Ask the Experts: Marijuana and Ashtanga Practice

by laura

What impact does smoking marijuana have on prana and ashtangavinyasa yoga in general? — Matt

Smoking may allow you to focus the prana temporarily within a limited field, but the overall effect is that the mind is less able to focus because the drug short circuits the more holistic approach that a full eight-limbed practice cultivates. Both the pranic and mental backgrounds of any focused state of mind have to be cultivated meditatively throughout the day by dealing with relationships, emotions, and the practical things of every day life. In this way, a deeper fiery and grounded relationship to prana and to others can manifest. When relationships, details of everyday life and one’s own yoga practice are dealt with under the influence of marijuana the result is often a lack of completion, an absence of external feedback and an inability to postpone pleasure. Yoga practitioners who smoke during, or after their practice on a regular basis, tend to plateau in their practice and gradually lose their, “edge,” their intellectual capacity and brilliance. They lose the ability to watch their minds on deep levels and wind up grasping for pleasurable states without having completed the work and understanding that would normally give rise to such states. — Richard