One of the mantras of digital communication is “ Markets are conversations ”. It means that the market is based on conversations between the people who make up the target of a product or service, both online and offline. This is why we love talking to you on social networks , because – through your stories and experiences – we can evaluate what works in our products and what we could improve.
Talking to our loyal customers is always a surprise: Terre has a transversal, varied and heterogeneous clientele, ranging from a couple of new parents struggling with feedings and sleepless nights, to elderly people with a young spirit and young people looking for a legal alternative to recreational cannabis.
In this article we will tell you about the positive effects of cannabis on the body and mood and we will tell you the story of Michele, whose life was changed by India and cannabis.
Why is light cannabis so widespread?
There is only one answer: the beneficial effects of light hemp are many and people have understood it. Thanks to an impressive media campaign - set up by authoritative entities in the world of information together with associations and NGOs - the properties of hemp plants, especially cannabis sativa with low THC content, have come to light and have become a supertopic of mainstream culture.
The difference between light cannabis - the hemp inflorescences marketed by Terre, for example - and illegal cannabis sold on the black market lies in the proportion between THC and CBD . THC - in a nutshell - is the active ingredient that makes cannabis illegal: in Italy it was included in the list of narcotic substances in the 1960s and is considered a psychotropic substance . That is, it alters the state of consciousness of those who take it, modifying the perception of reality. This happens because our organism is equipped with an endocannabinoid system , a set of receptors that regulate the bio-balance of the body by communicating with the nervous system.
The SE produces the so-called endocannabinoids, substances biologically close to the phytocannabinoids of cannabis. What is it about? The term “endo” is short for endogenous, which literally means “coming within.” That is, they are substances produced within an organism, a tissue or a cell. Cannabinoids, on the other hand, are the compounds capable of activating this particular system. An endocannabinoid, therefore, is a cannabinoid produced within our body.
The receptors of this system are activated every time they come into contact with molecules called "agonists" . The agonists in question are precisely the cannabinoids, both those produced by our body and those coming from cannabis plants. This is why cannabis has such important effects on the organism, because it is able to communicate with it and even influence it .
Michele, India and the encounter with cannabis
In recent months we have often been tagged in the posts of (@.... we want to respect his privacy), aka Michele G., a yoga teacher from Arezzo, recently returned from a very long trip to India. Michele very often posts photographs of our products, of which he seems to be a great expert. He really appreciates our light cannabis “Volare”, a new arrival, with an intense flavor and fruity aroma. He returned to Tuscany a year ago, after almost three spent exploring India.
For Michele, India was the destination of his life: he has been Buddhist since 2011, the year in which he also started practicing yoga and he had been organizing this escape for years. Living around India for three years was not a simple journey. He told us that he set out in search of something indefinite, he hoped - like many before him - to find himself in the shadow of a Buddhist temple. We don't know if his research was successful, but we felt like we were talking to a balanced, happy person with a very clear vision of the future.
The trip to the Asian country allowed Michele to deepen his practice of yoga thanks to meetings with many gurus in permanent retreat in India. Today Michele has his own meditation and yoga center . He opened it shortly after returning: he felt the need to give back to people what India had left him, he needed to let all the energy flow that he had gained in three years of meditation and daily practice.
In addition to meditation, which he had never practiced until then, Michele was initiated into charas , hashish made according to Indian tradition.
Curiosity: what is Charas?
Charas is a type of hashish obtained by compacting the resin of Cannabis plants , collected by rubbing your hands on the underside of the fresh inflorescences, still attached to the branch. The plant material is then scraped away from the skin and combined with the already extracted material to form small balls. This smoke differs from Moroccan hashish due to the extraction method, which occurs through the percussion of already dried marijuana plants, unlike Charas, whose resin is extracted from the fresh plant .
The boy was certainly no newcomer to marijuana and smoking, but he had never tried something so powerful. The traditional manufacturing method makes this smoke very potent and its high much more intense than even that of very potent weed . In fact, in a marijuana inflorescence, in addition to the resin, there are many other less powerful plant elements, which contribute to making the effect of the herb much less intense than that of resin-only concentrates.
