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Is Weed Yoga Really Worth It? We Tried it and Found Out!
LAST UPDATED: 09/26/2023

IMG VIA JILLIAN PFENNIG
Yogis across the country (and world) look to their yoga practice to allow them to reach enlightenment. With almost 50,000 yoga studios in the US, it’s a safe bet that you’ve tried yoga for a similar reason– whether as a form of body movement, meditation or mental health practice. But have you tried yoga under the influence of cannabis?

The yoga community is split on whether cannabis is good for a yoga practice, but agreed that it’s ultimately a personal choice. I practice yoga often, especially restorative yoga, so I was interested in trying THC-infused yoga to see if it enhanced my experience the way some yogis claim it does. So, I attended a weed yoga event at The Artist Tree in West Hollywood, CA.


Arriving at The Artist Tree in West Hollywood, CA for Weed Yoga

The weed yoga event I attended took place at The Artist Tree in West Hollywood, CA. The dispensary has a dispensary on the bottom floor, a lounge on the second, and an event space on the third. We got there a half hour early to indulge in some cannabis treats before heading up to the third floor for yoga.

Not knowing what to expect in the lounge, I was overwhelmed with the vast array of options. Their menu separated indica, sativa and CBD. They even had different devices such as bongs, gravity bongs, and vaporizers to rent for the optimum smoking experience– not to mention THC infused cocktails!

Our server, Clay, was so knowledgeable and welcoming, and he complimented my adorable Old Navy outfit. Clay answered all of my questions and actually allowed me to mix the liquid cannabis into our cocktail myself. Liquid THC concentrate is the prime method used during weed yoga events.

The THC cocktail was actually very good, and once mixed in, you couldn’t taste the concentrate. But would this actually help me connect mind, body and spirit?

My Plus Size Experience at a Weed Yoga Event


IMG VIA JILLIAN PFENNIG
Heading up to the third floor we were offered another vial of liquid cannabis and it was up to us how we wanted to use it– add it to the cocktail we purchased, shoot it like a shot, or sip on it throughout the class. I decided to mix it into the delicious strawberry lemonade cocktail I was already drinking.

Laid out on our mats, the instructor, Amy, began the yoga class. The small intimate class was definitely the right environment for this experimental weed yoga. As the experts say, “Yoga is a journey of the self”, and I was beginning to feel more relaxed and centered than before while sipping on my cocktail.

Moving from pose to pose, I was definitely more in my body than my mind without needing to focus too much, which I attribute to the THC. My mind is always running a mile a minute, so when I normally practice yoga, it takes a lot for me to breathe out all of the distractions. But I 1000% didn’t have to work as hard to calm my mind as I usually do.

After the first half of flow yoga, we moved into restorative yoga, which is something I’ve grown very accustomed to following my past surgeries. This is really where I felt the THC added to my yoga experience. Restorative yoga is all about holding poses for a long time and really allowing your body to breathe through the pose (unlike flow yoga, which is constantly moving).

As someone always in their head, restorative yoga really challenged me to breathe life into my body as I lay in each pose, and not allow my mind to wander. The second half of the class is where I really felt the THC aid my yoga practice, as I didn’t have to constantly tell my mind to relax. I fell into it much quicker and didn’t find myself adrift as much. I was simply in my body and not my mind.

As the class ended, we decided to hang out at the lounge for a bit longer. Artist Tree is not allowed to serve food in the lounge, so they are partnered with two places where you can order food to be delivered. We ate lunch and smoked the remainder of the joint we bought earlier while enjoying the post yoga feeling in our bodies. I don’t know if weed yoga will become a regular practice for me, but I did get an extra vial to take home and try it again!



BY JILLIAN PFENNIG
Jillian Pfennig (she/her) hasn't met an adventure she doesn't love. She is a writer, photographer, plus size model and traveler of the world.

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Yoga

[GeneChing]

Runner's High: Experiment Reveals How Cannabis Actually Affects Exercise
HEALTH
12 January 2024
By CARLY CASSELLA


Ultrarunner Heather Masshoudi partaking in the experiment. (Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder)

The impact of cannabis on exercise is rife with assumptions and contradictions. All at once, the plant is considered a performance-enhancing drug, banned by numerous sporting events, and a 'couch-lock', employed by the perennially lazy.

Emerging evidence suggests both perspectives are off the mark.

In US states that have legalized cannabis, several recent surveys have found those who use the drug actually get up and move more than non-users.

And while there is no direct evidence to suggest that recreational cannabis improves athletic performance in the moment, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder (UCB) think it could make exercise more enjoyable.

In a recent experiment, 42 healthy adult runners from Colorado who identified as regular cannabis users ran on a treadmill at a moderate pace for 30 minutes. Before, during, and after the run, scientists monitored their physical and mental state. On another occasion, participants were given the choice to use either THC or CBD products before a similar 30-minute run.

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the compound in cannabis largely responsible for the plant's psychoactive effects. Whereas CBD, or cannabidiol, is a compound in the plant that offers muscle-relaxing, anti-inflammatory effects without producing the trippy mind-altering effects traditionally associated with marijuana.

