While the holidays can be the most wonderful time of the year, they can also be among the most stressful. So on Saturday, Dec. 29, Thrive Yoga and Wellness is offering a unique class to help ease mind and body: CBD yoga.
Cannabidiol, known as CBD, is a naturally occurring substance derived from the hemp plant, and is reputed to help provide relief from a variety of conditions including pain, anxiety, stress, joint issues and more.
Thrive owner Jennifer Dixon said she discovered CBD when her dog got a cancerous tumor and was unable to take pain pills, and she was able to provide pain relief with CBD oil. She wanted to offer the benefits of CBD to her clients, and decided to combine restorative yoga with the use of CBD.
The studio has offered the class four or five times in the past, and it always sells out, Dixon said.
Yoga instructors Tamara Whitfield and Lesleigh Guinn, who's also a hemp educator and Southeast sales manager for Integrative Hemp Solutions, will teach participants about the medicinal benefits of CBD and then let them experience it for themselves.
Before beginning the hourlong restorative yoga class, each attendee will get a 250-milligram dosage of sublingual tincture oil, which is absorbed into the body by placing it under the tongue. The relaxing style of yoga involves props such as bolster pillows that allow practitioners to calm and reset the body, and CBD oil does the same for the mind, said Guinn.
Each yoga pose is combined with massage using topical CBD oil as well, Dixon added.
"It just enhances the relaxation aspects [of restorative yoga]," she said.
Participants will get a 25 percent discount that day on products from Integrative Hemp Solutions, which Guinn said is unique in that it's the only oil developed and produced by a physician in the Southeast.
The cost of the class is the same as a regular session, $16, and includes the 250-milligram dose of CBD oil.
"If they're new to the use of CBD for relaxation or pain, it's an easy, low-cost, low-pressure way to try it," said Dixon.
All proceeds will go toward Thrive's Yoga in the Schools program, in which Thrive instructors teach weekly yoga classes at Washington Alternative School located off Highway 58. Launched in the fall of 2017, the program has received donations of used mats but needs funds to purchase props and provide some compensation to teachers, who have thus far been volunteering their time, Dixon said.
"The goal for our Yoga in Schools program is to create a sustainable solution that provides yoga education to children in the Hamilton County Schools that may never receive access to such a life changing practice," she said.
If demand continues, Dixon said she plans to offer the CBD class on a more regular basis in the future.
Thrive Yoga and Wellness is at 7633 E. Brainerd Road. Visit Thrive's Facebook page for more information and to RSVP for the class, which runs from 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Email Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com.