A new study found that CBD could act as a “helper compound” with traditional antibiotics to more effectively treat staph infections.
Diseases caused by bacteria were the leading cause of death for Americans until antibiotics came along. The simple invention of penicillin in 1928 by Sir Alexander Fleming led to millions of lives being saved, with other antibiotics stopping similar untimely deaths. In recent years, bacteria have evolved and become resistant to some antibiotics, leading the medical community to search for novel answers to treat infections and boost the effectiveness of antibiotics.
According to a new Denmark study, cannabidiol (CBD) could assist in fighting this resistant bacteria in combination with traditional antibiotics. Researchers used CBD as a “helper compound” in conjunction with the antibiotic bacitracin to treat Staph infection and found they required less antibiotics overall in the process.
Researchers explained that bacteria become resistant by overuse of antibiotics, meaning the less antibiotics we use, the less likely bacteria will thwart treatment. As a helper compound with traditional antibiotics, using CBD caused the staph infection to stop dividing as it normally would to spread throughout the body. In addition, this combination lowered the expression of key genes in the bacteria and caused the bacteria membrane to become unstable.
These effects meant less antibiotics were required to overcome the infections. Other studies have found flavonoids in certain teas and honey also increase the potential effectiveness of antibiotic medications, as CBD did in this study.
Last year, an Austrian study found that CBD alone could treat Gram-positive bacteria, including those that cause pneumonia and MRSA. Even after CBD was exposed to the bacteria for more than 20 days, the bacteria did not become resistant to treatment. Typically, 20 days is the period of time in which bacteria start to resist traditional antibiotics.
If a business is declared “essential” during this time, shouldn’t it be allowed to get in line for some federal assistance?
The $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package is expected to be signed any moment, bringing a collective sigh of relief across the country. Plus, the stock market is trending up (for now). But lingering questions remain: What about the federally illegal cannabis business? Will the states take care of them?
The short answer is maybe…but probably not. Once again, cannabusinesses are left in the lurch trying to figure out what to do to be treated as any other business.
Just look at what is going on now. Cannabusinesses are scrambling to designate recreational cannabis businesses as “essential” so they can stay open (most states consider medical cannabis facilities essential). Some states, such asMassachusetts, where recreational cannabusinesses have been forced to close, are claiming that they are as essential as medical cannabusinesses.
And one dispensary in Nevada is transitioning from both medical and recreational to just medical, telling The Fresh Toast in an email that the dispensary will be temporarily holding all recreational transactions until further notice “for the safety of the community.”
The thinking here is that if you declare a business as “essential” during this time, you should not only be allowed to stay open, but more likely to be allowed to get in line for some federal assistance channeled to your business from the state.
But will the feds see it that way for the cannabis businesses? The short answer, again, is probably not.
Remember what happened when fires engulfed cannabis grows in northern California in late 2017? Some34 cannabis farms were destroyed in a fire that grew to nearly37,000 acres in Mendocino County alone right at harvest time.Three of the top ten most destructive wildfires in California history happened from October through December, 2017 on prime agriculture land. Not only was product destroyed, but because cannabis is mostly a cash-only business, some of the grower’s cash revenue was also burned.
Photo by Darren Halstead via Unsplash
California Governor Jerry Brown made a disaster proclamation during that time, andrequested $7.4 billion in federal disaster relief funding. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would not provide funds for those affected cannabis growers.
So here we are today. If a cannabusiness has insurance now, they may be able to use the force majeure clause in this time of virus outbreak — the so-called “act of God” clause that businesses can invoke because the outbreak is forcing businesses to shut down and workers to stay at home.
Lawyers have said that force majeure can be applied not only to those obvious business losses, but possibly such things as damage to equipment that has come in contact with the corona virus, like desks and other furniture.
Can a cannabusiness claim that? Again, probably not. Few cannabusinesses likely included a force majeure clause in their expensive insurance policy. Even if that clause is in their insurance policy, they can be subjected tovarying and narrow interpretations.
A cannabusiness should at least have somesort of disaster plan in place as part of their due diligence in setting up their business. But in this still-maturing industry, with valuations still fluctuating and mergers and acquisitions becoming part of the landscape, details like a disaster plan have not been a high priority.
So now what?