"The bottom-line finding is that cannabis before exercise seems to increase positive mood and enjoyment during exercise, whether you use THC or CBD. But THC products specifically may make exercise feel more effortful," says psychologist Laurel Gibson from UCB.



Today, only a small number of studies have dug into the acute effects of cannabis on exercise, and most were conducted decades ago.

Recent legalization in states like Colorado has finally allowed scientists to conduct observational experiments on the drug, and researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder are particularly interested in those who say they like running high.

Ultrarunner Heather Masshoudi was one of the participants included in the study. Anecdotally, she says that a natural 'runner's high' on a 30 kilometer (just under 20 mile) run feels very similar to getting high on cannabis and running for a much shorter time.

Interestingly, studies have linked intense exercise to the endocannabinoid system in the brain, which is what cannabis taps into.

In 2023, psychologists at UCB found that getting high before a run often resulted in a slower, yet more enjoyable bout of exercise for regular cannabis users.

The newest study from Gibson and her team supports those results. Compared to running sober, running high was more enjoyable for participants, even if the inclusion of THC did make the exercise feel slightly harder.

By comparison, participants who took only CBD in experiments still enjoyed the run more than they did without it, but they did not feel as though their run required more exertion.

To be clear, this does not mean that scientists are recommending that people use THC or CBD products before exercise, as there could still be potential harms.

In the recent experiments, those who took THC showed an increased heart rate while high before they started running. Even though this effect wasn't compounded by running, there is reason to remain cautious about the potential consequences to cardiovascular health.

Neuroscientist Angela Bryan, also on the UCB research team, warns that "it's too early to make broad recommendations", but she thinks "it's worth exploring" further.

Because of ethical considerations, the study was not double-blinded or randomized, and dosage among participants wasn't regulated. Furthermore, the group of participants was limited to include regular cannabis users who ran a lot, which means enrollment could very well be biased towards those with positive cannabis experiences while exercising.

Studies with more rigorous methodologies are now needed to test these initial observations, but Bryan says "it is pretty clear from our research that cannabis is not a performance-enhancing drug."

Whether the drug helps in recovery after exercise is another matter still up for debate.

The study was published in Sports Medicine.

fascinating

[GeneChing]

An Ancient Tomb Revealed a Potent Surprise: 17th Century Bones Contained THC
Archaeologists dig up old joints of a different kind, leaving history in a haze.
BY TIM NEWCOMBPUBLISHED: JAN 29, 2024 1:00 PM EST

[IMG]https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/skull-smoking-a-joint-royalty-free-image-1706463971.jpg?crop=1.00xw:1.00xh;0,0&resize=1200: *[/IMG]
madsci//Getty Images
Researchers studied bones in an Italian medical crypt from the 17th century, and discovered the presence of cannabis.
Since cannabis was not a prescribed medical treatment at that time in that hospital, the team hypothesizes that the use was recreational.
While stories of cannabis use stretch to well before the 17th century, this is the first physical evidence showing the plant’s use.
Weed was popular enough centuries ago that it became part of peoples’ bones. And now there’s scientific research to prove it. Researchers in Italy recently detected traces of Delta-9 THC and CBD—both from the cannabis plant—in bone samples dating back to the 1600s.

“This study reports the first physical evidence of cannabis use in Modern Age in Italy, but also in Europe,” wrote the authors of the study detailing this discovery. The study was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, and chronicles the group’s toxicological analyses on human remains that were located in a Milan hospital crypt.

The team performed these analyses using a mass spectrometer on nine human remains from the Ca’ Granda Crypt—located under a church next door to a key hospital in Milan—with the goal of identifying individual chemical compounds. They carbon dated the bones to the 1600s, and found cannabis in two of the nine bones studied. The presence of the chemical seemed to have no correlation with demographic, as the bones of both a woman aged about 50 and a teenage boy were found to have DTC and CBD.

RELATED STORY
Marijuana Plants Found in Ancient Chinese Grave

“The presence of these two alkaloids evidences the use of the cannabis plant in the Italian population during the 17thcentury,” the authors wrote. After investigating the archived documentation of the hospital, the team found that cannabis was not administered as a medical treatment during the 1600s. “Thus, we hypothesize that the subjects under investigation used cannabis as a recreational substance,” the study said. The researchers caution, however, that they can’t rule out other sources of exposure related to medical treatments outside of the hospital.

While the use of cannabis is well chronicled back to the Middle Ages in Europe, cannabis fell out of favor as a medical option in 1484, according to the CBC, when Pope Innocent VIII labeled it an “unholy sacrament.” But that doesn’t mean that cannabis wasn’t a popular choice outside of medical settings.

“We know that cannabis has been used in the past, but this is the first study ever to find traces of it in human bones,” says Gaia Giordano, biologist and doctoral student at the University of Milan’s Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology and Odontology and Laboratory of Toxicological Investigation and a study author, according to the CBC. “This is an important finding, because there are very few laboratories that can examine bones to find traces of drugs.”

The lab in Milan certainly pulled it off. “Molecules of medicinal plants can be detected by toxicological analysis even centuries after the death of an individual,” Giordano says, according to the New Scientist.