Cannabinoids and yoga
Michele discovered Charas during a yoga retreat in the heart of the jungle. At first he was very reluctant: he felt like a yoga purist, which - as a good Buddhist - he practiced as a form of meditation. The combination of cannabis and yoga doesn't convince him at all, it seemed like a real stretch to him. Practicing yoga, for Michele, was a way to reunite with his inner self, it was a moment of extreme clarity and presence, both physical and mental.
Cannabis, on the contrary, seemed to him to be a substance that had little to do with clarity, especially mental clarity. He loved being present to himself, he loved hearing his slow and regular breathing during practice and - above all - he loved the feeling of relaxation naturally induced by circular breathing.
Yet, the Indian experience completely changed his mind. Trying charas in the jungle, in a free and serene context, had been a cathartic experience for him. For the first time he seemed to detach himself from his body and hover lightly above the room, free. Yes, that day, in the jungle, Michele felt something change forever.
He is a yoga professional and we trusted him. We're not great experts in this field, but we are in cannabis and we couldn't wait to find out more. Michele explained to us that, in his opinion, cannabis and the practice of yoga at an amateur level go together for three reasons:
- Cannabis relaxes the mind and allows you to approach the practice light and relaxed. It eases tension and lowers the body's defenses: especially for beginners it is perfect because it reduces competitiveness and the sense of embarrassment, guaranteeing optimal practice. Some cannabis users even claim that it increases their alertness levels , making it much easier to control thought fluctuations.
- Cannabis helps balance ! It seems incredible, but it's true. Cannabis alters the perception of gravity and generates a sensation of extreme lightness, almost as if one were rising. In yoga this is a great advantage. Many positions require great balance and the feeling of being as light as a butterfly would help even the most problematic students a lot. Furthermore, thanks to the muscle-relaxing properties of CBD , Cannabis helps to overcome the physical barriers encountered when starting to do yoga.
- CBD has a powerful analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect. Yoga is a sport for everyone, but not everyone has the same body and joints. Many people, especially of a certain age, struggle to approach the discipline due to chronic and rheumatic pain. CBD helps soothe these symptoms, allowing for easier practice.
After explaining his reasons to us, he explained his idea: he would like to activate a ganja yoga course within his center in Arezzo to test the benefits of this substance associated with yoga, together with the first courageous students. Smoking cannabis, however, has negative effects on the lungs , especially because it must be consumed together with tobacco, and not all students may agree with that type of intake. Yoga requires the use of very precise breathing techniques, which could be negatively affected by smoking.
Michele, however, has thought of everything and his idea is to provide a vaporizer to each student, so that they can only take the goodness of light cannabis inflorescences, saying goodbye to the risks and inconveniences linked to smoking. Imagine doing yoga in a room where 20 people have just smoked weed, it wouldn't be very good! He is a big fan of the vaporizer and we are sure that he will be able to convince even the brave first students.
What is ganja yoga?
This story of ganja yoga had intrigued us and we decided to read up on it. The web is full of articles and links to American gyms and we discovered that the first to propose it to both gyms and meditation centers was Dee Dussault , author of the book Ganja Yoga , published last April. The idea comes from a very simple question: "Why not smoke before doing yoga"? And from the first attempt, Dee understands that it is impossible to go back.
The book Ganja Yoga explains how one of the main effects of cannabis is relief from feelings of stress , a goal shared with the eastern discipline of yoga. A journalist from the online magazine " Well And Good " tried a Ganja Yoga class in Los Angeles, held by the author of the book and talked about it in her newspaper . "Immediately after smoking weed I wanted to get down on the floor and do yoga. I felt much more in touch with my body and my breathing than I ever had before."
In short, it has caught on in America and we have discovered that something is moving in Milan too. Our friend Michele, however, will embark on a much more difficult undertaking: Milan is a modern and international city, in which novelties become trends and prejudices dissolve between one spritz and another, while Arezzo is a small city in which it is not obvious that such a particular pairing can find fertile ground. Who knows if Michele will be able to break down the wall of mistrust ... We'll see and in the meantime let's say a big, big good luck!
How the Migty vaporizer works:
