India has a long historical relationship with cannabis in spiritual and religious practice. References to cannabis, appear in ancient Vedic texts and Ayurvedic traditions.

The cannabis plant medicine, known as Bhanga or Bhang, has shared ancient roots with yoga for thousands of years.

Yogi's have used this plant medicine within the practices of the 8 limbs of yoga including meditation, breathwork, contemplation, chanting, healing practices, and expanded states of awareness for millennia.

Approached with mindfulness and intention, this practice invites relaxation, embodied awareness, presence, and a deeper connection to self and nature.

In the Atharva Veda, cannabis - Bhanga - is described as one of the five kingdoms of sacred plants and is associated with relief from suffering, happiness, and spiritual protection.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (Chapter 4, Sutra 1) reference aushadhi (herbs or plant medicines) as one of the pathways through which altered states, insight, or siddhis may arise.

While Bhanga or cannabis is not named directly in the sutra itself, many historical commentaries and later yogic traditions associate this teaching with psychoactive plant medicines because use of Bhanga was so common to create altered states.

In later Hatha Yoga traditions, cannabis was sometimes used by sadhus and yogis to support long periods of meditation, austerity, chanting, fasting, and withdrawal from worldly distraction.

Ayurveda (the ancient Indian healing traditional medicine) also documents cannabis as a medicinal plant when carefully prepared and used in small amounts under guidance.

In 1985, due to increasing pressure from the rest of the Western world, India introduced the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, making cannabis illegal in most forms.

However, bhang, and the traditional preparation made primarily from the leaves of the cannabis plant, remained legally permitted for ceremonial, religious and cultural use, especially during festivals associated with Lord Shiva such as Maha Shivaratri and Holi.

The Plant Medicine and Yoga practice led by Kathy White Yoga is offered in this ceremonial spirit of mindful awareness, conscious rest, breath, meditation, and embodied somatic exploration.

Please note: These sessions are not intended as medical treatment nor recreational intoxication.

You must be over 19 and sign our waiver (below) to be able to participate.

Kathy White leads these sessions. She has over 25 years of experience as a yoga teacher and therapist. She has a Post-Graduate Certificate in Psychedelic Assisted Therapy at Vancouver Island University.

• If you have little or no experience with cannabis, you must first book a private 1:1 session with Kathy to explore safe, mindful, and responsible approaches before participating in a group practice.

• No cannabis is provided. Participants are responsible for sourcing their own legal supply.

• Low-dose, intentional use only.