Photo by Aleksandr_Kravtsov/Getty Images
The $2 trillion stimulus package passed on March 25reportedly includes $367 billion for a small business loan program. But that won’t help. The government still says that cannabis businesses are not eligible for any assistance from the Small Business Administration (SBA), something that could be remedied if theMORE Act passes. But passage of the act is unlikely to happen this year — MORE has been parked in the Senate Finance committee since the end of July, 2019.
There may be some light to shed on the situation. On March 18, the Trump administration approved anemergency funding bill, the Families First Coronavirus Act, that includes nearly a billion dollars in funding to aid state-administered unemployment programs.
According to theNational Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), the transfer of funds from the federal government to the state governments under this funding bill should allow the states to decide which industries are eligible to get unemployment benefits. So cannabis workers may be able to get help through that bill.
And in a move that other states may adopt, a business may already be covered for losses due to the virus without a specific force majeure clause, according to a bill in thestate of New Jersey.
The fight to get help for cannabusinesses has also been taken up by various cannabisadvocacy agencies, weighing in on getting help from states’ governors, and others notifying Congress how the cannabis business was left out of the $2 million disaster assistance low-interest loans for small businesses announced by the SBA on March 12.
One example of an advocacy group’s concern regarding the $2 trillion stimulus package comes from Violet Cavendish, communications manager at the Marijuana Policy Project:
“Excluding marijuana businesses in the relief package is yet another consequence of the discrepancy between federal and state marijuana laws. As state leaders across the country have deemed marijuana businesses as ‘essential’ in the midst of stay-at-home orders, businesses and employees are working through this crisis to ensure access to marijuana for the hundreds of thousands of patients who have adopted it into their treatment regimens. Denying these businesses any form of economic assistance or security is not only wrong, it also emphasizes the urgent need for marijuana policy reform at the federal level.”
Bottom line is that there are still too many moving parts, still too many variables to say if, when and how the cannabis industry can get help.
The coronavirus pandemic has pushed Pornhub to donate face masks to New York and to grant premium access to people across the world.
In an effort to encourage more people to stay home and flatten the coronavirus curve, Pornhub is offering free premium subscriptions for a limited time (until April 23). They’ve also donated 50,000 masks to New York healthcare workers.
These donations are part of Pornhub’s COVID-19 relief measures, which were announced yesterday, after thousands of healthcare workers from across New York state complained about lack of resources and protective gear.
“These masks are mission critical in the fight against the COVID pandemic,” said Joe Calderone, senior vice president at Long Island’s Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital. “They will help keep our nurses, physicians and support staff safe from infection while caring for those who are stricken with the disease.”
Aside from donating masks to different hospitals and locations in New York, Pornhub is also donating $54,000 to help organizations in Germany, Spain and Italy cope with the coronavirus and obtain more medical supplies.
Pornhub is also upgrading the amount of money models are making on their site. Models traditionally used to keep 65% of the money made by these videos; they will now keep 85% of earnings. As a final measure, Pornhub will be providing aid to sex workers, a business that has also been harmed by the coronavirus pandemic. The company donated $25,000 to the Sex Workers Outreach Project to support sex workers affected by COVID-19.
“With nearly one billion people in lockdown across the world because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s important that we lend a hand and provide them with an enjoyable way to pass the time,” said Pornhub’s president Corey Price in a statement.
Pornhub has been updating their premium memberships as the coronavirus has continued to spread across the globe, first providing free access to Italy and now expanding their measures on a worldwide level. Said Price, “We hope by expanding our offer of free Pornhub Premium worldwide, people have an extra incentive to stay home and flatten the curve.”
Edible cannabis company CannaCraft has converted a portion of their manufacturing space and production capacity to formulate and package hand sanitizer.
Cannabis dispensaries have been super busy as sales skyrocketed ahead of lengthy lockdowns. With anxiety levels rising, many consumers turned to cannabis to ease their tensions and help make the time stuck inside go by a little easier. For some companies, they have taken extra steps in order to assist in the fight against the virus.
Canopy Growth/Hexo
BNN Bloomberg reported that Canopy Growth (NYSE: CGC) spokesperson Jordan Sinclair said that the company donated “thousands” of gloves, Tyvek suits, and masks sourced from two massive greenhouses in British Columbia that it shut down earlier this month. “We committed our personal protective equipment from our recently shuttered B.C. sites to the front-line medical staff at a local health unit in Victoria,” Sinclair said in an email to BNN Bloomberg. Hexo said it donated 150 N95 facemasks to paramedic services in the Outaouais region in Quebec to “help fill their critical need”, according to a company spokesperson.
