According to a newly published study, people who practiced yoga after consuming cannabis experienced improved mindfulness and mysticism. This suggests that the environment and behavior of a person may be important in modulating their cannabis experience.
This paper was published as part of a psychology dissertation at the University of British Columbia. It explored “the impact of context factors during cannabis use” on well-being outcomes. According to author Sarah Elizabeth Ann Daniels, these considerations are more common when it comes psychedelic therapies, but less so with cannabis.
Daniels noted that researchers are increasingly paying attention to context factors, beyond the drug itself, to determine the outcome of treatment. These factors include the mentality, the setting and the behavior. These factors are seldom considered when therapeutic cannabis is used.
The paper concludes that the study’s findings “generally indicate” that what you do when you are experiencing cannabis effects is important. This study, which mirrors psychedelics in its approach, supports the idea that the setting and time of cannabis use can have a significant impact on the therapeutic benefits.
Daniels asked 47 participants to self-administer marijuana twice, a week apart, in order to test whether context affected if they experienced cannabis. They practiced yoga during one session. In the second session, they did what they would normally do while high. Most common activities included eating, watching television or movies, housework, interacting with others, and taking part in hobbies.
Participants were evaluated on “state of mind,” “mysticism of experience” and “state effect.”
State mindfulness measures “both traditional Buddhist models and contemporary psychology models” of mindfulness, including awareness of mental states and body sensations. The term mystical experience refers to the feeling of eternity, tranquility, or loss of normal perception of time.
Daniels found that participants’ mindfulness improved significantly when they practiced cannabis-infused yoga. Daniels acknowledged that mystical experiences are more commonly associated with psychedelics, but she found their mysticality to be greater. She writes that “while cannabis is not a traditional psychoactive,” recent evidence shows it has many similarities with altered states induced by psychedelics.
Yoga and non-yoga sessions did not show any significant differences in state affect, which is essentially your mood and emotion.
Studying the impact of set, setting and other variables the paper refers to as “extra-pharmacological factors” is crucial to understanding the therapeutic potential of cannabis, Daniels writes, noting that accounting such factors helped clarify early research about psychedelics.
The report states that “much like today’s studies on cannabis, studies in the 1960s produced wildly varied results.” “Researchers at the time began to explore and document the impact of set and setting on the subjective drug effects, and how outcomes could be influenced by extra-pharmacological factors became a crucial consideration in studies of the effects of psychedelics and psychedelic psychotherapy. Once set and setting were addressed, recorded psychedelic experience shifted from being overwhelmingly negative to being overwhelmingly positive.
Seventy-two per cent of participants (34%) said they would mix cannabis with yoga again. Yoga seemed to improve their cannabis experience, and cannabis also seemed enhance their enjoyment of yoga:
The most commonly reported theme was increased physical awareness(n = 15), a theme that captured heightened awareness of the body and its sensory experiences. Participants reported that they felt more in tune with their bodies and were able to feel their sensations and movement at a deeper level. The participants emphasized how this was different than their normal (sober), experience of yoga, stretching or physical activity and that it represented a change or gain from their experiences before cannabis.
Six participants said that they had never done yoga before. Thirty said they only practiced it “rarely” or “occasionally”. Another eleven said they do yoga frequently or very often.
Daniels wrote that “these findings suggest that paying close attention to context factors and providing guidance for therapeutic cannabis users could improve clinical outcomes” when using cannabis as a tool to support mental well-being.
The findings could help us better understand cannabis’ potential benefits, or even how to avoid any potential risks. reports that “physicians have described for years a knowledge deficit pertaining to the best practices when prescribing marijuana for therapeutic purposes.” Psychoeducation and specific behavioral instructions on the importance of setting and environment may help maximize benefits of therapeutic cannabis use and minimize harms. Yoga or other mindful movements may be recommended based on the high level of acceptance of the yoga intervention.
Daniels suggested that researchers who are trying to understand cannabis’ effects shouldn’t discount the “high” feeling.
When developing drugs based on traditional psychoactive plants (e.g. cannabis, psychedelics), a typical trend is to try to remove their psychoactive effects. In the study, the focus is usually on the biological mechanism and the ‘high.’ It is considered an unwanted side effect. The results of this study support the therapeutic value of altered states of awareness caused by psychoactive drugs.
The U.S. government itself has named the consciousness-altering potential of psychedelics as one of their major side effects. The U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced a $27 million project in 2020 to develop pharmaceuticals similar to psychedelics, but without “significant side effects including hallucinations”.
Cannabis users are not new to the idea of combining marijuana with yoga. Classes that combine the two have existed since the beginning of legalization at the state level, and probably for much longer. The reported benefits have mostly been anecdotal.
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), U.S. Rep., even suggested marijuana and yoga as alternatives to opioids. She said, “Marijuana and yoga are all homeopathic, but they are not addictive.”
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