Good times.
If you're here, you already feel me, so I'm not going to preach to you. Here are some practical steps to decrease or quit smoking cannabis and nicotine from a former, self-proclaimed stoner.
I smoked multiple times, just about every day for over 5 years and after many attempts was finally was able to quit altogether. What led to me quitting was not being hard on myself or going cold turkey. It came from healing the root cause of why I was smoking in the first place. Once I discovered the root and explored it enough to find healing, my desire to smoke began to wane until I literally no longer desired it at all.
Finally quitting for me came after multiple attempts. For years, I claimed that I did not have a problem and that people can't actually become addicted to cannabis. As of today, I think that's more of wishful thinking amongst the stoner community. Even after someone recommended that I go to rehab, it was impossible for me to acknowledge that I had a problem for years after that because I was so enamored by the benefits I felt that I was experiencing from smoking.
Addiction is a strong word, but cannabis dependence is certainly a thing. Anyone who has been smoking for years has some level of substance dependence that is outside of their control. If that weren't the case, it would be easy to quit. But it's so hard. If you mix cannabis and tobacco together, it's even more difficult to let it go.
So I wanted to share some practical steps for how I quit.
Why We Smoke
We smoke simply because it feels good. It helps our sore backs to feel better. It makes sex more interesting. It makes us feel a little bit more cooler and more interesting than we would normally. It helps us to be more talkative. It helps us to socialize. There are so many reasons why we smoke, at least why I did. I avoid calling these benefits because once I stopped smoking, I realized that all of the things I was smoking for are available to me without it. The only reason smoking feels so beneficial is because there is something missing in the first place.
In reality, we smoke because there is a leak (or many) somewhere within us, causing us our operating capacity to be less than 100%. Smoking temporarily increases our operating capacity, so we "feel better." The problem is, the hole is still there. The leak continues. The longer we go, the small hole may grow, and the little leak can become problematic for us because we're not actually dealing with the root problem. We have disguised it this whole time. In reality, the initial discomfort we were experiencing that led us to smoke was actually meant to show us something that needed to be fixed. We wanted to feel better without fixing the problem.
Once we deal with the root problem we actually feel better for good. And not only better, we feel great. Now that we have fixed the leaks and are no longer adding toxins to the situation, we are finally able to operate closer to 100% operating capacity. Once we feel really good on our own, we no longer desire to smoke.
The most remarkable part, is once we feel really good and are totally healed, smoking will actually make you feel worse. Once you stop smoking, you begin to see things more clearly. You realize that the reason smoking felt good was because you were operating at, say 50% capacity because of the leak within you, and you felt better because smoking would temporarily take you to 75% operating capacity. But now that you've quit and you're pushing 100%, you realize smoking takes you back to 75%. There is no longer benefit.
The unfortunate realization is how many people are truly operating at 50% operating capacity and feel the need to turn to cannabis and other solutions to feel better. Once you realize that you can take yourself from 50% to 100% without it, and with no negative outcomes, the next action to take is obvious. Find the fresh life, and run to it.
The reality is that everything that is achieved through cannabis consumption can be achieved in a clear and better way through simply healing yourself.
The Benefits
I could go this whole article and play like there are no benefits to cannabis, but there are definitely benefits to cannabis. We consume cannabis and tobacco because we like them. So here are the things we are seeking from cannabis and tobacco. Below, I will list practical ways to achieve each of them with out these substances. And so, if you want to stop smoking, the solution is either to consume it in a vape, tincture or edible form or to find alternatives to the benefits you are seeking without cannabis and nicotine altogether.
Why we like cannabis:
Relaxes the muscles
Releases inhibitions
Helps us to connect to others
Helps us to catch the vibe
Decreases back pain, and other discomfort within the body
May open us up spiritually
May help us to invite positive energy
Can be healing or reduce the symptoms for different illnesses
While tobacco is harder on the body than cannabis, there are real reasons that people like it and consume it on its own or in combination with marijuana.
Tobacco may help us to let go of negative energy
May help us to feel more alert
May help us to feel more grounded
May help us to feel more energy in our bodies, hands
Can offer a balancing effect to cannabis
Check the out alternative ways we can achieve each of these below.
The Drawbacks
There are many drawbacks to smoking. As much as we enjoy it, smoking harms the body. There is no way around that. There is no amount of yoga or breathing exercises that will heal your lungs until you just quit inviting toxins into your lungs altogether.
Ways smoking harms us:
Invites toxins and carcinogens into the body
Burns the mouth, throat, and lungs
Can cause facial acne
Can cause dental or gum problems
Decreases our sense of taste and smell
Decreases our mental clarit
Decreases our physical agility and reflexes
Can increase anger and cause us to be more verbally aggressive, releasing the "dragon"
May lead to overthinking, confusion
May lead to the inability to get important things done
May cause us to spiral downward, slowly without realizing it
May open us up to be receptive to negative influences
Takes us in the direction of death instead of in the direction of life, even if we feel good in the moment
The Step Ladder Approach
While alternatives are not totally quitting and so are not perfectly ideal, they can be tremendously beneficial as you create a step ladder approach to quitting over time. After going cold turkey multiple times and just going back to smoking as much as I had been before, I realized I needed a different approach and decided to just take small steps down.
If you're smoking multiple times a day, in the morning, or all throughout the day, give yourself a simple limit or some rules around it. For example, say you can't smoke until noon or until you've completed an important task for the day. Then you can still smoke, but it can help you to be more productive as you wean yourself off.