CannaCraft
The edible cannabis company CannaCraft said it has converted a portion of their manufacturing space and production capacity to formulate and package individual bottles of hand sanitizer that will be donated to individuals and organizations throughout California.
The company trialed the program last week, creating hundreds of tubes that were distributed to employees and customers. After the successful test run and registering with the FDA, the company procured enough materials to make 40 gallons (or 5,000 1oz. tubes) of hand sanitizer. The hand sanitizer will be donated to non-profits, customers, employees, and essential businesses and will be distributed later this week by Kind House Distribution, the company’s wholly-owned distribution arm.
“We are doing everything we can to protect our employees and our communities by adhering to guidelines and directives from officials and experts. At the same time, we are uniquely positioned to help in other ways because we have manufacturing equipment, scientific expertise, and a statewide distribution network built into our business,” said Jim Hourigan, CannaCraft CEO. “When we started hearing reports of a shortage in hand sanitizer, we knew that we could be of assistance without negatively impacting our employees or our operations.”
Photo by Noah via Unsplash
The hand sanitizer was formulated by CannaCraft’s head of R&D, Matthew Elmes, Ph.D., and is being packaged and distributed by a limited production team, due to the company’s decision to restrict facility access to essential production and distribution staff only. The teams have been split into smaller groups and are spread throughout CannaCraft’s 70,000 ft2 headquarters to reduce unnecessary interactions. Additionally, CannaCraft has implemented robust health and safety protocols throughout every step of the supply chain process.
Glass House
Glass House Group is donating 1,000 protective gowns to Cottage Hospital, a Santa Barbara hospital, so their healthcare workers can use the disposable protective equipment during the COVID-19 health crisis. The company is also working with its suppliers to find extra masks for frontline healthcare workers, donating 5% of their local product sales from its Santa Barbara dispensary to the food bank to help kids get free nutritious meals while schools are closed and offering all of their workers two weeks of paid leave.
Marrone Bio Innovations
Plant health company Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBII) announced that its Jet-Oxide® 15% post-harvest sanitizer and industrial disinfectant product is now allowed by the U.S. EPA for use against human coronaviruses to sanitize industrial food and agricultural hard surfaces. The allowed use was based on a study conducted by the EPA with Human Coronavirus Strain 229E (one of the viruses associated with human colds) on the effectiveness of spreading of diseases on hard surfaces.
The study, conducted at a sanctioned EPA laboratory, met all requirements for 40CFR 160 – yielding a 99.99% reduction of Human Coronavirus Strain 229E. The study was conducted using a dosage of approximately 1300 ppm (0.130%) of the active ingredient with a contact time of 60 seconds at an ambient temperature of 22 degrees Celsius.
Crazy Calm
CBD coffee brand Crazy Calm said that for every online order from now until the end of March, all profits will be donated to Direct Relief. The company said it chose Direct Relief (DirectRelief.org) because it has a long-standing track record, have already helped tremendously and will continue to do so:
“In the U.S., Direct Relief is delivering protective masks – along with exam gloves and isolation gowns – to health care organizations in areas with confirmed COVID-19 cases.”
“In China, Direct Relief has delivered via FedEx more than 30,000 pounds of protective gear — nearly 800,000 N95 and surgical masks, more than 400,000 gloves, and numerous coveralls, face shields, and shoe covers — to frontline health workers.”
Without the ability to gather in person, marijuana reform efforts have stalled in multiple states across the country.
If you want to fully understand how the coronavirus has impacted marijuana legalization, look at New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo vowed adult-use marijuana would come to the state this year, with reform occurring through the state budget. Cuomo’s proposal was given further momentum as regional states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania announced they would work with New York on the shared goal of introducing recreational marijuana to the Northeast.
Cuomo’s vision was derailed by the novel coronavirus. The state has justifiably dedicated their attention and resources toward the public health crisis. Lawmakers like State Sen. Liz Krueger, among the biggest supporters of adult-use legalization, told reporters she no longer sees the legislation as “realistic” in the current moment. State legislators believe ending prohibition should be done the right way and wait until the coronavirus outbreak is over.
“Our immediate priority should be passing a budget extender to keep the government running while ensuring the state has the necessary resources to address the coronavirus crisis,” Assemblyman Robert Smullen wrote in a column. “The potential legalization of marijuana and other unrelated policy issues should be legislated outside of the state budget when they can receive full and proper consideration.”
