SA
Yogi, where in the world are you and how are you feeling today?
Y
Namaste, hello, high! I’m in my garage studio in Hayward, California. This is where most of the magic happens from Luv Kush. I’m feeling a little bloated today and cramping, but excited to be here, grateful for the sunshine and weed to help me get by. I just smoked a bowl of Jack Herer grown by my neighbor and drank some of my cannabis infused Haldi Doodh.
SA
How did you arrive at Luv Kush?
Y
Luv Kush was an idea that came to me after half a decade of self medicating with weed. I faced a lot of stigma from my family and the South Asian community for my cannabis use. At the same time, I felt alone working in the cannabis industry where, transitioning from legacy to legal markets, the industry became heavily dominated with white males who often silenced and overlooked my input. At the same time I saw more South Asian culture being appropriated for terrible marketing and branding campaigns. I initially arrived at Luv Kush Co as a space for South Asians in the industry to connect, but it quickly grew to be a community that reclaims ancestral cannabis medicine within the South Asian diaspora. It’s a safe space for our community to learn about weed, to meet other people that use weed, and to share our stories to reframe the stigmatized narrative of cannabis.
“ A spot where we can kick it; a spot where we belong, that’s just for us.” – Tupac Shakur
SA
As a South Asian woman, unlearning shame has been a big part of my healing journey. My relationship to cannabis has been a pillar of excavating the remnants of guilt that exist within my psyche, but it’s interesting because I also sometimes feel shame towards my practice of consuming cannabis. It’s awkward – maybe it’s because I live in a city where marijuana is still criminalized. My upbringing in a Thamizh Christian family also plays a big role. What are some tips you have for fellow desi girls who are working through shame and cultivating a relationship to cannabis?
Y
Shame is real. It keeps us from being our truest selves. It’s a concept designed by the white patriarchy to oppress us and fit a generic, cookie cutter model. Although cannabis helps us through this, society tells us to be ashamed of our connection to this ancestral medicine. See how that’s connected? Cannabis is a tool designed to dismantle shame, but we are shamed for using cannabis, so for generations we’ve been stuck in cycles of shame. I feel like finding a way to use cannabis for self discovery breaks that cycle.
Reflect on your personal relationship with the plant to reframe the narratives of shame that have been associated with weed. What do you feel connected to when you use cannabis? In what ways has weed improved your quality of life? How does it connect to our heritage? When we reflect on our experiences, we affirm positive feelings with cannabis and start breaking the generational curse of shame put on us by colonization. Reclaim what is our ancestral right – to our bodies, our medicine, our truth.
Create boundaries for people that project their opinions/shame on to you and allow your truth to guide you to like minded individuals who share your experiences. If you’re reading this, you are already living in your truth in some shape or form~ it’s what led us to each other today.
SA
It’s super inspiring seeing the flourishing relationship between you and your parents. How has cannabis allowed for better connections within interpersonal relationships?
Y
I appreciate that! It’s a process and we are still doing a lot of learning and unlearning together. I think weed opened up our relationship because cannabis helped me understand my parents struggles and identity as an Indo-Fijian. It was when I started doing research on weed in India that I learned that weed migrated to the Carribean (Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago, Guyana), Fiji, South Africa and so many other places because of Indian laborers who were sold as indentured slaves by the British. My ancestors were one of those Indians. My passion for weed led me to learn about my ancestors which deepened the understanding my parents and I had of each other.
This flowed into all of the relationships in my life. Cannabis made it easier to be myself. I’m finally able to honor my boundaries with people I find draining or that I can’t be myself around. Cannabis helped me attract like-minded people to build genuine relationships without feeling like it was a separate part of my identity. As I mentioned earlier, living in our truth has a magnetic power that attracts you to your tribe. I used cannabis as a tool to access my ancestry- that was my self discovery, but self-discovery is infinite. Discover your inner artist, badass, goddess, chef, photographer, poet, revolutionary.
SA
Can you tell me a little about the South Asian roots of marijuana as a spiritual practice?
Y
Cannabis goes back thousands of years as a spiritual practice. Bhang, the Sanskrit word for hemp, was noted as one of the 5 plants of life in the Atharva Veda ~ an ancient Hindu text dating back to at least 1000 BCE. Cannabis was noted in Ayurveda (the Hindu medicine of life) to cure ailments such as urinary disorder, malaria, colic, diarrhea, fever, headaches, nausea, indigestion and more. In some Ayurvedic texts, cannabis is referred to as vijaya or the conqueror.
