This interview first appeared in the Sports Edition of Fat Nugs Magazine, released May 2024.
I met Hannah and Vance in 2021 when I became a Lit Yoga certified yoga instructor, a truly life-changing experience for me.
Lit Yoga introduced me to an online cannabis and yoga community where I felt empowered to remove the shame and stigma of using cannabis in my personal yoga practice. I know my experience would not have been possible without a global pandemic and a forced reliance on technology. We are all healing from the collective trauma of a worldwide threat. Cannabis is medicine. Yoga is medicine. They have complemented one another for thousands of years. I am forever grateful to Hannah Mason and Vance Vlasek for sharing their knowledge and experience.
An Interview with the Founders of Lit Yoga
What was your first experience consuming cannabis? How and with whom?
Hannah: Halloween in San Francisco in 2005. With friends, a few hits from a piece. Giggles galore. Felt light. Felt free.
Vance: The first time I smoked weed was 17, and it was with a close friend who was a closeted lesbian at the time. I was obviously in the closet at the time, too. We smoked from a pipe on the beach. It was this beautiful moment of solidarity and friendship, and I don’t remember feeling much, but I felt like I was the lights when she was driving me home. Then, when I got home, I ran into my room and hid. I felt this fear that my mom would smell me when I walked in.
Do you incorporate cannabis into your personal yoga practice?
Hannah: I do! But not always. I love the addition of cannabis when I am looking for a challenge or looking for more ease. That may sound paradoxical, but that is what cannabis is–it meets you differently depending on where you are and when, combined with physical activity, many things can be happening at once. It can make you more aware of your tension or trapped emotions, or it can ease muscle tension and help you find flow. It can expand your breath and bring imaginative powers, or it can feel contracting and limiting in range. It is an added layer to any practice, and sometimes we need added layers. Sometimes we need to explore beyond the normal waking state of consciousness.
The desire to alter state is a human and animal impulse that has existed forever. I love practicing yoga with cannabis, and I love practicing it without. It depends on the intention for my practice, the environment, those I am surrounded by, and what my body and mind need at that moment.
Vance: Absolutely! It’s part of my lifestyle.
Would you consider yourself stoned or high when teaching Lit Yoga?
Hannah: When I first opened Lit Yoga in 2017 in Venice Beach, I did not teach while high, and I encouraged other teachers to teach without being high. What we were doing at the time brought a certain amount of exploration and liability, so being the “sober” one in the room created more of a container to hold space for students to travel into altered states and for the teacher to remain more grounded.
Over time, I began to experiment. I found that teaching after consuming didn’t always allow for the easiest communication to students (hello mixing rights and lefts and ups and downs), but sometimes it did create a stronger bridge with the students and brought in more spontaneous creativity in sequencing, cueing, and hands-on adjustments. Teaching yoga brings about a natural high, so there is that, too. Everyone is unique; what works for one teacher may not work for another.
I’ve taught some life-changing classes while very high, and some that felt wonky and clunky. The biggest thing I’ve learned from all of this is… we must leave behind the rights and wrongs in order to find our individual journey. To find what is true for us. And to not judge others for what may be true for them, when it comes to their own consumption and what opens them up to the most present, expanded, supportive yoga teacher they can be.
Vance: I’ve taught some great classes while I was high, and I’ve taught some that didn’t feel like they went well, but that happens with or without “being high”. I do feel that when I use cannabis in my teaching, it’s easier for me to connect to Spirit.
What’s your favorite way to consume?
Hannah: I’m a joint lover. A few bong rips here and there. But the ritual of grinding the herb, rolling it up, taking the time to make the creation I will consume… that’s unbeatable. Low-dose edibles are a wonderful tool for the right moments too.
Vance: I like a spliff. I know there’s a stigma in cannabis about tobacco, but I like the way it enhances the experience.
What would you like people to know about Lit Yoga?
Hannah: Lit Yoga is a place for the psychedelic explorers. The students who come to our classes and the teachers who become certified all carry a light, a spark. They seek the fire. They become illuminated. Through self-study (svadhyaya), through breath practices (pranayama), through exploring the inner depths of their body and mind…it is a transformational process.
Lit Yoga has bloomed since our first humble studio in 2017 and migrated mostly online in the last couple years–we have a self-paced training anyone can sign up for at any time. There are 80+ certified Lit Yoga teachers worldwide and hundreds of students who have been impacted by the practice. We support sun-grown local farmers and continue to destigmatize plant medicine through education, empowerment and experience. Join our community on IG: @lityoga
Vance: It’s a space to feel safe and free and shed shame.
