Elevate and Evolve | Cannabis & Psychedelic Culture Blog
High officials in the US government are asking for more research to be done on medical cannabis without mentioning that their own restrictions are misguided obstacles.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta witnessed the medicinal value of cannabis himself when he traveled to countries that fully supported marijuana research.
All your thoughts and feelings are energy, and energy is vibration. Learn to raise your vibration and watch your life change dramatically.
Beauty is all around us, from the morning dew to the evening stars and everything in between. Many go through life not noticing all the beautiful things that are around them, and yes it’s everywhere, so appreciate it when you do.
Whether it’s the scent of a flower or the way rain ripples in puddles of water, appreciate the beauty life has to offer.
Making a gratitude list shifts your vibrations from focusing on what you do not have to what is already abundant in your life.
There is more to be grateful for than you can imagine.
Sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes and breath in and out. Too often we rush through our days with a scattered brain leaving us in a state of anxiety and stress.
Meditation helps to calm your spirit down and put you in a peaceful state of mind. 10 minutes of meditation a day can change your life forever.
Giving to someone else shifts your thinking from “I don’t have enough, to I have more than enough to give to others.” Abundance is a high vibration.
Complaining and Gossip puts you in a very low vibration. Ask yourself “Are the things you are talking about bringing you more of what you want?” if not stop complaining, and start finding ways to rejoice.
Vibration requires movement, the more you move the better your vibrations move. So Get Active! Dance!
The happier you feel, the more you will draw happy experiences to yourself because you are operating at a different frequency.
You are not a victim to circumstance, past, family upbringing, trauma, or anything else. You can change your life in an instant.
In many wisdom traditions this is called “total responsibility.” No one is responsible for how you feel right now, but you. It isn’t a curse. It’s a blessing because it gives you your power back.
Just sit and try to make your breath longer, fuller, and more relaxed. It has a direct effect on your nervous system and helps to calm you down. A calm vibration is a high vibration.
Fear holds us back from being in a state of love and happiness, and facing those fears opens you up to a greater world of possibilities. Fear of Heights? Go skydiving. Scared of public speaking, say a poem at an open mic.
You’ll begin to realize your fear was worse then the actual problem, and a sense of relief will wash over you.
Rather than gossip or complaining, talk about your ideas.
What do you have planned for yourself? What do you think is the nature of reality? Are we spiritual beings having a human experience?
Talking about these things with someone helps to raise both your vibrations by thinking big. If you don’t have someone to talk to, there’s a community of higher-minded individuals right here.
> Raise that Vibration | Spirit Science and Metaphysics
In this short clip from the Reset with Amber Lyon podcast, neuroscientist Dr. Michele Ross explains why she believes everyone can benefit from daily use of cannabis oil, or ‘vitamin weed’ as she calls it.
Dr. Ross is a former drug researcher for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, turned medical marijuana advocate.
Cannabis is the key to unlocking preventative medicine. It helps protect your DNA from damage so it can actually slow down the aging process… I think everyone should use cannabis oil, you should learn about it, you shouldn’t be afraid.
-Neuroscientist Dr. Michelle Ross.
Humans experience an array of emotions, from joy and severe depression and everything in between. Each one of these emotions create a distinct feeling in the body.
That’s why Power Poses can be such a great way to influence your brain’s release of chemicals.
That raises the question, what happens when we have negative thoughts consistently?
Imagine yourself driving down the street when suddenly you are cut off, what happens next? Do you react in anger? Or do you simply apply the brake slightly and move on with your day.
The same experience can yield two very different results based on how we define our experience.
With that in mind, we realize that positive or negative emotions are only defined as such by us.
This reminds me of a wonderful Zen Parable:
The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.
A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.
This made her parents very angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.
In great anger the parents went to the master. “Is that so?” was all he would say.
After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else the little one needed.
A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth – that the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fishmarket.
The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back again.
Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: “Is that so?”
The unseen connection between your mind and body is very powerful and the effects your mind can have on your physical body are profound.
Our emotions and experiences are essentially energy and they can be stored in the cellular memory of our bodies. Have you ever experienced something in your life that left an emotional mark or pain in a certain area of your body? It is likely you have residual energy stuck in that area of your body that you have yet to acknowledge.