Bhang is said to be the favorite food of Lord Shiva and Parvati dating back to the legend of the Samudra Manthan, or Churning of the Milky Ocean when the devas (demi-gods) and asura (demons) worked together to obtain amrita, the elixir of immortality. Legend says during the churning, ratnas, gifts, sprung from the cosmic ocean, the final being an elixir of immortality, amrita, which spilled and gave us cannabis. After the last ratna was delivered, a vile poison remained, so Lord Shiva sacrificed his welfare and consumed it to save the universe. Parvati did not want her husband to die and wasn’t going down without a fight. She quickly utilized the knowledge of Ayurveda, to prepare a remedy made of cannabis that would keep the poison from toxifying the rest of his body. Parvati held the poison in her husband’s throat and fed him the bhang, saving him from the venom. Shiva, astonished by the power of ganja, presented it to humans as his personal gift to mankind.
He is known as the Lord of Bhang and original creator of yoga. I would even argue to say he and Parvati created the original ‘ganja yoga.’ Legend states that Parvati and Shiva consumed bhang to intentionally channel their sexual energy into meditation and yoga in the Himalayas.
Their legends are still honored in India today, no matter how taboo. Bhang tandai (milkshake), bhang mitai (sweets) and more are sold in government certified shops for holidays like Shivratri and Holi. Babas and Sadhus still smoke ganja (another Sanskrit word for cannabis) and charas (hash) in the name of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.
SA
I fully believe that marijuana is a medicine that pushes us towards ego death, yet a lot of folks refrain from consumption due to paranoia. Is paranoia just another facet of the ego? What are some ways folks who have trouble consuming marijuana can ease themselves into a relationship with it?
Y
I love that we feel the same way about this. I agree, I feel like bhang definitely pushes us towards ego death. Bob Marley said, “When you smoke the herbs it reveals you to yourself.” That means the good, but sometimes it also means the bad and the ugly. Sometimes, we might not be ready to face our ego, and this can manifest as negative thoughts, paranoia or a “bad trip.” This is just your body and the cannabis guiding you to work through ego to access spirit. The ego needs security and safety, to feel in control.
To help with the latter, I highly recommend developing a ritual that sets the mood or intention for your practice. Light some incense, turn on a nice song and reflect on something that will ground you through your experience. You can go even deeper and journal your thoughts before, during or after consuming your medicine. Secondly, start by microdosing (consuming a very small amount of THC/CBD). Taking your medicine in small doses allows you to feel out the effects and monitor your tolerance level. It’s also important to remember that cannabis feels different if it’s consumed in different forms- edibles, tinctures, smoking, full spectrum vs distillate. Try out a variety of ways to consume before making a decision!
SA
What are some of your go to grounding practices over the past year?
Y
The loudest voice in my head is screaming GRATITUDE!!! Gratitude is definitely my grounding practice. This past year was a really heavy year for all of us as a collective, but coming back to a list of gratitude always seemed to calm me. If I was feeling ugly, I’d make a list of reasons why I was grateful for my body. If I was feeling anxious, I’d make all the things I was grateful for bringing me comfort. Writing my own affirmations out every morning was also very grounding. If I was feeling tension in my day, I could center myself back to my affirmation. “I am a vessel for creativity and joy.”
Another one of my favorite rituals is putting on my Khush & OJ Face Mask, smoking a Backwood and listening to my friends podcasts. My favorites are Desi Soul Jams by Mandee Banga (), Brown Girl Tokes () & The DiaTribe Podcast by Pearly Pouponneau (). It’s a chance to laugh, cry, ove on my skin and myself while feeling like I’m hanging out with my stoner girlfriends.
This might be off-topic, but these are the people living in my truth led me to! Sharing our experiences with cannabis connected us on Instagram where we’ve been able to hang out virtually and build together. It’s helped process a lot of the isolation I’ve been feeling this past year.
Yogi is the founder of Luv Kush Co, a community wellness space that explores and reclaims cannabis in the South Asian diaspora through consciously cultivated education, resources, and experiences. Yogi’s work in the cannabis space reclaims thousands of years of medicine and unveils how Britain’s exploitation of South Asians gave birth to the first legal cannabis cultivations in modern history. Learn more at by following