Excerpt from "The Lotus and the Bud: Cannabis, Consciousness and Yoga Practice"

In your cannabis-infused yoga practice, focusing on the chakras as described in the following section helps you to perceive, amplify, and become absorbed in energy. This absorption suspends our sense of individual self, opens all the energy channels full throttle, and enables you to go very deeply into the full realization and fundamental essence of life as living incarnate beings, spirit in flesh. Cannabis adds an immersive sense of expansion to yoga practice. Expansion at its best conveys greater self-awareness, refined experience of energy, and a natural inclination for broader and healthier behavioral and mental choices.

Kundalini

Kundalini is the primary life force within us, the essential evolutionary force, a sliver of the Absolute dwelling within the human body. Kundalini is sometimes referred to as the serpent power, portrayed as a snake coiled at the base of the spine. But kundalini is not a mystical snake; it is the cosmic energy current that enlivens, vivifies, and motivates the body and mind. As yoga is a current of wisdom running through human history, kundalini is that cosmic current within us.

Kundalini is a force within that activates the chakras; it is typically first felt at the base of the spine, in the first chakra. Of the many forms of yoga practice, kundalini yoga specifically focuses on the arousal and steady raising of the kundalini shakti (energy) from the base chakra, muladhara, to the crown chakra, sahasrara. This is not only a practice of asana, breathing, concentration, and more, but a practice of specific intent. Intent sets a direction and focus for practice. Intent is also a potent precipitating factor in awakening the kundalini force. As the kundalini dwells within, it can be contacted and felt. You can concentrate on that energy, and through practice increase its flow.

This is where the practice of yoga comes in. The asanas, breathing, and concentration methods of yoga strengthen the energy channels of the human energy system and prepare the body and mind for enhanced kundalini flow. Meditation promotes greater kundalini activity, increasing the intensity of this force. As the body and energy channels are prepared through yoga practice, more energy gets moving.

For the most part, the awakening of kundalini occurs gradually, producing an increase in energy and mental alertness. As you practice yoga, the energetic channels convey energy more smoothly, and the kundalini flow becomes more noticeable. At times you may experience energetic currents pulsing through the spine. Or you may simply feel an ever-increasing lightness and a clarity accompanied by amplified vitality. But kundalini can also surge up the spinal channel in a more concentrated and dramatic flash of energy. This surge may be accompanied by bright visuals and strong physical sensations. On rare occasions this force may feel overwhelming. In all instances, when kundalini is felt, it is an opportunity to dive deeply within through concentration and meditation, to put your attention to the energy moving within you, and to allow that energy to increase as a result of that concentration.

As I described in the first chapter when I recounted my early experience with Babaji, the kundalini force may shoot up the spine, accompanied by a sensation of heat and occasionally by vivid colors as well. This can provoke a great sense of joy, expansion, and equanimity. When this occurs, it provides powerful fuel for meditation, enabling the yogi to make more of the situation than just a fleeting experience. Through deep concentration and meditation, you may be able to mentally tap into the kundalini power in a way that will promote a clear mind, vivid alertness, and an overall bright sense of all life. Though most kundalini experiences are short-lived, sometimes they can go on for a long time. At one point in my practice I experienced a six-week period of significantly heightened kundalini activity and an overall feeling of energy, joy, and ecstasy.

Cannabis is a curious ally in the pursuit of kundalini arousal. I have a few times experienced full-blown kundalini awakening, with the almost unbearably intense geyser of spinal energy, lights, color, bliss, the whole cosmic package, assisted by potent cannabis. Some of these experiences have gone on for a bit too long, not just momentary flashes but deep dives that lasted for hours. This has always been in the form of edibles. It is hard to infuse enough through smoking to get to the full psychedelic brink the way you can with edibles. But caveat emptor. Many people find a concentration of edible cannabis overwhelming. Be careful. Remember this great truth: You can always have more, but you can never have less. When edible cannabis is combined with yoga, then it is entirely possible to awaken the kundalini and experience it directly.

But kundalini arousal is not a free ride, and some discomforts can arise. In his book The Kundalini Experience, Dr. Lee Sannella says that “The kundalini process, like deep meditation, stirs up the sediments of the unconscious and confronts a person with just those psychic materials he or she wishes to inspect least of all.” Much like psychedelics, kundalini arousal can bring to light some of the less pleasant aspects of your own self. If you find yourself encountering difficult ideas, thoughts, feelings, allow these phenomena to arise and move on. It is not possible to undergo a true awakening of kundalini without encountering fears, distortions, perversions, and deeply buried mental convolutions that are buried deep in the psyche. Everybody has mental and emotional material to get rid of, and when kundalini energy increases, you will confront your own.

The extent to which kundalini awakens within a person is mostly due to intentional yogic effort. You will find that if you practice the methods offered later on, and infuse intentionally and with a clear mind and open heart, that the kundalini shakti will flow more strongly within you as you go, awakening you to a new, brilliant world of awareness and joy.

Christopher S. Kilham has taught yoga, meditation, and natural health since 1971. Known as the Medicine Hunter on the Dr. Oz Show, CNN Health, the New York Times, and many other media outlets, he founded Medicine Hunter Inc., and has conducted medicinal research in more than 45 countries across 5 continents and the South Pacific. The author of many articles and 15 books, including The Five Tibetans, he lives in Leverett, Massachusetts. https://www.medicinehunter.com/

The Lotus and the Bud by Christopher S. Kilham, © 2021 Park Street Press. Printed with permission from the publisher Inner Traditions International. www.InnerTraditions.com

Availability: Usually ships within 1-2 business days. Price: $16.99. To purchase this book visit B&N.com, Amazon.com, InnerTraditions.com, or your local bookstore