Canndiculation Part 2. (Please read Part 1 first)
Article Written by Dr Stephen Gipps
Read time: 7-8 mins
Please read Part 1 for context
Not that it necessarily happens every time exogenous cannabis is administered but, inconspicuously, a canndiculation session could sneak up on you on any occasion. A spontaneous contraction may occur whilst simply trying to kick back and watch a movie. If so, I recommend pausing the movie and giving full attention to the call. Do the canndiculation where and when it calls. There may be a few exceptions. I am personally a little self conscious in a public setting, when appearing as it were, that I ought be back home on a mat or something. Nevertheless, whenever possible, the eruption of attention seeking behaviour on the parts of the body that need it, ought be respected and tended to for ones own benefit, in my estimation anyway.
Assuming this is all sounding a bit new to you, let's be intentional rather than hanging around waiting for an eruption. Here’s an introductory “how to” attempt - ie. what it’s all about and how to approach it.
Pick the time
You’ve decided to give it a try and have allocated a time spot for a canndiculation session. This will most likely be an evening but some like it earlier in the day. There should be designated priority given to the process at hand. Ie Phones off or intentionally ignored.
Some may prefer to do this before meals, others, an hour or more after meals might be better. Either way, the munchies need to be pushed aside until you are satisfied of the canndiculation outcome. It’s preferable to have a larger or open window of available time or possibly timing it towards sleep time whereupon completion of the canndiculation can transition to a beautiful restful and further restorative sleep. Another possibility is to conclude the session with a dance and or walk etc.
(Natural involuntary pandiculation occurs in the morning upon awakening or shortly after, without adding cannabis. One can enhance that moment a bit with the support of somatic practices if it is not a suitable time to be adding THC. Though there is a limit to what can be achieved voluntarily without adding the cannabinoids.)
Prepare the setting
Find a space with enough room for freedom of movement. Perhaps add a yoga mat or two or a nice cushioned, carpeted area. You’ll possibly want to be able to get down on the ground, but a lot can be done in the standing position, where you can also use household furniture as props to support the practice.
You may choose to enhance the space by:
Dimming the lights
Put on your version of meditative or soothing music
Aromatherapy or candles
Open windows with a light warm breeze is perfect
You may have some useful equipment already at hand:
Stretchy bands
Spikey ball
Back rollers
Physio ball
Hand weights 1 to 10kg as needed.
You can achieve a lot without the auxiliary equipment, using your own body’s weight simply under gravity. A kitchen bench, chair or stool for example can also be useful for positioning canndiculations.
You don’t need a partner, though sharing the practice may open a space of communal canndiculation that could offer its own therapeutic value.
Select the dose and strain
There is variability in cannabis varieties whereby some are better for this type of physical awareness. Specific, terpene and cannabinoid profiles may enhance and deepen the sensory focus for you. Generally, a dose of THC sufficient to cause notable savouring is the base requirement. Of course this dose varies by individual. You’ll know yours.
Key considerations:
Sativa-leaning strains often heighten awareness but may provoke anxiety in some.
A product with a combination of THC and CBD, or using a separate CBD inhalation product, may help to alleviate the anxiety.
Alternatively, “premedicating” hours prior with a CBD or CBD/CBG (Cannabigerol) oil or a gummy may do the trick of moderating anxiety from Sativa-leaning strains.Hybrids with relatively equal elements of Sativa and Indica leanings in the genetics may be a good choice.
Indica strains may work for others, so long as they are not too sedating to stay engaged in the focus-requiring session.
Sufficient but not too high a dose is generally best to maintain the guided therapeutic objective without excessive distraction or sedation. However certain strains at a higher dose may amplify the beneficial focused guidance.
Dosing delivery via inhalation is optimal for this process. Peak effects (usually 10–20 minutes post-inhalation) will allow for heightened somatic focus that will sustain sufficiently long for a thorough therapeutic canndiculation session 30mins or so beyond the peak and also allow for a relatively quick ramp down to relaxation and restful sedation afterwards.
The inhalation dose will depend on usage patterns and you should be already familiar with the dose required of your particular product to cause sufficient increased savouring of various sensory inputs without overdoing it and inducing potentially too much sedation, distraction from task at hand or anxiety.
Alternatively, a pastille or gummy may work quite well, having a slightly quicker onset than oral oil. Familiarise oneself with your oral form’s delayed effect and dose required. Start your session near to 2- 4 hours after ingestion, the time required to reach its peak effect.
Engage in the awareness therapeutically
As the THC levels rise you may begin to notice an area of your body that is asking for attention; usually by discomfort, tension or muscle contraction. This is the signal to “listen” well and to start engaging in canndiculation. This involves both heightened mental focus and body awareness.
Begin from any position, whether lying down, sitting or standing. It all depends on what area is calling your attention.
Are you becoming aware of your neck?
Or maybe a tight, injured shoulder
Possibly the chest wall somewhere, a rib not articulated perfectly?
A facet joint or any segment of your spine calling out?
Maybe your pelvis, groin or hips
Do your fingers feel locked and tight, or maybe your jaw?
Allow your focus to be guided toward any area that you become aware of dysfunction or tension. Your task here is to: note it, feel it and work with it.
How to begin:
Settle your focused awareness on the area of tension or discomfort getting your attention.
