Cannabis, Yoga, and Kundalini

by Chris Kilham, author of The Lotus and the Bud: Cannabis, Consciousness, and Yoga Practice

According to ancient legend, the Hindu god Siva, lord of the mystics and yogis, imparted both the practices of yoga and the enjoyment of cannabis to humanity. Both were intended to enable human beings to experience deep states of unified consciousness and attain direct immersion into spirit.

Today cannabis-infused yoga is increasingly popular, and “ganja yoga” is now more widely practiced and taught around the world. This is not a new discovery. The fusion of yoga and cannabis dates back to antiquity and is part of the ancient practices of India, Nepal, Tibet, and China. Through my fifty years of cannabis experience and daily yoga practice, I have delved deeply into the fusion of these and have developed a good understanding of what this is and how it works.

Yoga, cannabis, and spiritual pursuit have intertwined throughout history in complex and diverse ways, spawning methods, ceremonies, rituals, and realizations. Countless people, plants, and moments in time have contributed to a great and vast trend whose origins reach far into antiquity and whose synergy carries forward to popularity today. Each person who combines yoga practice with the enjoyment of cannabis and an inclination toward self-discovery continues a trend that spans millennia.

Yoga practice leads to an understanding of the oneness of all things, of the intrinsic unity and cohesion of the entire universe, known and unknown. It also offers a myriad of health benefits and contributes to overall vitality and longevity. So, too, cannabis, when intentionally well employed, dissolves boundaries of the mind and leads us toward that same sense of unity. Today both yoga practice and cannabis are widespread. Yoga itself has morphed from an archaic tradition learned and practiced in recondite ashrams and caves to accessible methods learned at the local YMCA and in studios large and small. Cannabis, used for spiritual refreshment in remote areas and temples and places of meditation since antiquity, is now a common aid for the body and mind, in many places even available at retail.

In yoga practice, as well as with the sacramental employment of cannabis, we can and do experience a multitude of moods, varying levels of energy, calm, intensity, and sensitivity, an ongoing expression of mind and the seemingly limitless sensations of incarnate being. And this is a key point in yoga. We are spirit in flesh. We are incarnate beings in constant flux, and yoga enables us to navigate embodied life in a manner that tends us toward equanimity and more enlightened consciousness. When yoga practice is infused with cannabis, sensitivity is heightened, allowing us to more easily move into a heightened state of awareness.

We do not know who first articulated yoga teachings, who first practiced yoga, or where. We do know, however, that yoga has emerged as a vastly popular approach to dealing with our mortality, life stresses, aging, and health. The pursuit of inner peace motivates a great many people to practice, to dip into and to draw upon deep inner reserves of serenity.

In my fifty years of daily practice, I have come to regard yoga as a cosmic current of pure wisdom consciousness that runs through human history. The nature of this current is brilliant, enlightened, and exalted. From this flow an endless array of methods and teachings derive, as diverse as the people who practice. In the cosmos this current is pure wisdom energy. As this current is expressed throughout humanity, it is yoga. And within the individual human being, this wisdom current is kundalini. Through practice the kundalini is fully awakened and freely flowing, without impediments, and the entire human being undergoes harmonization and enlightenment.

The yogic understanding of human life is that we dwell in harmony when we are balanced, cleansed, and filled with divine light. Until that harmonization, we suffer due to delusion, mistaken notions regarding our very nature, the importance of transitory circumstances, the illusion of time, the mistaken perception of ourselves as separate from other beings. Yoga practices balance the myriad currents of energy within us, cleanse our systems of energetic impediments and impurities, and fill us with the irrepressible power of pure, clear cosmic light. As translated from Sanskrit hatha means “sun/moon,” describing a balance of cosmic forces. The balance intrinsic to hatha yoga leads to profound fulfillment and realization of the self as pure spirit. Any sense of separation is dissolved into the great ocean of pure being. We know ourselves as indivisible from, arising from, dwelling within, and dissolving into pure spirit.

The process of practice over time is as much about shedding encumbrances as it is about learning and taking on new knowledge. In Transcendental Meditation the yogic process is described as “unstressing.” By this understanding all physical, mental, and emotional accretions and impediments to unrestricted spiritual freedom are stresses, and the steady practice of meditation dissolves and washes away those stresses. This all-embracing description of stress as the key obstacle to cosmic consciousness works beautifully. Any imbalance or form of suffering is stress, from moderate to severe. Any holistic approach to total health and happiness must address gross and subtle forms of stress as core factors in imbalance and disease. Likewise, the elimination of stress of all kinds and severity delivers relief and more free-flowing life energy overall.

Both yoga and cannabis demonstrate stress-reducing powers, and the combination of both can help you to dive deeply into your whole being’s sensations of stress, and to melt that stress away. True peace of mind comes with whole-being stress reduction. A myriad of factors promote stress, and our goal is to saturate ourselves with the cosmic current of kundalini, the primordial spiritual force within us, and eliminate all possible stress. As kundalini flows more openly, consciousness is greatly expanded, and the sense of separation from others, the sense of individual existence dissolves. As thoughts and self-identification subside, we naturally dwell in spirit.

For the most part the awakening of kundalini occurs gradually, producing an increase in energy and mental alertness. As you practice yoga the energetic channels convey energy more smoothly, and the kundalini flow becomes more noticeable. At times you may experience energetic currents pulsing through the spine. Or you may simply feel an ever-increasing lightness and a clarity accompanied by amplified vitality. But kundalini can also surge up the spinal channel in a more concentrated and dramatic flash of energy. This surge may be accompanied by bright visuals and strong physical sensations. On rare occasions this force may feel overwhelming.

In all instances, when kundalini is felt, it is an opportunity to dive deeply within through concentration and meditation, to put your attention to the energy moving within you, and to allow that energy to increase as a result of that concentration. Kundalini is not a modest energy; it is a monumental force that can be tapped, amplified, directed. As the source of all mystical experience, the awakening of the kundalini shakti vivifies health, vitality, mental clarity, and imagination. Kundalini has the capacity to radically enhance everything you experience, from enjoying the company of another to sitting in profound absorption, rapt with the energy of the cosmos flowing through you.

At the same time cannabis possesses a gigantic spirit of its own and a capacity to influence almost every system of the body. And while the yogic current is running through you in the form of kundalini, the spirit of cannabis also assists in opening up channels of energy and facilitating deep spiritual satisfaction. This is utterly experiential, not something to hear about and hope it happens to you. Even if the spirit of cannabis just seems like an idea to you, direct yourself to tapping into that spirit. If you practice in this manner, you will access the healing and expanding dimensions of cannabis in a profound way.

This blending of forces, of the profound healing and harmonizing powers of yoga practice, and the significant benefits and balancing dimensions of cannabis, blend together in a manner that boosts expansion, heightens overall sensory acuity, vivifies the experience of energy within, and leads the yogi into ever-greater apprehension of spirit.