Phase 1 · The First Ten Days

Part of the 4 Week Yoga Program for Cannabis Withdrawal

20 Minute Yoga Sequence for the First Days Without Cannabis

For the first week and a half. Short, daily, and aimed squarely at sleep and restlessness.

The first few days are the worst of it. Symptoms usually start within a day, peak around day two or three, and most of them settle within a week or two. Sleep is the exception: it is the most common problem, it is the one that lasts longest, and it can run for a month or more. So this sequence is built around it. Twenty minutes, every day, ending lying down for a long time. Daily is not an ambition here, it is the shape both of the studies on acute withdrawal actually used.

20 min · Level 1

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When it helps

Every day for the first ten days, in the evening if you can. Also useful in the middle of the night when sleep will not come. Twenty minutes. A blanket, a cushion and a wall. This helps with the symptoms of stopping, particularly sleep and restlessness. It is not addiction treatment and it does not replace medical or specialist support. Coming off alcohol or benzodiazepines at the same time can be medically dangerous and needs a doctor.

Sleep

The strongest single finding in the research on withdrawal was a large reduction in how long it took people to fall asleep. This session is built for that.

Restlessness

Something to do with a body that will not settle, which is different from being told to relax.

Routine

A fixed twenty minutes at a fixed time is worth more in these ten days than any individual pose.

Sit down first

Five minutes to stop moving around, which in the first few days is most of the work.

Sukhasana

3 min

Easy Pose

Sit down. Breathe in for four, out for six, and let the out breath get longer over the three minutes.

A longer out breath is the cheapest way to change how a restless body feels, and it works without you having to believe in it.

Learn more about Sukhasana

Marjaryasana

1 min

Cat Pose

Hands and knees, rounding the back as you breathe out.

Movement, but small. In the first days a full practice is often too much and doing nothing is worse.

Learn more about Marjaryasana

Bitilasana

1 min

Cow Pose

Chest forward on the in breath. Eight rounds, slowly.

Two directions at the speed of the breath. Simple enough to do while feeling terrible.

Learn more about Bitilasana

Something to do

Three positions that give a restless body a job. None of them require you to be calm first.

Bharadvajasana 1

1 min each side

Bharadvaja's Twist

A seated twist, turning from the ribs, both sitting bones down.

A twist takes a small amount of attention, which is useful when the mind is going in circles.

Learn more about Bharadvajasana 1

Janu Shirsana

1 min each side

Head-to-Knee Forward Bend

One leg out, one foot in, forehead on a cushion or a stack of books.

The head resting on something is the part that matters. It changes the pose from a stretch into somewhere to be.

Learn more about Janu Shirsana

Supta Hasta Padangusthasana

1 min each side

Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose

On your back, a strap around one foot, knee bent as much as you like.

The back of the leg, with the floor taking all the weight. The last thing here that asks for anything.

Learn more about Supta Hasta Padangusthasana

Lie down for a long time

Seven minutes at the end. In the first days this is the part that does the most and it is the part people cut.

Viparita Karani

4 min

Legs Up the Wall

Legs up the wall. Go back to the long out breath for the first minute, then stop counting.

Four minutes here is the closest thing this program has to a reliable effect on how the next hour feels.

Learn more about Viparita Karani

Apanasana

1 min

Knees to Chest Pose

Knees drawn towards the chest, arms loose.

A small closed shape on the way to the floor.

Learn more about Apanasana

Savasana

3 min

Corpse Pose

Flat, warm, covered. If you fall asleep here in the first week, that is a good outcome.

Three minutes, and every session in this program ends the same way, which is deliberate.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 1 · Weeks 1 to 2

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to The First Ten Days, the first phase of the 4 Week Yoga Program for Cannabis Withdrawal. The program says how often to practise it, what comes before and after, and when to move on.

See the whole program →

Integration

Daily for the first ten days. If sleep is the main problem, do it in the evening. If restlessness is, do it whenever the restlessness is worst. It works at three in the morning as well as at nine at night.

The teacher behind this sequence

Gründer & Autor

Manish Rana

Gründer von Asanaverse.de. Manish schreibt über Yoga, Ayurveda und Meditation und verdankt seine tiefe Verbindung zum Yoga seinen indischen Wurzeln. Mit über 1000 Stunden Yoga Alliance Teacher Training gibt er sein Wissen an die Community weiter.

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Go deeper into the poses

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