Cannabis Rituals for Emotional Wellness Month
In preparation for October and Emotional Wellness Month, we decided to take to Instagram to ask you about how cannabis plays a role in your habits and rituals. We know that emotional health is a personal language, an intimate discovery, developed through practices and routines that allow us to understand ourselves and manage our inner worlds. No one thing is going to be a cure-all for emotional health, nor do all things help all people. Situating yourself in rituals that feel correct for you and help you ease into yourself better is a listening experiment -- tuning into yourself to find what works is important. Which is why we’ve tuned into your worlds to see how you cultivate routines around emotional wellness with cannabis.
While we were sure we’d hear a lot of “smoke, sleep, chill,” we were delighted to also see many intentional and vulnerable responses from people who shared their experiences. What we received was a flood of stories about how cannabis plays a positive role with trauma recovery, parenting, exercise, and stress-relief.
As you read through, know that the conversation is ongoing. We hope they initiate more conversations around how cannabis can contribute to not just notions of getting high and chillin hard, but emotional health and wellness in general. Providing a gamut of perspectives, we offer you a glimpse into the world of others, without comment or judgement. These are your stories, and this is a space for them to be heard.
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“I’ve struggled a lot with mental illness and prescription after prescription I still couldn’t find the relief I was needing. But it wasn’t until an assault left me struggling with PTSD that I found immense relief and healing through cannabis. I could sleep without nightmares, talk through my healing without panic attacks and gained back my passion to be creative and happy again. It has helped in more ways than I can count, I hope one day it will get to everyone that needs it and will be decriminalized <3.” - Becca
“CBD tincture for when I need a little calming for my anxiety and THC to not only help with my lack of appetite but help with overall creativity and production of art since I’m an art student.” - Alec
“We have three bio(logical) kids and were foster parents until our daughter was adopted and we have become a permanent family of 6. I manage a department store, and my husband runs our household and recently began remote-schooling with four kids (two kindergarteners require A LOT of support). We have learned to accept that cannabis makes us better parents! We sleep well, cook delicious nourishing food for our family, and have lots of silly, fun dance parties. We use it as a tool to let go of the stress of a big, busy household and to focus on what’s important. Caring for each other and digging deep into the GOOD moments every day. I had not smoked weed as an adult, and I had a troubled relationship with it. But it has made me a better partner, friend, and parent. I began using it for psoriatic arthritis pain, and it has brought so much good to my life. We’re grateful for companies like Laundry Day bringing awareness to its healing properties with the “weed culture” that can be a turn off for so many people.” - Heather
“I have Crohns, and get panic attacks, cannabis has helped me deal with pain and calms me.” - Marr
“I smoke every evening with my partner. We’re both cancer survivors, and it’s a nice reset at the end of the day to get us more able to deal with ongoing pain that we both have from treatments (even though they were years ago - nerve damage is a thing we deal with all day, everyday). I find it beautiful and restorative, and it helps me take some time to decompress and treat my body with care and intentionality.” - Alandis
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Cannabis + Movement = Medicine
One of the most common responses we heard was a ritual around smoking cannabis while moving, exercising, or stretching. If movement is medicine, and cannabis is medicine, then this is an intuitive combination. In fact, cannabis has been used by yogis around the world for millennia to enhance their practice (have you heard of Ganja Yoga?). To look deeper into this topic and whether it’s for you, we enjoyed this article on one woman’s experience combining yoga with cannabis. What did the community say? Here are some of your responses:
“Lately I’ve been into smoking and then doing yoga! I feel so grounded in my body.” - Kiele
“Having a cup of Jasmine tea, a few hits of my nanou, + yoga to start my day in a good mindset.” - Julian
“Incense + joint + body movements (dance or exercise).” - Lydia
“I like to smoke before yoga. Helps me slow down more and connect deeper to my breath.” - Santiago
“One of my fave times to use cannabis in my wellness routine is when I hike in the Rockies.” - Landin
“I smoke cannabis to alleviate stress in my life, offering me the opportunity to focus more on my creative endeavors. I also take the physical attributes of cannabis to help me with my physical health and my job. I ride my bike after smoking and can let the miles roll out from me after smoking… and biking to a beautiful place to smoke and take the world in before biking home elevated is a truly amazing feeling.” - Aidan
“Hot yoga with a little smoke makes for a beautifully elevated experience.” - Asha
Did you miss out on sharing your experience about emotional health and cannabis use? Message us with your story, we’d love to hear it.