It’s all a learning and growing process that we don’t have to judge nor fear. Positive or negative thoughts, the choice is yours!
> Emotion Effects on our Health | Collective Evolution
As more and more states hop aboard the legalization wagon that will inevitably become federal law, cannabis use will manifest in new demographics and cultural groups.
One of these groups is an obvious one with room for synergy: yoga. An uplifting Sativa coupled with a smooth stretch can be a perfect combination. And it’s already happening, Stoned Yoga is a rising trend.
The mingling of weed and yoga is an ancient one, this second century text from India suggests that cannabis can be a type of sedative, like yoga.
The subtler attainments come with birth or are attained through herbs, mantra, austerities or concentration.
Cannabis use allows for a quieting of the outside world, and the ability to focus more totally on the interior process of meditation.
– Yogasutras 4.1
Similarly, Kriya Yoga master Swami Satyananda Saraswati discusses the similar effects between cannabis and yoga–and how they reach the same end point:
By infusing ganja or some hallucinogenic drug, the chemical properties of the gross body change. The heart slows down, the breathing rate changes, the brain waves alter and the mind becomes calm and still.
Is it not possible to arrive at the same point through Kriya Yoga?
Cannabis use may allow people who would otherwise be unable to participate in yoga, perhaps due to chronic pain, partake in the practice. The effects aid not only the spiritual existence, but the physical body as well.
> Yoga on Weed: How The Ancient Exercise Encourages and Embraces Cannabis Use | Marijuana.com
In light of the recent public anger over the Monsanto Protection Act, here’s a simple, printable list of companies that use Monsanto products.
GMO’s are currently surrounded in controversy, but by avoiding products made by companies on this list, you ensure your money isn’t going to Monsanto.
The list is up to date as of June 2014, simply click on it and choose Print from your browser’s menu.
> Printable Products List | Real Farmacy
A three day fast can regenerate the entire immune system, even in the elderly, scientists have found, in a breakthrough described as “remarkable.”
Although fasting diets have been criticized by nutritionists, research suggests that starving the body kick-starts stem cells into producing more white blood cells, which fight off infection.
Scientists at the University of Southern California (USC) say the discovery could be particularly beneficial for those suffering from damaged immune systems, such as cancer patients on chemotherapy. It could also help the elderly whose immune systems become less effective.
When you starve, the system tries to save energy, and one of the things it can do to save energy is to recycle a lot of the immune cells that are not needed, especially those that may be damaged.
There is no evidence at all that fasting would be dangerous while there is strong evidence that it is beneficial.
– Valter Longo, Professor of Gerontology and Biological Sciences at USC
In trials, volunteers were asked to fast regularly for between two and four days over a six-month period. Scientists found that prolonged fasting also reduced the enzyme PKA, which is linked to aging and a hormone which increases cancer risk and tumour growth.
> Fasting for three days renews entire immune system, protects cancer patients, ‘remarkable’ new study finds | National Post
The GMO Foods that are listed below are some of the most important to avoid.
These foods are linked to the most health issues and the effects of eating them are not fully known at this time.
Corn has been modified to create its own insecticide. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has declared that tons of genetically modified corn has been introduced for human consumption.
Monsanto has revealed that half of the US’s sweet corn farms are planted with genetically modified seed. Mice fed with GM corn were discovered to have smaller offspring and fertility problems.
Soy has also been genetically modified to resist herbicides. Soy products include soy flour, tofu, soy beverages, soybean oil and other products that may include pastries, baked products and edible oil. Hamsters fed with GM soy were unable to have offspring and suffered a high mortality rate.
Like corn and soy, cotton has been designed to resist pesticides. It is considered food because its oil can be consumed.
Its introduction in Chinese agriculture has produced a chemical that kills cotton bollworm, reducing the incidences of pests not only in cotton crops but also in neighboring fields of soybeans and corn. Incidentally, thousands of Indian farmers suffered severe rashes upon exposure to BT cotton.
