Creating the Best Cannabis Experience For You

This article is brought to you by KOAN, creator of Koan Cordials: cannabis blends crafted with cannabinoids, terpenes and botanicals precisely calibrated to improve your well-being. The founders of Koan believe the core value of Cannabis is the quality of the experience and your intention. The Active Ingredient is you.

Cannabis confidence

So many of us have been bombarded by misinformation, fear-mongering, and outright lies about cannabis during our formative years. Even learning about cannabis – or talking about it in public – can feel awkward or uncomfortable.

Getting to know cannabis more intimately can alleviate fears and hesitancies around exploring it for wellness, creative energy, and relaxation.

How do you get started with cannabis – or how do you create a more comfortable experience with the plant? Here are some places to start:

Know your body

Before you embark on a cannabis experience, tune into your body. How are you feeling physically? Do a head-to-toe check-in. Where are you holding your tension? Are you feeling pain, and if so, where and what kind of pain (dull ache, sharp, stabbing). Identify the areas you’d like to address. Relaxation is a good place, loosening tight neck and shoulder muscles, easing a clenching jaw, even melting tension from your face.

Know your mind

While the relaxing and sedating side of cannabis can affect you physically, the greater effect of the intoxicating compounds within the plant – namely THC – affect your brain and your mind. Check in with yourself in terms of your emotional state. How are you feeling? What kinds of thoughts are you having? Where would you like to go with your emotions?

Many of us are seeking a sense of wellbeing. Some of us may be looking for a lift in our mood. In this day and age, a lot of us want to de-stress. Sometimes, we simply want to be joyful, playful, or creative. There is no right or wrong answer to what you want to feel.

Knowing where you are emotionally goes hand-in-hand with your physical self as your body and mind are closely connected. Checking in with all parts of yourself is a holistic approach to self-care.

Set an intention for your cannabis experience

Once you’ve identified your physical and emotional state, a helpful next step is to decide where you want to be both physically and mentally. An intention isn’t a goal – it isn’t a hard and fast, immovable destination. An intention is a gentle, fluid move toward an awareness, a presence, a state of being.

When it comes to cannabis, you can’t force a feeling or outcome, but you can choose products and doses that more closely reach the experience you want.

Ask questions

When you’re not sure what form of cannabis to take or how much to take, ask experts. While cannabis dispensary budtenders are often your first point of contact with purchasing legal cannabis, legally they are not allowed to dispense health-related advice. You could ask them what will make you feel more relaxed or more uplifted and creative, however, each cannabis experience can be unique to the individual.

If you’re headed to a dispensary, brush up on your knowledge of cannabinoids and terpenes first. Each chemical compound found in the cannabis plant has its own set of unique properties. With a better familiarity of cannabinoids and terpenes, you can ask to see the cannabis test results to see the percentage of specific compounds or even ask which products are higher in CBD or myrcene or linalool. Alternatively, find a brand with products that speak to your intention and backs that with precision crafting and care, like Koan.

Explore and experiment with your cannabis experience

Because there are so many variables that play into a cannabis experience, taking your time to try different things and easing into doses slowly are two ways to ensure that you achieve your desired effects. Be patient. Exploring cannabis takes time and some experimentation.

Each form of cannabis can produce a different experience. Depending on what you consume, how you consume it, and how much can greatly affect the onset of the experience. Knowing when you’re going to feel something and how you’re going to feel can be elusive with any plant medicine, but that isn’t always the case.

A product like Koan Coridals is formulated with specific cannabinoid and terpene profiles to produce more consistent, repeatable results. Being able to dial in your experience and knowing how long it will take to feel new feelings can bring a lot of comfort – and confidence – to your cannabis experience.

Keep learning about how to have the best cannabis experience for you!

Looking to learn more about using cannabis intentionally? Check out our webinar, Cannabis Confidence: Creating the Best Experience For You. This webinar is led by Colleen Quinn, a Formulation, Aromatherapy & Cannabis Educational expert and Resonate Blends Advisory Board member.