CBD And Yoga — Are They A Good Match?

You don’t have to look deeply into CBD and yoga to know already have one thing in common: they’ve both been used for thousands of years.

The ancient Chinese, Greeks, and Romans didn’t know that they were using CBD, of course. Until 1940, no one knew the plant compound found in cannabis and hemp plants even existed.

Cannabis was used millennia ago for its apparent health and wellness benefits, though, and CBD (short for cannabidiol) is a plant compound in cannabis that contributes to those effects. In recent years, research has shed light on the many specific medical benefits that CBD appears to deliver as a standalone ingredient in CBD oil and other products.

Yoga has been traced back millennia as well, originating in Northern India as part of Hindu spiritual practice. The goal has always been to unite mind, body, and spirit, although yoga originally was focused more on meditation, study, breathwork, and rituals, and less on asanas (the yoga poses we’re familiar with today).

In the 20^th century, yoga studios and centres opened throughout the Western world, making the practice widely accessible. And as one well-known Indian educator put it, yoga changed from a “body of knowledge” to “knowledge of body,” much more focused on gymnastic poses and movement therapy than study.

The aim of yoga, however, is still to attain happiness through the unity of mind, body, and breath. How does that mesh with CBD use?

Yogic practice emphasizes relaxation, flexible movement, an uplifted mood, a balance between mind and body, and inner peace. Several of the apparent benefits of CBD can help people in pursuit of those objectives.

• Cannabidiol appears to ease stress, anxiety, and depression, all enemies of relaxation, improved mood, and inner peace.
• CBD seems to ease anti-immune and inflammatory pain, allowing muscles and joints to move more flexibly while freeing the mind from the burdens caused by soreness, tightness, and pain.
• Cannabidiol seems to help balance users’ metabolisms through its interaction with the body’s endocannabinoid system, encouraging the balance and peace sought by yoga practitioners.

Since CBD is non-intoxicating and rarely causes side effects, its use can be a perfect match for mindful yoga sessions.

Let’s focus on the subject more deeply.

The Story of CBD

Cannabidiol is one of more than 100 plant compounds known as cannabinoids that are native to hemp and cannabis plants. Those plants have been used for thousands of years for purposes ranging from the creation of textiles to medicinal treatments, but CBD wasn’t identified by researchers until 1940 and wasn’t isolated from cannabis until the 1960s.

Even then, it wasn’t given much thought. THC, another cannabinoid that was identified and isolated around the same time, was known to have psychoactive properties and potential medical benefits, so it was studied extensively. Science knew of no reason that cannabidiol was important or useful, except that it appeared to have an impact on THC’s effects in marijuana.

Animal studies in the 1980s first indicated that CBD might have its own health and wellness benefits, and the research that followed (and continues today) revealed a long list of possible and intriguing reasons for people to consider cannabidiol use.

For example, CBD appears to help ease depression, stress, anxiety, and other mental health issues, calm chronic pain caused by anti-immune and inflammatory diseases, help users with insomnia and sleep disorders, fight neurodegenerative diseases, mitigate some heart health risks, ease acne and other skin diseases, and possibly fight some types of cancer.

CBD and the hemp plant it’s extracted from, however, were illegal in many countries in the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries. The same laws that banned the sale and use of cannabis regulated its sibling plant (hemp) and everything created or sourced from it.

It wasn’t until the late 2010s that most Western nations legalised CBD products, and governments still haven’t approved it as a medical treatment (except for a few rare types of childhood epilepsy. Products like CBD oil, CBD edibles, and CBD topicals have become immensely popular as supplements that may help users with medical challenges.

Cannabidiol works in the body by interacting with a network of receptors and chemical messengers called the endocannabinoid system (ECS). The ECS governs a huge number of crucial bodily functions, and because CBD is almost identical in chemical structure to ECS messengers (known as endocannabinoids), it can send its own messages through the ECS.

CBD modulates important functions like immunity and inflammation, and works in many other ways to maintain balance in the body.

The Story of Yoga

Since yoga has been documented in sacred Hindu texts written about 5,000 years ago, and many believe it was practiced for 5,000 years before that, this story must of necessity be brief.

