4 Tips for a successful meditation with cannabis
Is meditating while high possible?
Many daily practitioners of meditation claim that you cannot achieve true mindfulness if you are meditating stoned; conversely, there are many that have had a great experience with cannabis meditation – including myself.
Marijuana relaxes the central nervous system which melts resistance and opens you up for a whole range of internal expansion. In this article, I share some tips and tricks for you to get the most out of your cannabis meditations.
Key differences between sober and high meditation
In my personal experience of meditating with cannabis, I found great moments of healing, reframing of negative thoughts, forgiveness, and empathy where I needed it the most.
When compared to meditating sober, the practice and results were completely different.
Sober meditation such as practicing presence, mindfulness, Kundalini, or transcendental meditation takes commitment and daily practice to achieve a break from the egoic mind chatter. Over time you begin to build a state of mindfulness that can easily be achieved the more you practice.
Meditating high on the other hand is very helpful when your body is feeling too overwhelmed to subdue the egoic mind through sober meditation. Marijuana relaxes the central nervous system, making it much easier to process, release, and heal, making marijuana meditation a great alternative to those days when sober meditation seems impossible to get any grounding.
One thing to note is the more experienced you are with sober meditation, the better results you will have when meditating with THC.
4 tips for meditating with cannabis
There are many variables to consider when trying to smoke weed and have a successful meditation.
No cannabis strain is the same and your endocannabinoid system is uniquely different from the next person, so how your body reacts to the strain you are smoking will impact the results of your meditation.
Here are 4 tips that will help you have a much more fluid and successful experience with marijuana meditation.
1. Do not smoke and meditate daily
In a Reddit post, someone summed up smoking cannabis and meditation very beautifully:
“Daily consumption of cannabis + meditation = mediocre results
Spiritual/ritual consumption of cannabis + mediation = awesome results”
If you think of cannabis more like Psilocybin (shrooms), it can become a great spiritual tool to help you once in a while – not daily.
If you smoke marijuana daily, the CB1 receptors begin down-regulating, which is just a fancy way of saying: “the more you smoke the less it works”.
I smoked weed and meditated for 14 days straight and I got the best results the first few days – go figure.
Key Takeaway: Think of meditating with weed as a more spiritual act, a ritual to be done once or twice a month.
2. Don't overstimulate the amygdala
This depends entirely on your tolerance to cannabis but how much you smoke can impact the quality of your meditation, let me explain.
Smoking too much weed or smoking weed that has a very high THC % causes an overload of cannabinoids which overstimulates the amygdala.
The amygdala is part of your brain that regulates fear, anxiety, stress, and paranoia.
I found that if I smoked too much weed before a meditation session I actually put myself in a state of fear and paranoia, and so then my egoic mind went on overdrive giving me a very uncomfortable experience.
Key Takeaway: When smoking weed and meditating you need to find out what’s the right amount of THC that can get you a good high without overstimulating the amygdala. For me, I have a pretty standard tolerance so one bowl from a weed pipe is perfect, or a quarter of a joint (about 5 puffs). My best advice is to start low and work your way up especially if you don’t smoke often.
3. Focus on reframing negative thoughts patterns
As I said I was having a very rough few months and I found cannabis and meditation to be extremely helpful for processing pain that was otherwise too much to process sober.
I was smoking weed with the intention to feel my unprocessed feelings, and the results were amazing. I would smoke my bowl of weed and play a song that had some emotional charge to it (I picked a song that promoted processing not hindered).
About 30 seconds into the song I would begin grieving so deeply and releasing all that negative built-up fear and pain.
Next, I would go into basic meditation and breathe deeply into my body. It was much easier to do this high and a bit more magical, to be honest. It felt as if my body was just melting and I was totally relaxed.
Some of the most stubborn thoughts that my ego kept on repeat were reframed in a new loving light. Marijuana just relaxed my body and allowed me to look at things very differently.
Key Takeaway: After 14 days of smoking weed and meditating, I really found a cannabis meditation to be most beneficial as a monthly ritual for releasing deeply embedded egoic thoughts. When your body is extremely tense and the egoic mind is rampant, a high meditation can help relax your body so processing the internal fears are much easier.
4. Strains and terpenes will influence your meditation
Different marijuana strains produce different results for the body and mind.
The cannabinoids such as THC. CBD, and CBD worky synergistically with cannabis terpenes such as Linalool and Myrcene in what is known as the entourage effect.
This means no one cannabis strain gives you the same results.
So ultimately, your experience with meditating and smoking cannabis depends heavily on the cannabis strain’s phenotype.
Indica strains are more popular for a body high (relaxation) and Sativa for the head high (energy).
I experimented with different strains, but again my body’s cannabinoid receptors may function very differently from yours.
If you’re body and mind are tense I recommend looking for Indica strains that are high in the terpenes Linalool and Myrcene, two cannabis terpenes that promote relaxation of the body.
Just ask your local dispensary and they will get you the right strain that promotes bodily relaxation, which is great for meditations focused on releasing fear and processing pain.
Sativa strains give you more of a head high and I found these strains helpful for reframing negative thoughts or thoughts of judgment to others.
This can take a bit of practice especially if this is your first time attempting it, but remember the steps are the same as a sober meditation: breathe deeply and feel your body.
Key Takeaway: I found meditating with marijuana to be an effortless process once I found what worked for me. Personally, I smoke Indica strains rich in the terpenes Myrcene and Linalool to be the best for allowing my body to relax so I can have a successful meditation.
When should you meditate with THC?
Think of meditating with cannabis not as a replacement for meditation but as a monthly ritual instead. If the egoic mind is running rampant and you can’t seem to find your usual pace in your daily meditations I found weed to be very effective.
It does take trial and error, but with enough practice, just like sober meditation, you can achieve some very productive results.
I was going through a very rough few months and just couldn’t find any stillness or peace. My mind was racing and I had a ton of unresolved conflicts that left my mind oscillating between emotions.
As soon as I smoked weed my body relaxed and I was able to release (cry), forgive, and reframe the conflicts in a more loving and empathetic perspective.
It not only allowed me to gain perspective while high, but once sober my actions were reflective of my new perspective (meaning the results from a high meditation had lasting impacts on my daily (sober) reality.
Remember everyone’s endocannabinoid system is different so you may have to play around a bit until you find what’s right for you.
Final thoughts
While meditating with weed can seem counter intuitive, marijuana has effects upon the nervous system and amalygada which helps you to see, feel, and think differently when meditating.
This results in meditations that allow for easier processing of fearful beliefs, and reframing of negative thoughts, in a way that is much easier when trying to do it sober.
Meditating with cannabis is not a replacement for daily meditation. I like to think the better you are at sober meditation the better results you will have with a high mediation.