Cuomo hasn’t given up hope, though. He has tried to expedite marijuana legalization through an accelerated budget process. Although lawmaker support appears to be waning, Cuomo did not back down at a press conference Monday.
“We will pass a budget and address the policy items that we laid out and we discussed,” Cuomo said. “Because it’s not just about passing a budget and the numbers there are many policy initiatives that I laid out back in January and we’re going to pursue all of them.”
“I want to do legalizing marijuana,” he added.
Photo by 4X-image/Getty Images
Achieving groundbreaking marijuana legalization and practicing responsible behavior to combat the coronavirus appear at odds, however. Last month, Vermont’s House and Legislature agreed to terms for recreational marijuana, but couldn’t finalize details around regulation and tax rates. These important issue cannot be resolved right now, as lawmakers have temporarily adjourned as a precautionary measure.
Advocates in Nebraska have suspended collecting signatures in their medical marijuana legalization campaign in response to the coronavirus. The group needs to collect 130,000 signature by July to qualify medical marijuana as a ballot initiative, but that appears unlikely unless the coronavirus threat ends within the next few weeks. An Ohio group needed to gather 443,000 valid signatures from registered voters by July 1 as well to put recreational marijuana on the November ballot. But Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced a “stay-at-home” order this week, suspending the group’s ability to mobilize.
The Nebraska group remains hopeful that medical marijuana will be on the ballot this November.
“Thank you to all Nebraskans who have given their support so far to our effort to get voter approval of legalized medical cannabis on the ballot this fall,” Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana wrote on Facebook. “Your signatures, along with overwhelming citizen support for the measure, is going to help make it a reality and bring relief to individuals and communities throughout our entire state.”
Stuck at home alone? Here’s how you can stay entertained.
Whether you’re an introvert who’s comfortable with their alone time or someone with all kinds of in-home entertainment, you’re probably reaching that point where self-isolating is grating on your nerves. While it’s reassuring to know that most people are in the same situation, fresh ideas and fun new activities are always appreciated during these stressful times.
While you could finally open a TikTok account or complete one of those Instagram challenges that everyone’s doing, we have a more helpful and less annoying suggestion: getting high.
Smoking some weed will help you stay entertained even when doing dumb stuff. There’s also the fact that you won’t become that irritating person who can’t stop talking about themselves on social media while the world is dealing with a pandemic.
Here are 5 things you can do while high that will prove to be entertaining and distracting:
Work out
Yeah, yeah, working out is never fun, especially when you’re doing it from home, but you could make the whole process easier by getting high. Having an edible or smoking some weed before a workout will allow you to have tons of fun while staying focused, allowing you to push yourself further. The comfort of your home is also the best thing you can do when it comes to getting high, eliminating paranoia and imagined weird looks from strangers.
A lot of people don’t prioritize reading, which is understandable with the amount of TV, movies, podcasts and real life that’s going on. Now that everything is on hold and your eyes probably hurt from all that screen time, it’s the perfect opportunity to get reacquainted with books. While reading while high is a tall order, there are books that match these kinds of mindsets. Try reading a book you loved when you were younger or the Harry Potter series. These books are easy to grasp and will provide tons of escapism.
Clean
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Cleaning is never fun, but it can transform into a particularly engrossing experience once you add weed into the mix. Cleaning consumes a lot of your free time and is also a kind of sweaty activity, so try to make it fun with some music and the right amount of weed.
Most of us listen to music while doing something else, like working or cooking or working out. Now that you have so much time on your hands, take the opportunity to get high and listen to music with no other distractions.
Take a bath
Photo by Sarah Pflug via Burst
Taking baths is one of the most relaxing activities in the world. By adding weed into the mix, it’s almost too intensely gratifying, with the power to destress even the most stressed people. You can make these baths even better by bringing in a laptop, phone or tablet, placing it someplace safe and putting on a funny show or a space movie. Depending on your mood, you could either spend hours laughing or just have a really trippy bath.
The coronavirus is a respiratory disease, meaning that the risk of obtaining the illness through food is minimized. Here’s what you should know.
The coronavirus has impacted all types of businesses, dealing a particularly harsh blow to restaurants and bars. These industries have now tried to develop creative ways of continuing to work in order to pay the employees they have left while somehow turning a profit. Thousands of people have been laid off and it’s expected that many locations will close indefinitely.
