Mindful dose: How CBD supports intentional yoga
Yoga is an incredible tool to find intentionality and presence – but it’s not the only tool of course. While some can go from their high-stress job, seamlessly grounding into a yoga practice soon after, others can benefit from taking CBD, which helps get to this place more reliably.
The mind and the mat
For many of us, the goal of yoga is to achieve a state of dharana – a state of focused concentration. When we take CBD before a session, which is legal and safe in the UK, the intention is absolutely not to alter our state of consciousness. Instead, its anti-anxiety properties help quiet the noise of the nervous system during stress. A small, controlled amount of a high-quality CBD oil can help bring this quiet focus on the mat – it gets you there faster and more reliably, nudging you from a state of doing, to a state of being. It can be useful as a buffer, which widens our window of tolerance, so we remain present during particularly difficult yoga sessions.
Subtle support
In yoga, the breath and the body are linked and we do not want or need a crutch. But if the body is holding onto minor physical tensions or inflammation, the mind does tend to fixate on that discomfort, which is fine, but it can pull us away from our breath a little too much.
A mindful dose of CBD supports the body’s endocannabinoid system (plays a role in maintaining physiological homeostasis). This subtle support can suppress physical distractions somewhat, allowing for deeper somatic awareness. At the end of the day, when your body feels at ease, you can move through transitions with greater fluidity. By lowering the threshold of sensory distraction, CBD creates a faster entry into the flow state. When you get there faster, you spend more of your session with a dissolved divide between your ego and your movement.
Finding quality products
To make sure your dose remains mindful, the quality and transparency of the product are going to be important. Many find a reputable CBD Shop in the UK as part of their daily stack to help with sleep, anxiety, inflammation, and much more. But using lab-tested products is super important to ensure the accuracy of the labels. Not just origin, but dose.
You don’t want marketing fluff or unwanted additives that could disrupt the clarity of your practice. The speed of the absorption onset is also relevant if using it intentionally for yoga alone, because you want to time it right. Therefore, the form you buy it in matters.
Creating a ritual
Yoga is a ritual of self-care, and the inclusion of botanicals can, for many, enhance the experience. Be it a few drops of oil under the tongue before a flow or an infused balm during a restorative Yin session, it’s these small nudges that help create a ritual. While we incorporate other rituals into the session itself to ground and prepare us, like focusing on the breath, there is always room for more rituals.
Amélie is a health and wellness junky. Certified yoga instructor with Yoga Alliance in the Vinyasa and Ashtanga styles, she has a Yoga Instructor Certification – Level I (300 hours) and Yoga Instructor Certification – Level II (200 hours) under her belt. She also has a certified Open Water Diver certification with PADI and SSI Scuba Schools International Freediving Level I certification with SSI Scuba Schools International. She’s been vegan for over 15 years and is obsessed with anything wellness-related.