New student to yoga having diet problems.

[Guest guest]

I started doing daily yoga for 90 minutes about 3 weeks ago, to

include fasting 2-3 hours before, which has significantly decreased my

food intake. I have felt much better energy, sleep, nerves, etc. and

plan to continue. One thing though is I can not seem to maintain my

previous diet. I have had food poisoning symptoms twice, for the

first time in my adult life, very sick with vomiting/diarrh, and have

had bouts of nausea/sweats from overeating at Thanksgiving, etc. I am

wondering if it is necessary to change your diet to accomodate changes

in your body when you start doing yoga. I read that the standard diet

is vegetarian. Can doing yoga and having a diet of meat and junk food

cause you to start getting sick when your body seemed ok with it (if a

little chubby) before?

[Guest guest]

Dear Black Dog:

 

This is your question.

 

> Can doing yoga and having a diet of meat and junk food

> cause you to start getting sick when your body seemed ok with it (if

> a little chubby) before?

 

When you are letting your body know that you are committed to change

by doing Yoga (Kundalini Yoga in particular) or changing your diet, at

some point your body is ready to follow your guidance. It seems like

that is happening for you. If you go back and forth between healthy

and not healthy it seems it becomes confusing for your system. May not

be confusing for someone else's. What message are you sending yourself?

 

So it's all about paying attention to where your body is at and

accepting your new state.

 

When I took the teacher training and did not have eggs for 12 days and

I came home and made myself a juicy cheesy omelette, I was looking

forward to it... but the result was cramps for 2 hours! The worst

cramps I had ever felt in my stomach. I stopped eating omelettes. 7

years later I found myself in a restaurant where all they had for

breakfast was variations on egg stuff. So I had an omelette again.

Like I used to like it. The worst cramps ever came right back.

 

I stopped wanting any alcohol when I started kundalini yoga. It

brought me way down. It wasn't worth it even with the best of wines.

On the other hand I know an Iyengar yoga teacher who has been teaching

for over 30 years who still drinks wine regularly...

 

Back to you. If you are looking for a new consciousness, it seems like

Kundalini Yoga is telling you: start by paying attention to what you

take into your body.

 

It may not be the same for someone else whose consciousness needs to

learn from some other source. The Dalai Lama was not afraid to eat a

hot dog once (or is that an urban legend?) A saint in India (Ram

Dass's teacher) had no effect of taking in LSD (large doses of it

actually). We are all different.

 

So you are learning something about yourself and about the fastest way

for you to learn. It appears to be around food intake.

 

Best wishes and blessings, Awtar