ashtanga yoga Question on food before practice

[Guest guest]

Question on eating before morning practice

 

I have a morning ashtanga practice as of 4 years now. I am familiar with the

rules about eating before practice - no eating up to 4 hours before practice,

no drinking water up to 1 hour before practice. I would like to ask, however,

what are people's personal experiences with this? deally you would wake up,

maybe have some coffee and juice and then practice, having breakfast after

practice.

 

Before I started doing yoga I used to swim and do aerobics. I learned many years

ago to eat something before exercise, when I was finding that perhaps this

worked better for my constitution. Perhaps it was mild hypoglicemia, or just the

fact that if you do exercise on an empty stomach, you feel light headed, and at

the conclusion of exercise can even feel somewhat dizzy. I'm not talking about

having adverse medical conditions here. I'm describing typical physiological

realities. Ashtanga is a spiritual practice, but it involves energetic asanas

that are a intense forms of exercise.

 

So my question is, in your personal practice, if you practice in the morning, do

you eat something up to an hour or an hour and a half before? Do you have some

yogurt? Do you have some fruit? Lately I have been eating half a cup of fruit

with a quarter cup of cereal, with a cup of tea and glass of juice, up to an

hour and a half before practice. I still do the practice pretty well, without

intestinal discomforts. Maybe I interrupt the practice to go to the restroom a

few more times than if I had not eaten anything, but I still have good flow.

 

I understand why eating food before practice would be discouraged. It might be

difficult to bind in Marichasna D, for example, or it might be difficult on the

internal organs when you are squeezing and twisting them like a kitchen rag.

 

I have read that fruit passes very quickly through the stomach. It does not need

a lot of digestion, so it passes to the intestines quickly. I cannot see the

harm of what I'm doing and I have the energy to do the practice. I have asked

this question to senior teachers and I usually get the typical answer of the

rules. In my humble opinion, I don't think that in reality everybody adheres

stricktly to the rules because we all have different constitutions.

 

Comments, please

 

OM Shanti

Arturo

[Guest guest]

i start really early when I practice and like you said in your email, different

people will have different experience about the 'NO EATING W/IN 3 HRS BEFORE

PRACTICE" but for me it does work best that i don't have anything except coffee

an hour before. and just grab brunch after class. some of my friends do grab

something light within the 2 hours before practice. just so they wouldn't feel

weak, another friend of mine, you'd see her getting to the studio eating either

a banana or apple just 20 mins before class - she said that she wouldn't find

the energy to practice without having something to eat.

 

i think what i can suggest and if anyone finds it incorrect, please do let me

know... but what i think...just always listen to your body. i did have a muffin

1 hour before practice once and i felt sick when i started my

inversions...including adho mukha svanasana so that made me stick to the rule of

no food within 3 hours.

 

if you are doing fine with your fruits, cereal, juice etc... and you don't

make your body feel sick during the practice or feel any discomfort, then i

think it should be ok to do the way you do it. but then again...this could only

work for you

[Guest guest]

I have water, juice, and latte 2 hours before practice. My juice is oj w/banana,

blueberries, strawberries in blender; that way it goes through my system and I

have energy for practice. My latte is only 4 oz unsweetened soy mild and a

double shot espresso. If I eat this closer than 2 hours it does bother me. I

have been practicing yoga for 4 years and now teach and practice authentic

ashtanga yoga Mysore style.

[Guest guest]

I tried practicing first thing in the morning before eating and found

that I could not do it. I seem to have a fast metabolism and need

food more often than most people. I eat light meals throughout the

day and have found that eating something (ie. nuts and carrot juice)

two hours before practicing enables me to do the whole practice

without weakening. I tried the three hour rule and that meant, if I

did the whole practice 4 1/2 hours without food, which does not work

for me (except when I sleep, of course!). I know the rules are there

for a reason, but I also believe we have to do what we have to do to

be able to uphold the practice. We all have different

bodies/constitutions, like you said!

 

Namaste.

Chris