How To Stay High While Keeping Your Mind, Body & Soul Engaged | Health
If you’re like, well, the entire world right now, you’re probably on some sort of lockdown due to Covid-19 quarantine. I’m writing this in mid-April, and while there are rumblings of getting back to some semblance of normal in the next month or two, the reality is that we really have no idea how long this will last. Personally, I’ve had my good days and my bad days, but one of the things that has made this social isolation bearable for me has been engaging in virtual events with other quarantin-ees from around the world. Getting back into piano, blazing through a few puzzles, and all of the episodes of Broad City back on Hulu has helped, too (not to mention, tons of weed and a few timely cocktails).
Puff, Pass & Paint and Cannabis Tours started offering complimentary online classes on our social media as soon as we had to shut down our physical events, and this has served a couple of purposes… it’s kept you guys entertained (I hope!), and it’s kept us from going absolutely nuts. I’ve been teaching acrylic and painting classes along with our amazing instructors Josh Schmidt and Austa Obringer, and we’ve also had a bunch of amazing guest creatives as well, from Chef Royalty showing us how to make insanely delicious-looking infused shrimp alfredo pasta, to James (Taco) Mandeville doing an awesome glass blowing demonstration. Laynie Ganja has joined us for her infamous mindful movement classes (which was one of my favorites to date), and we’re constantly adding more artists and events every day.
Amber Watkins, more commonly known as Bam in the cannabis community, has created a bunch of these lit coloring pages if you want to just smoke, zone out, and stay within the lines (or color outside of them, I’m not judging… if you’re happy, I’m happy!). If you want to find more of her artwork and coloring ops, her Instagram is @bamcolorado303.
I quickly learned that an important part of staying relatively sane during quarantine has been staying physically active, so I’ve gotten into weeding my yard (something I NEVER thought I’d enjoy), so you can actually see flowers through the thistles now. I’ve also made it a daily habit to make sure I do SOME sort of physical exercise, whether it be a walk with my dog, a leisurely run, or even mindful meditation (again, check out Laynie Ganja, known for her mindful meditation and movement routines that incorporate cannabis). If you’re looking for a chill, cannabis-based yoga class, Lucy Rose of Greenlove Wellness is one of my favorites, and she does regular virtual events that leave you feeling mentally rejuvenated as well as physically detoxed (find her schedule at greenlovedenver.com). If you really want to get your ass kicked, one of my favorite new workouts is with Kimberly Roybal Ward, who is an incredible personal trainer in Denver, and has been offering free workouts on her Facebook business page every day at 10am (you can find her on Facebook at KimFit Fitness Classes).
Personally, I’ve had extremely productive and positive days mixed with lackluster, unproductive, and depressed days filled with uncertainty and fear, and you know what, you guys… that’s ok. Just because we’ve had our former lives stripped from us and we’re closeted in our homes, often bored, doesn’t mean that we’re required to learn a new skill or start a new business or even be productive all the time. We need to learn to follow what our bodies and minds need and want, and if that’s laying around and watching all of the seasons of Bloodline (I highly recommend, but I’m way late to the game, so you’ve probably watched it already. Maybe you should re-watch it.) or beating the Guinness Book of World Records competition for Staring At the Wall While Unshowered, that’s ok too! This is a tough freaking time, and all we can do is get through it, survive, and prepare ourselves for a new sense of normalcy. Stay high, bitches. I love ya.
Heidi Keyes is the Founder of Puff, Pass & Paint, and Co-Founder & President of Cannabis Tours. Heidi writes about her experiences, sharing her advice, travel tips, and wisdom in Puff, Pass Ponder.