that’s unable to focus at all, and focus is definitely the number one requirement for any type of meditation.
Consuming the right dosage of a medium-strong Indica strain will get you closer to that sought after state of stillness, while your level of awareness remains clear, perhaps even elevated.
Cannabis truly affects everyone differently, so the best way to determine what is suited for you is by trial and error.
For certain individuals it will be even more difficult to focus while high, so if you find your mind wandering, it’s probably best to leave your stoned time for after the meditation.
If you’re looking for a bulletproof way to determine if you’re the type of person who can focus, smoke a bit of Indica (or an Indica-dominant hybrid) while you’re already positioned in the meditation posture, and all will be revealed.
If you’ve been consuming cannabis for some time now, you’re aware of how marijuana affects you, so it’ll be easy to figure out if you should engage in meditation while high, or leave those inspiring green moments for some other activity.
Also by Marco:
About the author:
A passionate cannabis enthusiast ever since his late teens, Marco usually writes about 420 culture, health and weed basics. You can find him discussing various conspiracy theories with his peers.
You can follow Marco at Twitter.com/MarcoGreenCamp and GreenCamp.com, where this article first appeared.
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