Yoga stems from the Sanskrit word yuj, which means “to join.” The goal of yoga is to create a harmonious union of mind, body, and spirit.

Yoga originated as a spiritual practice in Northern India, it became one of the major schools of philosophy in Hinduism, and its precepts and practices were spread worldwide by disciples over the millennia. Some yoga techniques have found their way into Buddhism, Jain, and other religions, and of course, modern yoga practice in the West is largely secular in nature.

Over the years, yoga’s original pillars of meditation, rituals, study, and breathwork have been somewhat modified. Asanas (yoga poses) were first documented “only” about two thousand years ago, but they became more and more central to yoga practice as it became popular in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

The purpose of yoga practice, however, remains essentially the same today as it was thousands of years ago. Meditation, mindfulness, breath control, asanas, and ethical guidelines are combined to reinforce self-awareness, establish a healthy mind-body balance, and help practitioners achieve inner peace.

In earlier times, yoga was believed to be the path to spiritual enlightenment. Today, most of the estimated 300 million people who practice it in the Western world see it as a way to support physical health, reinforce emotional well-being, reduce stress, and create happiness.

The Intersection of CBD Use and Yoga

Yoga is a holistic practice, while CBD products are mostly manufactured by large companies using state-of-the-art scientific equipment, developed in keeping with scientific and medical research, and promoted with modern marketing techniques. The two might seem to be strange bedfellows.

In many ways, though, yoga and CBD complement each other perfectly. We’ve condensed the goals of yogic practice into three categories to show the commonalities they have with CBD use.

Stress Reduction, Relaxation, Emotional Well-Being, and Happiness

All of these goals are inextricably linked. As you regularly practice meditation, mindfulness, and asanas, your stress level decreases, you find it easier to relax, your emotional state is elevated — and you’re able to find greater happiness.

The number one reason users cite for their use of CBD is the cannabinoid’s apparent ability to ease the anxiety, stress, and depression they feel on a daily basis, so adding CBD to a yoga regime could let people take a huge step forward to their yogic goals.

Flexible Movement and Physical Health

“Flexibility” has become a buzzword in recent years. It’s unlikely many ancient practitioners would have said that yoga helped them become more “flexible,” but it was undoubtedly an important attribute in agrarian societies.

Yoga’s contribution to an individual’s physical health, however, has always been an obvious benefit, and the growing importance of asanas over the centuries certainly has contributed to increased flexibility among those who participate in regular yoga sessions.

One of the greatest enemies of flexibility — and overall health — is pain. Those suffering from acute or chronic pain are unlikely to even attempt difficult yoga poses and may be deterred from participating in sessions at all.

Another apparent effect of CBD use is the cannabinoid’s apparent ability to ease chronic pain, aches, and other physical impairments that make exercise difficult or impossible. Combining CBD use with yoga practice could dramatically improve people’s willingness and ability to practice yoga and help them fully benefit from the work they put in.

And all of cannabidiol’s other apparent health and wellness benefits, including its possible easing of medical issues and risks, seem to argue in favor of including CBD in a yogic journey.

Healthy Mind-Body Balance

The ultimate goal of yoga practice, of course, is to unite the mind, body, and spirit. Yoga’s mental and physical elements are designed to create harmony and balance — and CBD works through the body’s endocannabinoid system to do much the same thing.

The ECS, in its regulation of the majority of crucial physiological functions, strives to keep everything from metabolism, body temperature, and sleep cycles to brain operations, glucose levels, and immunity in optimal balance. CBD’s effects contribute to establishing that internal balance, bringing yoga practitioners closer to their ultimate goal.

You’ll notice we didn’t make “inner peace” a separate category. You might think that’s because it’s a virtually unattainable goal in today’s world.

In reality, it’s simply because finding inner peace — for most people — is a constant process. It’s not a state that you can simply reach and then heave a huge sigh of relief having reached your final destination.

If you’ve committed to yoga as an integral element in your life’s journey, though, bringing CBD along with you would seem to be a smart approach to maximizing your well-being and happiness.

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