I’ve been clear about the medicinal benefits of low dose cannabis for years.  Actually more than 50 years.  For a moment, imagine southern California, circa 1968. Impossible to be marijuana-unaware.  Cannabis back then was relatively low potency. And it was all about recreation, an alternative to alcohol. Yes, I inhaled.  And I survived.  I excelled at UCLA and was accepted to the physical therapy program at UCSF.

Fast forward to 1971 when cannabis transitions from recreational to medicinal. One morning, I was dissecting a hamstring muscle during a four hour anatomy lab. That afternoon I was palpating the muscle’s origin, belly and insertion on fellow students.  Feeling texture and observing how it bends a knee and extends a hip.  How it feels when offered resistance.  Appreciating the sit bone attachment and the myriad ways to stretch.  I loved learning this stuff!

School days were long.  On occasion I’d wind down with a toke or two in the evening.  Something happened on this hamstring night.  I remember it like yesterday.  I was aware of my hamstrings like never before.  A felt experience of length and breadth, of living breathing anatomy, available in a remarkable way that expanded my classroom experience. Somatic sensing through a magic portal. This initiated a life long love affair with the rich tapestry of my internal awareness. 

A portal permanently opened that night in 1971.  Over the years I’d dip in and out of personal use.  For all these years I’ve known it might be of benefit for particular patients and students.  Especially people challenged to access their internal experience.  But there was a prohibitive legal stumbling block. And now there is not.

In this last year I’ve incorporated low dose cannabis with a handful of patients. In May 2024 I held 14 yoga students in a group experience. These sessions confirm what I have always imagined, delivering the benefits listed above.