The virus-resistant variety of papaya was commercially introduced in Hawaii in 1999. Transgenic papayas comprised three-fourths of the total Hawaiian papaya crop.
Monsanto bestowed upon Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Coimbatore technology for developing papaya resistant to the ringspot virus in India.
This staple food from South East Asia has now been genetically modified to contain a high amount of vitamin A. Allegedly, there are reports of rice varieties containing human genes to be grown in the US. The rice will create human proteins useful for dealing with infant diarrhea in the 3rd world.
China Daily, an online journal, reported potential serious public health and environment problems with genetically modified rice considering its tendency to cause allergic reactions with the concurrent possibility of gene transfers.
Tomatoes have now been genetically engineered for longer shelf life, preventing them from easily rotting and degrading. In a test conducted to determine the safety of GM tomatoes, some animal subjects died within a few weeks after consuming GM tomatoes.
In Canada, this crop was renamed canola to differentiate it from non-edible rapeseed. Food stuff produced from rapeseed includes rapeseed oil (canola oil) is used to process cooking oil and margarine. Honey can also be produced from GM rapeseed.
German food surveillance authorities discovered as much as a third of the total pollen present in Canadian honey may be from GM pollen. In fact, some honey products from Canada were also discovered to have pollen from GM rapeseed.
It has been discovered that 22 percent of cows in the U.S. were injected with recombinant (genetically modified) bovine growth hormone (rbGH). This Monsanto created hormone artificially forces cows to increase their milk production by 15 percent.
Milk from cows treated with this milk inducing hormone has increased levels of IGF-1 (insulin growth factors-1). Humans also have IGF-1 in their system. Scientists have expressed concerns that increased levels of IGF-1 in humans have been associated with colon and breast cancer.
Mice fed with potatoes engineered with Bacillus thuringiensis var. Kurstaki Cry 1 were found to have toxins in their system. Despite claims to the contrary, this shows that Cry1 toxin was stable in the mouse gut. When the health risks were revealed, it sparked a debate.
Peas that have been genetically modified have been found to cause immune responses in mice and possibly even in humans. A gene from kidney beans was inserted into the peas creating a protein that functions as a pesticide.
> Top 10 GMO Foods to Stop Eating | Higher Perspective
The chemical compounds found within mangos have been discovered to increase, strengthen, and even lengthen the euphoric feelings felt after smoking marijuana.
Eating fresh mangos or even drinking a fresh mango smoothie one hour prior to smoking will dramatically increase the euphoric feelings felt by marijuana and help medical marijuana patients more effectively ease their pain.
A chemical compound known as myrcene terpenes, which is often used for fragrances, is found within cannabis as well as many other various plants such as lemon grass, hops, and of course mangos. This is what gives these plants their unique smells.
Once ingested, the myrcene terpenes assists the THC by allowing it to pass through the Blood Brain Barrier more efficiently. By eating a mango up to one hour prior to smoking, the time it takes THC to reach the brain is cut in half. Amazingly, the length of the high may last twice as long.
Individuals who have eaten a mango, digested it, and then smoked have also noted that the euphoric feelings felt by marijuana are much more intense.
What are some of your favorite ways to increase your cannabis high? Have a preferred mango recipe? Share in the comments below!
> Increase Effects of Marijuana Consumption | The Weed Blog
The average American spends 90 percent of his time indoors.
Unbelievably, air pollution inside your home or office can be worse than the pollution outside, which is why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ranks indoor air quality as one of the top five environmental risks to public health.
To clean up the air in your home stop buying products made with toxic chemicals that pollute your living space. Products like air fresheners, vinyl flooring, pressed wood made with formaldehyde, and harsh solvents fill your air with nasty chemicals that harm your health.
Ventilating your home by opening a window, even if it’s for just a few minutes a day, will improve your indoor air quality.
Researcher Kamal Meattle discovered that three common houseplants used strategically throughout a home is a great way to grow fresh air and vastly improve the indoor air quality.
Areca Palm is “The Living Room Plant.” It is a daytime oxygen factory and Meattle recommends having 4 shoulder height plants per person.
Mother-in-Law’s Tongue is “The Bedroom Plant.” This plant is an evening oxygen factory and Meattle recommends having 6-8 waist-high plants per person.
