Enhancing the Effects of Yoga with CBD
The Anxiety and Depression Association of America estimates that within the U.S., anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental illness, and they affect 40 million individuals 18 years old and older each year. That's 18.1% of the U.S. population.
Many individuals experience stress in some form throughout the day. They:
- Have jam-packed schedules
- Have to juggle expenses
- Have to work hard to grow their careers
- Have to maintain their social and personal life
Experiencing stress doesn't just degrade your productivity, but it can cause you to feel weighed down, a feeling you carry with you throughout your day, negatively affecting your health and wellness. And, it can be hard to lessen this stress. Perhaps this is why so many individuals turn to wellness practices, such as mindful meditation and yoga, to calm themselves and reconnect with their bodies.
However, it's not just yoga that can help you cope with your daily life. Many individuals also use CBD for anxiety and stress. And, when you pair CBD with yoga, it can help reduce stress even further, and improve your emotional well-being.
CBD and Yoga
CBD, short for cannabidiol, is a naturally occurring cannabinoid that comes from the cannabis plant. The cannabis plant refers to both marijuana and hemp.
All hemp-derived CBD became federally legalized per the 2018 Farm Bill. But, this isn't the case with marijuana-derived CBD products.
Cannabis's natural compounds (mainly CBD) can improve your general well-being, and contribute to better yoga practice.
If you're familiar with the wellness and health potential of CBD, it might not surprise you to learn that your Endocannabinoid System (ECS) directly influences your regulatory functions that respond to yoga. And, CBD directly influences your ECS regulatory system.
Yogis like CBD due to its potential in enhancing and supporting the various benefits of yoga.
It's thought that when you combine CBD and yoga, they work together in harmony. In fact, not only do they complement one another, but they also appear to enhance each other's properties, and provide you with relief from pain, stress, anxiety, and other symptoms of different types of conditions. This is why many individuals are participating in CBD yoga classes.
What are CBD Yoga Classes?
CBD yoga classes typically start with each individual taking some CBD infused oil drops and initiating meditation for several minutes. The CBD works by stimulating your mind, putting you in the proper mindset for yoga. Then, the yoga instructors guide the calls through different postures and poses to explore the sensitivity and motion of the body.
CBD yoga classes are often less physically intensive and more laid back yoga regiments like Bikram yoga, for instance. CBD yoga isn't necessarily targeted to physical fitness, but mental and physical unity. You focus strongly on relaxation and becoming attuned to your body's:
- Emotions
- Senses
- Thoughts
Classes usually end with more CBD-infused oil dosing, or using CBD lotions and salves to soothe strained muscles.
Benefits of CBD and Yoga
CBD is a natural fit for gentle or restorative-style yoga class. It's only natural to incorporate CBD into a yoga regimen since it can:
- Improve vitality
- Help with entire body discomfort
- Increases mood
- Reduces normal inflammation
CBD can:
- Compliment Meditation
Since meditation is an essential part of yoga, CBD could help slow the racing thoughts in your head down, and allow you to experience calmer vibes.
- Get Your Mind Yoga-Ready
In some cases, it could take you over 30 minutes before you begin feeling focused enough to enjoy the yoga class. This time can be crucial in a one-hour class. CBD could help create a yoga-ready mind, helping you to let go of stress, and clear your head, so you'll be ready to flow quicker.
- Helps With Yoga Postures and Poses
It's well-known CBD is an efficient anti-inflammatory agent. It interacts with your body's immune system's T-cells to decrease lymphocytes production. Lymphocytes are the things that cause redness and swelling around the injury site. Likewise, yoga's physical exercise helps work out your body's kinks, and reduce pain. Therefore, CBD can reduce pain, making it simpler to strike poses and postures in yoga.
- Helps With Recovery
Yoga is usually a relaxing way of exercising, but it can be hard work. You engage in a lot of planks, pushups and other muscle strengthening moves in a one-hour vinyasa class.Using CBD after a hard class can help you recover quicker by reducing soreness, fighting inflammation and soothing the tightness in your muscles.
CBD for sleep might help you get a better night's sleep after your yoga class, which is important for muscle recovery. Or if you're having difficulty sleeping at night because of a sleep disorder, cannabidiol and sleep disorders treatment combined with yoga can help provide you with a restful night.
Yoga and CBD-Infused Pillows
To enhance the effects of your yoga class, you could bring along a CBD pillow, which is a pillow infused with microcapsules of CBD that break from the friction of your skin and hair, and release microdoses of CBD into your body. CBD-infused pillows can help you relax, feel calm, ease anxiety or stress, ease pain, and perhaps most importantly, can help you to sleep better than you ever have.