Another alternative is to transition down to weaker substances. Transition from rolling up to a vape. You might do something like start with a THC vape -> Delta-8 vape -> CBD vape. When I first started to transition from rolling up spliffs, I had both a vape with a THC cartridge and a separate nicotine vape. I wasn't ready to quit, but it was better than rolling up, and in time, I took it down to weaker substances. Whatever you need to do, fam.
Another alternative is to transition down to edibles or tinctures.
1st Step Alternatives
Place rules around smoking, after a certain time or after a task has been completed
Transition from rolling up to a vape
Delta-8 THC Vape
Nicotine Vape
Better Alternatives
Transition from vape -> tincture or edibles
Transition from Delta-9 -> Delta-8 -> CBD
Transition totally away from nicotine
Best Alternatives
Pranayama breathwork to invite fresh life into the body
Say a round of positive affirmations every time you feel the urge to smoke
Japa meditation, engages the need to use the hands
Seated meditation, allow the mind and body to relax
Make a craft with your hands
Alternatives
Cannabis relaxes the muscles
If you're consuming cannabis to relax the muscles, the question then becomes, why are your muscles so tight that it has become painful?
Cannabis releases inhibitions
If you're consuming cannabis to relax the muscles, the question then becomes, why are your muscles so tight that it has become painful?
Cannabis helps us to connect to others
If you're consuming cannabis to relax the muscles, the question then becomes, why are your muscles so tight that it has become painful?
Cannabis helps us to catch the vibe
If you're consuming cannabis to relax the muscles, the question then becomes, why are your muscles so tight that it has become painful?
Back pain
If your back is tight, look for the origin. Cannabis is a beneficial temporary relief for your discomfort, but if not addressed will lead to dependence. Look for the origin of the pain. See a chiropractor who can tell you what is going on. Perhaps you are holding more weight on one leg than the other. Perhaps your hips are off. Perhaps there is a disc that is off. Much of this can be treated by a chiropractor, yoga, pilates, and some other methods.
There are many sources of back pain:
Uneven hips
Uneven gait
Fascial tightness
Overtucking the tailbone
Some remedies for back pain:
Chiropractor
Rolfing
Backbends, twists, and any form of moving the spine in different directions
You may hear popping in the back as things move back into place. This is a good thing.
Seated meditation, which allows the tight muscles to relax
Cannabis may open us up spiritually
I was smoking one day and praying. The insight came to me. How does putting a toxin in my body get me closer to the purest source energy? There is much to the spiritual world, but the energy of the universe, the pure prana, the fresh life energy that we thrive upon is simply what we would call "air." If we want to be closer to source, the answer is to purify ourselves so that we are closer in our constitution to this pure prana, pure life energy.
There are a whole host of intoxicants give us a spiritual experiences, cannabis included. Yet, t here is evidence all throughout history, across the world, of people eliminating a whole host of things from their diet, such as meat, alcohol, smoking, and even sex, as ways to purify the body and become closer to God. The highest source energy can only be accessed through total purification. Spiritual experiences via intoxication may give us glimpses of this energy but always fall short.
Cannabis may help us to invite positive energy
If you're consuming cannabis to relax the muscles, the question then becomes, why are your muscles so tight that it has become painful?
Cannabis can be healing or reduce the symptoms for different illnesses
If you're consuming cannabis to relax the muscles, the question then becomes, why are your muscles so tight that it has become painful?
Tobacco may help us to let go of negative energy
Now, this is a powerful one, for me. I smoked spliffs for a long time for this reason. I had a lot of trauma, literally PTSD and was smoking to help with yoga and to heal my mind. I definitely felt physical advantages to
Tobacco may help us to feel more alert
If you're consuming cannabis to relax the muscles, the question then becomes, why are your muscles so tight that it has become painful?
Tobacco may help us to feel more grounded
If you're consuming cannabis to relax the muscles, the question then becomes, why are your muscles so tight that it has become painful?
Cannabis & Tobacco may help us to feel more energy in our bodies, hands
I combined cannabis and my yoga practice for years. I definitely felt physical advantages to smoking before practice to some degree, but there were trade offs. Smoking before practice made me feel my body more. I felt like I was entranced in practice. My muscles felt more flexible to some degree, similar to smoking before sex, for those who feel me, and my hips had that energy in them that smoking gives you that made me want to move my body.
The downside was that my body was not actually in my control. I was entranced, allowing the yoga spirits to move me, but I was not actually finding total awareness of my body and muscles. Once I quit, my movement became worlds more mindful. Though the sensual I felt when smoking was hypnotizing while I was using it, once I quit, I could actually "feel" my muscles, and "feel" my feet in a completely new way. I am more present and grounded in my body now that I have stopped smoking thatn I ever felt while I was because my mind is clear and I am actually in control of myself.
If you are rolling up and smoking to achieve any health benefits, you are working against yourself because you are simultaneously inviting toxins into your body while trying to remove them.
Tobacco can offer a balancing effect to cannabis
If you're consuming cannabis to relax the muscles, the question then becomes, why are your muscles so tight that it has become painful?
Pranayama {Breathwork}
Pranayama can be tremendously beneficial for people who want to stop smoking because:
It heals the lungs of the damage caused by smoking
It invites fresh life into the body with each inhalation
It removes toxins with each exhalation
(When doing nadi shodhana), it can mimic the habit of bringing the hand to the face
It mimics the pleasurable sensation of taking deep puffs of air, but with fresh air, as opposed to toxins
Nasal Cleansing
Affirmations
I am clean.
I am clear.
I am healing.
I breathe in fresh life.
I breathe out what no longer serves me.
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Peace & Pineapples!
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