Meditating While High - Elevating Your Experience
Meditating while high is a meditation practice that makes sense for many people. For those who practice meditation, the experience provides mental clarity, relieves muscle tension, and can relieve stress; these benefits are also widely reported by cannabis users, making combining the two a highly sensory experience.
Cannabis meditators also claim that consuming or smoking weed before a meditation session can elevate the experience, making it easier to focus. The strain of cannabis that you choose for this activity can affect your experience, with some strains combining better with meditation than others.
What Are the Potential Benefits of Combining Meditation and Weed?
Meditative practices, and meditating while high, are ancient practices that have been used throughout time to promote emotional well-being. Though anecdotal evidence of the benefits of “high meditation” has endured over the centuries, modern studies also back up the claim that meditators feel spiritual benefits from meditating while high.
In the modern world, the frenetic lifestyle that’s common in big cities like Seattle can be stressful. Adding marijuana to a meditation session to achieve euphoric effects alongside deep states of relaxation can be a great way to escape the stresses of everyday life. Moreover, the mind-wandering effects of marijuana can elevate the experience into something very special.
The following are some of the anecdotal benefits of combining cannabis and weed:
High meditation allows a broadening of the mind, allowing people to examine their experiences and ideas, and promoting personal awareness, healing, and self-love.
Raising levels of consciousness can encourage personal growth, leading both to self-acceptance as well as compassion for and a greater understanding of others.
Heightened feelings of serenity and peace can help people to face difficulties in their life with renewed energy.
Tips For the Best High Meditation Session
Choosing to meditate while high can be an elevated experience that puts you in touch with the present moment and brings you clarity as your mind wanders. Meditation is a deeply personal experience that everyone experiences differently; in the same way, cannabis users may also have different preferences when using marijuana to meditate.
For new meditators, however, there are some guidelines that may be useful to follow as you experiment with meditation and weed:
High-CBD Strains May Be Beneficial for Relaxation and Concentration
The meditation experience is all about focusing your awareness, so choosing a strain that helps you relax and feel centered can help you have a positive experience. There is some evidence to suggest that high-CBD strains can help reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, leaving you in a calmer state of mind for meditation.
Indicas Are Better for a Calm Mind
When choosing a strain, you’ll also want to think about the head high vs body high effects of that strain. For meditation, it’s generally better to go for strains that provide a relaxing body high rather than a physically energizing head high.
Don't Overdo the THC
Strains that are high in THC aren't the best starting point for meditation because they can bring on a "high" that may not be conducive to meditation. Broad-spectrum products, which contain a range of different cannabinoids but exclude THC, may also be good choices for meditation, and worth experimenting with.
Certain Terpenes Might Boost Your Practice
The various terpenes in cannabis can offer different experiences. For those looking for a heightened sense of awareness, look out for these terpenes:
Linalool. This terpene is found in lavender and can help to promote bodily relaxation and decrease stress.
Beta-caryophyllene. This terpene can help to relieve muscle tension, inflammation, and pain, helping you release tension and concentrate on your mental journey.
Limonene. If you struggle to focus, limonene can help to boost concentration and decrease stress.
Your Consumption Method Can Affect Your Experience
How you consume your cannabis will affect your experience of high meditation:
Edibles require time to digest. People looking for a mild or slow effect while meditating might enjoy consuming edibles before a meditation session.
Inhalation or sublingual products provide a much faster and stronger effect, which could be helpful if you want the cannabinoids to kick in right away.
Choose the Right Time to Take Your Product
Having chosen your product and how you want to take it, it's easy to work out when to consume it. CBD vapes take around 10 minutes to reach their full effect, and you can get in the zone for meditation after five minutes or so.
Using edibles can be more unpredictable in terms of time as many factors determine how long it needs to take effect. As a general rule, edibles will need between 30 and 90 minutes to kick in, but you may not peak until up to four hours after consumption.
Find the Right Strain for the Best Meditation Experience
If you are new to high meditation, finding a cannabis flower strain or a cannabis-based product that works for you will be a question of experimenting with different options. Experts in a reputable dispensary can advise you on strains that could offer the experience you are looking for.
Combining marijuana and meditation can be a wonderful experience that opens up your mind and gives you a new perspective. However, as with all new experiences, high meditation rookies should start slow and work their way up gradually to find the mind-opening experience they seek.