Money Plant is “The Specialist Plant.” This plant is the filter that removes formaldehyde and other volatile organic chemicals from the air.
If you’re not satisfied with just three options, new research has identified five “super ornamentals” plants that demonstrate high effectiveness of contaminant removal.
These include the Purple Waffle Plant (Hemigraphis Alternataa), English Ivy (Hedera Helix), Variegated Wax Plant (Hoya Cornosa), Asparagus Fern (Asparagus Densiflorus) and the Purple Heart Plant (Tradescantia Pallida).
Remember to check all plants for toxicity to dogs and cats via the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Of the 28 plants tested, these five were effective at reducing levels of a number of common household VOCs, including benzene, toluene, octane, alpha-pinene and TCE.
The healthier your plants, the more vigorously they’ll grow, and the better they’ll clean the air for you.
> Plants to Purify Your Home | Mind Body Green
Floatation tanks are increasing in popularity, offering eager psychonauts a chance to explore this unique state of mind of sensory deprivation.
Deprived of external stimuli, the brain generates its own. Parts of the visual field light up in unrecognizable shapes, which eventually morph into more complex manifestations such as dots, lines and grated patterns.
With the advent of brain imagining techniques, scientists have been able to capture the brain basis of such finicky visual hallucinations during sensory deprivation. In 2000, one such study found that volunteers’ visual cortexes became more active after less than an hour of visual deprivation.
Hallucinations may also occur in other sensory domains:
For me, it was auditory: initially, I heard a beautiful aria drifting in and out, like music from a faraway phonograph; soon it morphed into a full symphony before settling into a simple, tribal beat. Incredibly, I did not recognize any of these tunes; my brain was spontaneously generating them. – Shelly Fan, Discover
A small study of five university professors found that six 90-minute float sessions allowed them to generate more “creative” ideas, which coincided with a self-reported increase in free imagery and remote associations. Similarly, in a study with 40 university students, a single hour of flotation increased their scores on a standardized test used to measure creativity.
A far more researched effect of flotation is that it enhances performance in a variety of athletic and musical tasks that require high levels of concentration and visual-motor coordination, including basketball, tennis, archery and jazz improvisation. In a sample of 13 jazz students, four sessions enhanced their technical performance one week after the last flotation experience, suggesting the possibility of lasting benefits.
Dr. Peter Suedfeld, a pioneering psychologist in the field, speculates that flotation may enhance creativity and performance in a manner similar to that of sleep or meditation. Research has shown that during resting states the brain repeatedly rehearses newly learned skills and consolidates recently acquired knowledge for long-term storage.
However, Suedfeld says, compared to sleep or meditation, such “twilight” states are more easily achievable without prior training or conscious effort via flotation.
Cognitive perturbations only make up half of the flotation experience; far more noticeable are the physical effects.
In the early 1980s, a group of psychologists at the Medical College of Ohio initiated a series of experiments that looked at the physiological responses to floating. Both within and across flotation sessions, blood pressure and levels of stress-related hormones dropped – effects that persisted long after the cessation of the last flotation experience.
In 2005, a meta-analysis further confirmed that flotation was more effective at reducing stress than other popular methods such as relaxation exercises, biofeedback or relaxing on the couch.
> Floating Away: The Science of Sensory Deprivation Therapy | Discover Magazine
CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta investigates the politics of cannabis in Weed 2: Cannabis Madness.
Gupta takes a look at U.S. federal laws that consider marijuana a drug with no medicinal value and serious scientists who say they’re wrong. It is the politics of cannabis – the politicians vs. the patients.
This is Gupta’s second CNN Special on cannabis, showing the clear proven medical benefits of high CBD marijuana and why marijuana should not be classified as a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance by the U.S. Government.
History books may one day draw a parallel between this chapter of medical marijuana and the story of David and Goliath. Playing the role of David’s slingshot, which ultimately brought Goliath to his knees, would be a 2-year-old girl named Vivian Wilson.
She inspired her father to challenge the system in a spectacular way that caused a nation to stop for a moment and take note. – Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Doubling Down on Medical Marijuana
