Living A Yogic Lifestyle: Eating Like A Yogi

[Guest guest]

Good Morning!

 

This week I am dedicating my writings to the power of yoga! Yoga has

been a huge influence in my life and has given back to me in so many

ways! So this week, I am introducing the power of yoga and how it may

have an influence over you.

 

Living A Yogic Lifestyle: Eating Like A Yogi

 

Eating healthy and nourishing meals are the best way to reward your

body and therefore, your practice. When your body is filled with

foods that serve you, you have good energy, healthy skin, better

assimilating and eliminating capacities and you honor the mind and

spirit.

 

An Ayurvedic diet should reflect the needs of an individual's

constitution, their dosha imbalances, their current state of life and

the current season they are in. The foods that are best for an

individual will reflect what best supports their body and their yoga

practice. This is determined by their Prikruti and their current

state of imbalance. Also to consider is the personal ethics of the

yogi. Serving the self, serving the earth and honoring all living

things are some of the ethical reasons behind a yogi's food choices.

 

 

The Yogi Diet

 

I would like to thank Shreelata Suresh who is a yoga instructor from

the Bay Area who writes for various publications on yoga and

ayurveda. For more information on her website, please visit

http://www.ayurbalance.com

 

1. Include the six tastes at every main meal

 

In ayurveda, foods are classified into six tastes--sweet, sour,

salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. Ayurvedic healers recommend

that you include all of these six tastes at each main meal you eat.

Each taste has a balancing ability, and including some of each

minimizes cravings and balances the appetite and digestion.

 

 

2. Choose foods by balancing physical attributes

 

In ayurveda, foods are also categorized as heavy or light, dry or

unctuous/liquid and warm or cool (temperature), and different

qualities balance different doshas. A balanced main meal should

contain some foods of each physical type. Within this overall

principle, you can vary the proportions of each type based on your

constitution and needs for balance, the season of the year and the

place you live.

 

 

3. Choose foods that are sattvic

 

ayurvedic classification of foods is by the effect they have on the

non-physical aspects of the physiology--mind, heart, senses and

spirit. Sattvic foods have an uplifting yet stabilizing influence,

rajasic foods stimulate and can aggravate some aspects of the mind,

heart or senses, and tamasic foods breed lethargy and are considered

a deterrent to spiritual growth.

 

Everyone, whether actively seeking spiritual growth or not, can

benefit by including some sattvic foods at every meal because they

help promote mental clarity, emotional serenity and sensual balance

and aid in the coordinated functioning of the body, mind, heart,

senses and spirit. Almonds, rice, honey, fresh sweet fruits, mung

beans and easy-to-digest, fresh seasonal vegetables and leafy greens

are examples of sattvic foods.

 

 

4. Opt for whole, fresh, in-season, local foods

 

Authentic ayurvedic herbal preparations are made by processing the

whole plant or the whole plant part, not by extracting active

substances from the plant. Similarly, from the ayurvedic perspective,

the most healthful diet consists of whole foods, eaten in as natural

a state as possible, the only exception being when removing a peel or

cooking helps increase digestibility and assimilation for certain

types of constitutions. If the digestive fire is not strong enough,

even wholesome foods can turn into ama (toxic matter) in the body.

 

 

5. Rotate menus and experiment with a variety of foods

 

The sages that wrote the ancient ayurvedic texts would be horrified

by our current fascination with the low-carb diet or the no-fat diet

or the juice diet--from the ayurvedic perspective, any diet that is

exclusive in nature is by definition incomplete in its nutritive

value and ability to balance all aspects of the physiology. Eat a

wide variety of foods for balanced nutrition--whole grains, lentils

and pulses, vegetables, fruits, dairy, nuts, healthy oil or ghee,

spices and pure water all have their roles in the balancing process.

 

 

6. Include spices and herbs in your daily diet

 

Spices and herbs are concentrated forms of Nature's healing

intelligence. They are particularly revered in ayurveda for their

ability to enhance digestion and assimilation, help cleanse ama

(toxins) from the body and their yogavahi property--their ability to

transport the healing and nutritive value of other components of the

diet to the cells, tissues and organs.

 

 

 

Andrew Pacholyk, MS, L.Ac

http://www.peacefulmind.com/sanskrit.htm

Therapies for healing

mind, body, spirit

[Guest guest]

As a Yogini I can add a few things that I do.

 

Many Hatha and Raja Yoga texts suggest taking ghee and yogurt daily. Regarding

the latter, mine is local, organic and raw.

 

Then there is Yogi Milk, which is an ancient recipe that combines the two. This

is my breakfast.

 

I have been living Ayurvedically for over 30 years with no ill-effect, so wholly

support this lifestyle approach. However, for Yogis, the dietary information is

more guideline than rule. For example, in Indian, few Yogins include the six

tastes in their meals, which are supplied by well wishers.

 

Reading an Ayurvedic book and following the guidelines is a luxury for many in

the United States (likewise, similar approaches).

 

The only hard and fast rule that I know, and have seen, and personally

experienced the value of, is eating sattvic food. While living in India I would

often go without food rather than eat a meal that was a day old, or fruit overly

ripe. Better hungry than a belly filled with aprana.

 

Om Peace!

Yogini Valarie Devi