holistic
Cannabis YOGA, MASSAGE, HERBALISM, EXERCISE, ATHLETICS AND TANTRIC SEX ARE ALL PART OF THE NEW WEED-INSPIRED LIFESTYLE. BY MIA DI STEFANO Marijuana’s rapidly growing acceptance is shaping a new cannabis consumer. Businesses, services and entire movements around holistic and socially conscious use have gained traction and are a rising force within the industry. In California, the medical-use law allows doctors to recommend marijuana for “any… illness for which marijua-
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na provides relief” to adult residents with valid state-issued identification. That intentionally unrestrictive law has allowed patients to receive recommendations for a host of illnesses, from serious conditions like cancer and glaucoma to more common ailments like insomnia and back pain. With adult-use (or recreational) cannabis legalized by the Prop 64 ballot initiative last November, the legal grey area of whether cannabis is being used medicinally or recreationally becomes a question of one’s personal health-care choices. A prevailing view among alternative-medicine practitioners is that all marijuana use is medicinal. “When you use cannabis, you’re treating an endocannabinoid deficiency and returning your body to homeostasis,” says naturopath and master herbalist Dr. Lakisha Jenkins, who runs Kiona’s Farm’acy in Merced, Calif. “We get cancer patients from El Portal Cancer Center and Merced Medical Center all the time. We deal with everything from colds and flu to terminal and degenerative illnesses like Parkinson’s.” Cannabis is just one of hundreds of herbs Dr. Jenkins stocks, although it’s probably the most popular. She sells raw flowers and makes topical cannabis oils in-house, often blending them with herbs such as passionflower, rose and lemon balm. While medical dispensaries typically sell only cannabis products and services, some, such as Harborside Health Center in Oakland, offer acupuncture, hypnotherapy, tai chi and yoga. Some of the earliest known yogic texts refer to herbal enhancement, including the Yoga Sutras, which are believed to have been written between the 2nd and 4th centuries. Ganja is thought to have been one of those herbs. Dee Dussault is known as the founder of the “ganja yoga” movement. She began in Toronto in 2009 with a “BYOC” (bring your own cannabis) class, and has since moved to San Francisco, where she personally selects flower and concentrates that are shared half an hour before classes begin.
april/may 2017