Gently, you will start by contracting in a way that engages the area, resulting in a slight increase in tension and signalling to the area. This will usually involve a combination of muscles in proximity and not a specific muscle. Ie you don’t need to try and isolate a specific muscle. It’s all about restoring function, and function involves groups of muscle in concert.
Now contract a little more and then a little more until it feels quite near maximal without needing to extend beyond what appears a reasonably strong contraction. The contraction has resulted in movement to a reasonably extended range in motion of the affected area. Next, simultaneously activate the opposing muscles to keep the opposing muscles from being stretched any further, essentially locking the area with contraction in both directions but no further movement. (essentially an agonist/antagonist isometric muscle tension balance at the end range of the initial contraction)
Hold this focus and co-contraction for several, possibly up to 30, seconds or so.
Slowly release the initiating contraction, allowing the isometric opposing side to gain the advantage and return yourself to a neutral position.
This creates a guided and controlled contraction combined with opposing isometric contraction which is then gradually relaxed, also with guidance and control.
You have just exerted a pandiculation-like contraction at a region that, through the influence of cannabis, drew your heightened attention because you just “seemed to need it”.
Congratulations, you are now canndiculating!
Remember: the main distinction here from a voluntary contraction is that the cannabis’s heightened awareness is guiding you - so zoom in and make it your focus to follow. The therapeutic benefit is proportional to how well you focus on allowing yourself to be led.
After this, you may repeat that particular canndiculation or maybe make a positional adjustment, as guided by your awareness, to an alternative focus - and this may be just a minor shift to an adjacent associated extension of the initial region. Follow your body’s natural inclinations. For example:
A lateral bend in the thoracolumbar spine may lead to rotation or hip extension
A wrist stretch might segue into a scapular release
You may start working at the neck and then continue down gradually, without time restraint, to the sacrum and hips.
Stubborn or persistent attention to areas may then demand that you get on the mat with a roller or a spikey ball. Maybe the stretchy band or a weight helps to enhance or strengthen the contraction, more fully extending your canndiculation experience and therapeutic outcome.
You continue on like this, in a focused semi-meditative state for as long as you like. This may be just a few minutes or could continue for longer, moving from region to region as led by your body. A foot or wrist may draw your attention. Maybe you need to pop a knuckle or crack a toe, then continue to the next region. Just feel out what seems useful. Maybe you want to shake it, jiggle, dance or walk around and come back to it a bit later.
During this time or shortly after you may notice that some vertebral joints have adjusted. You may possibly feel a click, small pops or a little shifts as a stuck joint releases. This simple freeing movement might lead to a sense of returned normalcy and function with reduced tension and discomfort in a certain area or region. And release in one area can result in subsequent release in another area, because of associations of tensions. (It is rare that a single area would truly need release in full isolation only.)
So, by canndiculating you’ve essentially facilitated the intrinsic self-manipulation by resetting the muscle tone and balance, enabling the movement of the vertebrae relative to each other, thus mobilising some joints without the services of a therapist.
All of these movements and adjustments are therapeutic to restoring function and relieving pain in the spondylotic affected joints. Congrats.
Practice a restorative art
A sense of restorative wellbeing may engulf you as areas of chronic muscle tension that were causing unbalanced, abnormal pressure on joints become released, allowing freed-up mobility and normalised function.
The restoration of function and removal of foci of pain is the reward for your cannabis assisted focus and effort.
Yes, it's a bit of an art. And you will get better at it the more you do it.
Improvements are likely to accumulate incrementally. Each session may unravel a bit more of the “knotted twine.” Some areas will need repeated attention. Generally, even once you have substantially improved, regular maintenance will still be required to maintain the benefit. Whether daily, weekly or otherwise is up to you and your body's needs.
Reasonably close self-monitoring is recommended so that well-being is maintained once achieved. Generally, it ought to become easier and less time-consuming with repetition. This is partly because maintenance may occur throughout the day with canndiculating in micro-movements becoming second nature due to the lingering subtle effects of the slowly eliminated exogenous cannabinoids combined with your generally enhanced sensitivity to the intuitive guidance experience.
Canndiculation becomes a normal part of a proactive, healthy lifestyle.
A word of caution
Don’t force anything. Don’t do anything that you feel is excessive for your specific condition and body. If in doubt, consult with your therapists and treating doctors.
And remember: while this article focuses on physical layers, muscle tension can also hold emotional memory.
If emotional memories are strongly triggered you may wish to interrupt the session and write a few things down for later reflection or bringing to a psychological therapist subsequently.
The image below is dedicated to all the scientists out there researching the wonders of this amazing plant.
Dr. Stephen Gipps is a seasoned medical practitioner with over four decades of diverse experience since 1984. His expertise spans general practice, natural and alternative medicine, occupational medicine, musculoskeletal injury and degeneration, and pain management. Dr. Gipps holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from UNSW and completed additional medical training in the USA, achieving high percentiles in USMLE exams. Currently serving as the Managing Director and CEO of CannAgeWell.com, he has a particular interest in medical cannabis, offering advisory services to emerging companies in this field. Dr. Gipps' broad experience includes roles as a medical advisor for various health-related companies and a stint as a licensee for Exclusiv Brigitte Kitchens.
Disclaimer: This information is shared with a global readership for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical or business advice. All patient-related information has been de-identified OR fictional to protect privacy. Nothing in this article is intended to promote the use or supply of medical cannabis to members of the public.