While there are limits to what concerned citizens can do, most government representatives say that ordering take-out is one of the most helpful things you can do to support these businesses. But that leads to another question: When practicing social distancing, is it safe to eat food that was prepared in a restaurant? What about the risks of preparing your own food, visiting the grocery store or interacting with a delivery person?
These are complicated questions since we’re all operating on the assumption that whatever you bring inside your home is contaminated, whether that’s a milk carton from the grocery store, a UPS package or take-out containers. The one way to minimize risk is to clean all surfaces and packages since, depending on the material, the coronavirus can stay alive on these surfaces for up to a day.
When it comes to take-out, the safest thing you can do is to carefully transfer the food from the container it came from to a clean plate. Wash your hands before eating and try to keep the surfaces you interact with regularly as clean as possible.
The delivery method is the most effective way of minimizing risks. While the delivery person is exposed to different people on the way to your home, the best thing you can do to help them and to take care of yourself is to instruct them to drop off the package at your door and wait until they’re gone to pick the package up.
Photo by Anna Sullivan via Unsplash
When it comes to the food itself, experts are not aware of how long the virus can survive on it, only knowing that it’s much more stable in non-porous surfaces. While there’s no way of completely ruling out food as a possible vector, experts believe the coronavirus doesn’t follow these patterns. Subjects who’ve contracted the disease and who’ve tracked how they got sick agree that the infection most likely occurred due to clusters of people.
To dispel all doubts, a study from 2018 shows that respiratory viruses thrive while on the respiratory track, where they replicate and reproduce. The digestive track is a completely different system. If you still feel like there’s a risk, you can place the food in the microwave and heat it for three minutes on high. You’ll have to wait a bit to eat but there’s no way the virus will stay alive in that hot environment.
The most effective measure we can take to protect ourselves and others is to minimize contact. When it comes to food, whether you’re purchasing groceries or ordering take-out, you should clean the surfaces when it makes sense to do so, and wash our hands before cooking or opening packages. Before sitting down to eat, wash your hands once more to make sure.
The agency is making progress to register additional marijuana growers for federally authorized research, and will continue to work with other relevant federal agencies to expedite the necessary next steps.
Late last week, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Department of Justice announced action to further expand opportunities for scientific and medical research on marijuana in the United States.
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was filed for public inspection on March 20. The proposed rule was then published in the Federal Register on Monday, March 23. The new approach will expand opportunities for marijuana growers who seek to grow marijuana for research purposes and outline the agency’s proposed process for administering the new program, consistent with applicable law.
“The Drug Enforcement Administration continues to support additional research into marijuana and its components, and we believe registering more growers will advance the scientific and medical research already being conducted,” said DEA Acting Administrator Dhillon. “DEA is making progress to register additional marijuana growers for federally authorized research, and will continue to work with other relevant federal agencies to expedite the necessary next steps.”
This proposed rule will result in additional registered growers and a larger, more diverse variety of marijuana available for research. The new regulations will enable DEA to evaluate each of the 37 pending applications to grow marijuana for research under the applicable legal standard and conform the overall program to relevant laws.
Photo by CasarsaGuru/Getty Images
The release of this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is the latest and most significant action taken to expand the number of registered marijuana growers in the United States and underscores the federal government’s support for scientific and medical research with marijuana and its chemical constituents.
Since the beginning of this Administration, there has been a 58% increase in the number of active researchers registered with DEA to conduct research with marijuana, marijuana extracts, and marijuana derivatives — from 377 in January 2017 to 595 in March 2020. At present, more researchers are registered to conduct research on marijuana, marijuana extracts, and marijuana derivatives than on any other schedule I substance in the United States.
More than 70% of DEA’s total schedule I research registrant population is registered to conduct research on these substances. To accommodate this growth in research, DEA has increased the annual production quota for marijuana by 575% — from 472 kilograms in 2017 to 3,200 kilograms in 2020.
The Ontario Cannabis Store, which serves as the province’s online monopoly supplier, reported an 80% increase last week in customer volume for an average Saturday. An aggressive drop in prices to increase competitiveness online was in part responsible for the uptick in sales, according to Marijuana Business Daily.
