Look! We made a short survey – please clickety-clack, two-minutes tops, help us make Home Base even better.
Keeping it breezy this week. A few months ago, Dan asked me to make a meditation to pair with his Ten Percent Happier episode on marijuana: the science, the promise, the perils, and so on.
The subject of psychoactive substances – both their recreational and ceremonial value – is fascinating. Cannabis is legal in Canada. I like this. Stoners are a largely peaceable cohort, more so than drunkards. The odd spliff can be fun for spiritual insights and refreshed dance-floor confidence – we forget all the ways we once danced badly, and find creative new ways to dance badly. Important not to be attached to those insights and experiences, though, since the fruit of the practice is mostly found in our ever-ordinary, ever-extraordinary, everyday life.
Within Buddhism, of course, there’s a prohibition around mind-altering substances. Intoxication – aka “the Poison Path” – can create carelessness and moral turpitude and distortion and addiction. Different intoxicants wreak different kinds of havoc on different nervous systems. Do your research, friends.
That caveat out of the way … life is nuanced and surprising and tends to defy rigid human-imposed rules, however well-meaning. I like Bob Thurman’s line about Dzogchen: “Every teaching is the great perfection for someone.” (Thank you, Tasha Schumann). There are plenty of intelligent and sensitive practitioners who get healing and insight from their use of cannabis and other plant medicines.
So. This meditation is a rocking buzzy body flow practice for stoners, psychonauts, and other lovers of luxury. You do not have to be high to do it. I don’t meditate high. Why would I? I’d rather be dancing. But others do. They say it sensitizes them to their body in a way that’s enjoyable and beneficial. In fact a couple years ago Tasha and I had a hilarious conversation with the Buddhist teacher and psychonaut Will Johnson all about this.
And speaking of the podcast, our latest episode with Jan Winhall is one of our best: deep belly laughs and terrific insight into the healing process. A healing process, by the way, that happens to be perfectly commensurate with what’s described in many shamanic traditions.
Many paths up the mountain. The question is, once you get up there, can your practice help you with the inevitable climb (plummet!) back down? Thank you, meditation – still my favourite medicine.
That’s it for this week, friends. Stay safe.
Jeff
PS - I’ll mention the survey again … I passionately want Home Base to make a real difference in people’s lives, while keeping it easy-going and affordable. For this, I need your feedback. Please fill out this super short survey to help Joe, Mylene, Sarah and I identify which parts of Home Base you find most supportive, what you’d like to see more or less of, and what simple practical changes might make these offerings even more accessible, powerful, and connected. Honestly, it’s the most thrilling and satisfying puzzle I can imagine working on: how can we, using our existing modest resources and community connections, help as many people as possible (including myself) live more fulfilled and caring and engaged lives? Practice is my small part of the answer. Feel free to share how YOU think about this, either in the survey, or in the comments below. ❤️
A few quick notes—
The next Do Nothing Project (DNP) live meditation is Sunday, October 11 at 8pm EDT. Link here. Replays are archived Monday mornings on Home Base and YouTube.
New to Home Base? We have over 80 free guided meditations in our audio library, over 65 extended meditations, over 365 meditations on YouTube, and a growing number of community practice videos. New writing, new audio meditations, and new DNP live community practice sessions happen every week.
Did you find me on Calm or Happier? While the meditations I made for the apps live on in perpetuity, I no longer record new meditations for them. My latest work happens here; becoming a paid subscriber is the best way to support that work. If you found this meditation and post helpful, but becoming a paid subscriber isn’t an option, you can also …
Many thanks!
THIS WEEK ON THE MIND BOD ADVENTURE POD
This week on the Mind Bod Pod, we’re hanging with Jan Winhall — psychotherapist, nervous-system nerd, and … drumroll … Jeff’s former therapist! As Jeff puts it, she once helped dig him out of a “mental health sinkhole.” Now she’s on the other side of the mic. THIS IS A PARTICULARLY FUN AND HELPFUL EPISODE; PLEASE COMMENT ON THE MIND BOD SITE IF YOU AGREE.
Where Meditation Leads, In-Person Toronto Event
Northern District Library, 40 Orchard View Blvd - also online
November 29, 2026, 1 - 4pm
For all my Toronto friends, I’m doing a rare in-person afternoon teaching event on Sunday November 19 from 1 - 4pm. Would love to see you there. It’s for a good cause: a fundraiser for The Consciousness Explorers Club , a not-for-profit with the mission of making meditation and personal growth practices accessible to all. It’s being offered on a “pay what you’re able to” model; you can also join online via zoom.
Our subject: Where does meditation practice lead? Maybe you can tell ME! Over the course of this three-hour session, I'll lead practices and discussion about the different ways meditation can help us drop under the turbulent surface layer of mind (and circumstance) into the deeper stream of life just happening.