Even amidst a ban on cannabis, Italy used hemp aplenty in commerce, so access to the plant was part of everyday life for those making ropes, textiles, feed for livestock, and paper (and, yes, the sails on ships used by Christopher Columbus).

“Life was especially tough in Milan in the 17th century,” Domenico di Candia, archaeotoxicologist and lead author on the study, told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. “Famine, disease, poverty, and almost nonexistent hygiene were widespread.” With cannabis proven as a drug of choice in the day, researchers may now begin investigating what other substances were present in the 17th century bones.


TIM NEWCOMB
Tim Newcomb is a journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums, sneakers, gear, infrastructure, and more for a variety of publications, including Popular Mechanics. His favorite interviews have included sit-downs with Roger Federer in Switzerland, Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, and Tinker Hatfield in Portland.

China is much older. I think we've discussed that here already but I activated the link to a past article on the topic in this article.

[GeneChing]

Wu-Tang Clan Brands Come Together At National Cannabis Festival: All About Shops Of Shaolin
Javier Hasse
Senior Contributor
A column about cannabis, hemp, CBD and psychedelics.

Apr 9, 2024,02:44pm EDT

ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 08: Raekwon, Method Man, RZA and Ghostface Killah perform at 10th Annual ONE ... [+]WIREIMAGE

This year’s National Cannabis Festival in Washington, D.C., is set to feature a notable highlight for Wu-Tang Clan enthusiasts and cannabis culture aficionados: the Shops of Shaolin. According to information procured exclusively ahead of an official announcement, this pop-up shop will, for the first time, assemble a collection of brands linked to the legendary rap group in one location, offering a unique attraction for festival-goers. Scheduled to take place on April 19th and 20th at the RFK Stadium, the festival expects to attract more than 30,000 attendees, including cannabis advocates, enthusiasts, and industry leaders.

As Nathaniel “Nutta TICAL” Vereen, co-founder at TICAL Official, Method Man’s cannabis and lifestyle brand, explains, “For the first time, brands representing the Wu are all under one roof supporting each other like the family we are. It’s going to be special.” This sentiment reflects the ethos of the Wu-Tang Clan, emphasizing unity and mutual support that extends beyond their music into various entrepreneurial ventures.

The Shops of Shaolin will feature a range of products from Wu-Tang members, including:
Method Man's Tical Athletics, TICAL Official, and RX Water
Ghostface Killah's Killah Koffee
RZA's Park Hill Clothing
Raekwon's Hashstoria and Compliments of the Chef
Brands representing YDB, Cappadonna, DJ Mathematics, U-God and Inspectah Deck.

This joint initiative reflects the Wu-Tang Clan’s wide-ranging entrepreneurial ventures into the cannabis and lifestyle realms, presenting an exclusive chance for attendees to engage with the Wu-Tang brand in a novel way.

Aside from the Shops of Shaolin, the National Cannabis Festival festival will also host a robust lineup of musical talent, including headliners Wu-Tang Clan, Thundercat and Redman, along with a variety of performers across genres.

Caroline Phillips, the festival's founder, highlights the broad appeal of this year's event. “Our new two-day format, incredible headliners and performers, and other experiences you can only get at NCF are guaranteed to make this our best one yet.”

Moreover, the festival will feature six education pavilions covering topics from wellness and policy to culture and psychedelics, alongside specialized lounges for the LGBTQIA+ community, seniors and military veterans.

The introduction of the Shops of Shaolin at the National Cannabis Festival highlights a fusion of cannabis culture and the Wu-Tang Clan’s musical heritage, establishing a fresh benchmark for artist-led entrepreneurial projects in the festival landscape. This new feature of the festival is poised to offer an unforgettable encounter, appealing to both the Wu-Tang Clan’s loyal followers and the wider cannabis community.



Javier Hasse

Javier Hasse is a cannabis, hemp, CBD and psychedelics-focused reporter, currently serving as head of content for Benzinga and CEO of Spanish-language news site El Planteo, a company he co-founded. His book, “Start Your Own Cannabis Business,” was published by Entrepreneur Media in 2018 and hit the #1 Best-Seller spot on Amazon.He is also a Senior Contributor on Forbes, and a member of the Rolling Stone Culture Council and Entrepreneur Media’s Entrepreneur Leadership Network VIP.As an award-winning reporter and editor, Javier’s had more than 5,000 unique articles in multiple languages published across numerous mass media outlets including CNN, Forbes, MSN, Chicago Tribune, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Entrepreneur Magazine, MarketWatch, Rolling Stone, Houston Chronicle, The Street, Nasdaq, Morningstar, Playboy, Benzinga, MERRY JANE, High Times and many others.He was recently named in the High Times 100 list of most influential people in the cannabis space.Beyond cannabis, Javier is a published photographer and Billboard-charting rapper, featured on hip-hop albums that also included Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA and Inspectah Deck, Twista, Lil Windex, Riff Raff, Cyhi The Prynce, Yung Bleu, DJ Whoo Kid, Jonathan Hay, and others.

Wu-Forever!
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