PDA

View Full Version : Marijuana and Chi/MA



Ray Pina
01-27-2002, 01:49 PM
I have a, err, friend who asked, but I really don't know:

What are the affects of Marijuana on an internal practitioner?

Sam Wiley
01-27-2002, 01:53 PM
The same as the effects on anyone else.

Loss of motivation, motor skills, balance, focus, memory, lung capacity, stamina, etc....

Wong Ying Home
01-27-2002, 04:19 PM
One comment I have heard is that Hash disrupts the psychic interface between the physical self and the spiritual self. The Bai Hui point at top of the head. Buggers it up for a long time

Nexus
01-27-2002, 04:44 PM
It can also cause enhanced insight, increased focus (temporarily) and can enhance ones ability to cultivate visions. In and of itself it is not a bad thing, but the state of mind it brings you to is so easily attained through its use that you don't gain any benefits that one would gain through a regular practice and/or discipline. The same concept applies to etheogens (psychadellics drugs ie. mushrooms, lsd-25, peyote, etc.) in the idea that the enlightenment given is so sudden, that the work to get there naturally is skipped over.

- Nexus

MonkeyBoy
01-27-2002, 04:48 PM
It lowers the sperm count. Even if one abstains it can take 4 to 6 weeks to leave your blood. It also gets stored in fat, so whatever effects it has they last a long while after use.

dubj
01-27-2002, 05:41 PM
Ahh, not again.

jon
01-28-2002, 02:07 AM
Dont worry Evolution i smoke the stuff too, i also do full time internal martial arts training as of two weeks ago.
I have also studied martial arts for 12 years all up, five in Hung Ga. Ive smoked for proberly about 4 years and reasonably reguarly. It depends a LOT on the person, i can smoke a fair amount without a large effect. Many get very paranoid after smoking for a long time and start to lose there concentration.
I look at it this way, im young, i train a LOT, i dont drink, i dont do other drugs, Im sure as hell going to do at least ONE thing i enjoy even if it is bad for me.
Many chinese masters smoke and in the past many used opium.
Its not GOOD for you but then again after training your whole life for good health i would like to think we can get away with the odd misadventure.
Im sure i would be better without it dont get me wrong, but as i say i honestly dont think for me it has that much of a negative effect. I dont plan on smoking my whole life but i dont see why i shouldnt enjoy my youth considering i spend so much time assuring my health when im older.
If it gets to a level where i fear its really ruining my training ill quit but untill then im darn well gonna enjoy myself.
One thing i will say, dont go to class stoned. Ive made that mistake many times and i always pay the price. You are not really able to absorb what you learn and often when you come back next time you realise the whole lesson was basicaly a waste. Not to mention your instructor who can proberly tell quite easily when you have been smoking.
You can perform when your smashed ive done it many a time, i can rip though forms with no problems but dont try to learn new movements or concepts you wont properly aquire them.
Thats my advice from a smoker of 4 years and a martial artist of 12.

Repulsive Monkey
01-28-2002, 07:07 AM
Someone said that as it is it doesn't have any effcet. What a silly thing to say. From a Chinese Medicine point of view Hash is usually worse for you than alcohol, mainly because of the Jing draining effect it has upon the Kidneys. This alone sure ly for any internalist should make them want to cut it down to a minimum or even out for all time (I know I did, but not for the same reasons exactly). This kind of thread appered a while ago in the Meditation threads about Meditation/Qi gong and drugs, and the plain fact is, is that training without drugs is purely and more coherent a way to practice than training with them. The state of mind one arrives into when smoking hash (or any other drug) is not the one ultimtaely should be in when doing internal work, mainly becasue it's contrived, imbalanced and artificial.
So there are mental, spiritual and physical healths issues to consider if you are a hard caner. However, I am not telling anyone to give it up just because I present this information.

SifuAbel
01-28-2002, 10:12 PM
Most of the effects sam described happen mostly to chronic everyday users. Certain drugs have been used in china to promote chi or at the very least deaden pain from external practice. The problem here is that few know how much is enough. Few have the discipline to stop at a proper dose. Most just want to get stoned. Used purely as a stupeficant it loses all its real meaning.

The sperm count issue is still inconclusive and is more on an individulal case basis. Some people have no drop whatsoever, while some do suffer slight drops. This suggests that there may be other factors involved of which pot is just one factor.

Much of the given information today is based on propaganda. Much of the research has been done only with large doses to prove a point about it's ill effects. Very little has been done to research what positive effects are inherant in more controlled usage. Medically, marijuana has been used to treat many ailments. However, the drug companies supress any possitive information found and lobby for it's criminal status. Can you imagine what an easily grown natural pain killer, anti-inflamatory, mood lifter, anti-depressant would do to the drug trade? You'd kill 70% of the market. The drug companies make money off of LEGAL and more powerfull, more damaging, drugs which they broker under the "health" banner. Alcohol and cigarettes are legal yet they are more damaging and cause more death in this country then all other ailments, including aids, combined. They also lobby for criminalization for similar reasons; can't patent it, can't stop people from growing for themselves.

Psychadelics have been used by native peoples for thousands of years to induce states of altered awareness. This was done under the close supervision of an elder shaman(teacher, healer, group leader etc.). It was a serious religious experience, not to be taken lightly.
Recreational use has been the undoing of people who misuse such powerfull drugs. Children, and adults for that matter, have no business trying mind altering drugs just for the fun of it. Those that are not on "the path", so to speak, should avoid them all together. A rigourous mental and physical training is needed way before the teacher resorted to inducing the vision quest. Don't fool yourself into doing it by assuming you will begin a vision quest just because you want to try drugs. One does not follow the other; you don't choose when and how, that is up to the teacher. It is a trap that leads nowhere if you do it on your own.

Sam Wiley
01-28-2002, 11:13 PM
I used to smoke almost every day, sometimes several times a day, and drink on top of that. But I noticed the difference in the way I was to the way I became and decided to stop. I still drink every now and again, but never to excess. And I try not to inhale anything that I shouldn't. Problem is that I really loved pot. There were a lot of other drugs I loved, too, but pot was like a close friend. To this day, if I so much as smell weed, burning, fresh, it doesn't matter, my mouth waters in anticipation. Actually, just thinking about smoking weed right now is making my mouth water. That's how you know you're a pot head.

Anyway, it's harmful so you shouldn't do it...but if you're going to, do it without having to inhale smoke. You can make brownies (love 'em), capsules, liquor, etc. If you want you can get a vaporizer that heats the bud without burning it, vaporizing the THC, so that all you inhale is THC vapor, no smoke, and you just hold your breath for a moment and ALL of the THC is absorbed instead of just 15% like in smoking. A few deep tokes off a vaporizer and you'll be so high...well, let's say it's an amazing high.:p