Headset, a cannabis intelligence firm, also confirmed Canadian marijuana stores had increased sales due to coronavirus-related worries. Canadians were spending about $20 CAD more per basket last Monday and some stores more than doubled their normal volume in sales. Headset also hinted at another factor driving these sales — a possible shortage of supply.
Private retail in the Alberta and British Columbia provinces typically carry around 5.8 weeks of inventory in stores. By the end of last week, those same stores had just over 3 weeks of supply left. Edibles and cannabis-infused drinks, which had only recently become available in legal Canadian markets, have been the most depleted of supplies. Meanwhile, pre-rolled joints have taken a dip in market share, as consumption habits have changed in the coronavirus era.
Photo by Zach Heiberg via Unsplash
“With edibles, it’s probably the easiest way to get high without touching your face very much,” Headset Director of Analytics Liz Connors told The Fresh Toast. “If you want to share it with someone, they’re pre-wrapped little. So there’s very little risk of transmitting the virus versus sharing a joint. I think it’s a great decision right now.”
Around this time last year, the Canadian legal marijuana market experienced a shortage of supply and couldn’t meet consumer demand. But multiple province officials maintain that supply is not a worry, at the moment.
An Ontario Cannabis Store spokesperson confirmed to MJBizDaily they have enough inventory to meet the demand. The Societe Quebecoise du Cannabis, which has a monopoly on marijuana sales in Quebec, also stated they have enough inventory. Many licensed producers also remain fully operational, according to reports.
While suddenly as a society we’re faced with needing to make time for trying new ways to stay spiritually and emotionally-healthy, little items can make a big difference.
As the country prepares for social distancing and longer days indoors, individuals in self-quarantine might feel the effects of cabin fever compounded on top of the winter months that have just passed.
From parents and caregivers to older adults staying put, the effects of COVID-19 on communities are felt outside, as well as inside America’s homes. Many are struggling with how to stay busy (and sane!) during these uncertain times.
Recently, The Fresh Toast spoke exclusively to Matthew Milèo, founder of luxury skincare company MILÈO New York, on the importance of self-care in trying times.
Milèo shared that he felt meditation offered a remarkable break from trying times, suggesting that relaxing the state of mind could help the body as a whole. Read below to find out more of what he had to say about taking a moment to meditate and why it’s so powerful:
Q: Can you share with our readers who may not have tried meditation before, what should they know?
“Many people think that mediation requires a dark, quiet spot with no distractions around. One of the things I’ve discovered about mediation is how versatile it can be. I like practicing ‘active meditation’ through activities such as swimming, running, or even cleaning. If you have a detailed oriented mind like myself, sometimes having a task to perform is extremely therapeutic and gives a helping hand to transcending into that state of higher consciousness. It’s almost like you’re distracting your body with a shiny new object so your mind can transcend to another dimension. I’ve had my best epiphany swimming laps in the pool or rigorously cleaning the kitchen sink!”
Photo by Antonika Chanel via Unsplash
Q: Are there any barriers to meditation that should be shared?
“While succumbing to a relaxed state of mind may sound incredibly blissful, for some, an overwhelming wave of anxiety or distraught emotion may arise. I like to call this the lotus effect, which is named after one of my favorite meditation visuals of thinking of a blossoming lotus in a murky pond.
“The lotus flower is one of the most pristine botanical specimens of perfection. The petals are all shaped identical and each are lined with an emollient wax that beads off water and debris which always keeps it clean. In order for the flower to get to that blossoming state of fruition, its seed must travel through dark and dense muddy waters, weaving through other competing lotus stems and buds to get to the surface so it can open and release its beauty to the world.
“Its journey is chaotic, convoluted, and uncertain. A beginning meditation practice is a lot like that — journeying to the depths of the mind where unwanted thoughts and feelings have been suppressed within its own corridors, a sudden urge to open the mind’s channel can release an emotional floodgate.
“The body reacts and signals a rush of nervousness, discomfort, fear, and even anger. But with understanding, compassion, and patience, one’s mediation practice can evolve just like the lotus flower, where one’s mind will eventually break through the surface and the unraveling of one’s true conscious can begin.”
Milèo explained that while suddenly as a society we’re faced with needing to make time for trying new ways to stay spiritually and emotionally-healthy, little items can make a big difference. He shared that when using his oils, he developed a ritual: cupping the hands over the nose and taking five deep breaths in and out. He recommends slowing down, giving permission to enhance the senses and meditating stress away.
