Can CBD Give Your Meditation a Boost?

Photo by Robert Nelson | https://tricy.cl/2FMFNtU

By Matthew Abrahams, Tricycle Magazine

​The cannabis product has been popping up in many yoga and meditation classes. But is the trending stress reliever worth all the hype?

​At a trendy meditation studio in Manhattan, a seemingly distracted desk attendant pointed me to three vials of CBD oil and a jar of tiny spoons. I took one eyedropper full and headed to a colorful room to lie down and listen to a guided meditation that told me to imagine myself floating above the Earth, looking down from my spaceship. And I thought, why do I need a spaceship to imagine myself in space? I soon realized this was not a good fit for me.

The plan had been to look into the growing trend of CBD oil use in meditation. Online testimonials said that the stress-relieving qualities of CBD and meditation could work in concert to melt away the anxieties of the modern world. But I wasn’t seeing it.

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is one of more than 60 cannabinoid compounds found in a marijuana plant, which includes the substance most commonly associated with the “stoned” effect, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). CBD is legal, to varying degrees, in 46 states. New York legalized it in 2014, in part due to the efforts of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who argued at the time that it would be a mistake to outlaw the substance that had been shown to be one of the few ways of treating cases of medication-resistant childhood epilepsy. (He also viewed the hemp industry as a way to bring new jobs to the economically hard-hit Southern Tier region.)
​
Since then, multiple studies have found that CBD offers many of the benefits long touted by proponents of legal marijuana without the psychotropic effects. In other words, it doesn’t get you high. Even better, researchers have found few side effects associated with CBD use. Among its purported benefits, CBD studies have found promising results for its anti-anxiety and anti-inflammatory qualities.

Read more...

---