How important do you feel diet is to the practice of yoga?
And by that I mean the deeper practice of yoga.
I think it's important.
And what I've found is that the more yoga you do,
The more you meditate,
The more your diet regulates itself internally.
This is fun to watch.
For me,
I eat what I feel like eating.
I became vegetarian when I was 15,
And I read as many books on nutrition as I could.
It interested me at the time,
But even with all that information,
I still ate what I felt like eating.
Though of course,
What I now feel like eating was partly predicated on all the information I had taken in.
I'm not going to feel like eating a lot of salty food if I've read that it is bad for me and will make me stiff.
But this is good.
This is how it should be.
This is how the intellectual and intuitive faculties of mind enhance each other's function.
The important thing,
However,
Is to develop the sensitivity that tells you what to eat or not eat,
And how much,
And when,
And to then trust yourself.
The main rule is to eat when you're hungry and drink when you're thirsty,
And not eat when you're not hungry,
And not drink when you're not thirsty.
Your mouth should water.
Also,
The more you taste and savour the foods and juices you eat,
The better you'll extract and assimilate their nutrients.
Move the food around in your mouth with your tongue as you eat so you can really taste and enjoy it.
The more you enjoy your food,
The better it is for you.
The other important thing is to be aware of what you think about the food you're eating while you're eating it.
Do you start by paying attention to how you feel as a result of what you eat?
You become familiar with your diet in that way and make changes accordingly.
Is that what you're saying?
Instead of operating out of some rote prescription of what a good diet should be that may or may not be appropriate for you,
Write and be aware of what you're saying to yourself in the back of your mind about what you are eating.
If you're saying,
This is bad for me,
This will make me fat,
Do not eat it.
Either do eat it,
Or change your mind about it first,
And then eat it.
You wanna feel okay about it?
Yes.
Sometimes you will say to yourself,
Potato chips are junk food,
And then go ahead and eat them anyway.
Here,
You are giving yourself negative suggestion.
They are worse for you if you eat them in that frame of mind than if you are clear that at that moment,
They are okay.
Sometimes potato chips are the perfect food.
In many ways,
The poses you do are food.
And just like you eat the foods that you think are good for you,
As well as what you feel like eating,
So too should you do the poses that you think are best for you and that you need the most,
As well as the poses you are drawn to,
The poses you are hungry for.
And as with food,
There may be a period of several weeks when you do not eat a single orange,
For example,
And then all of a sudden,
You might eat 3 or 4 every day.
It changes.
You flow with it.
You go by the inner feeling.
Some days you eat a little,
Some days you eat a lot.
There is a self-corrective mechanism at work here that you should listen to and trust.
There is no reason why you should eat a lot every day.
The same is true with your yoga practice.
We tend to get too rigid and lose touch with our natural inner directive.
Some days you will do a little,
Some days you will do a lot.
Some weeks you will do a lot of backbends,
Some weeks you will do a lot of forward bends.
This is how the earth and seasons do it.
Is this what you mean when you say that for you,
Yoga is not mechanical,
And that you only practice what you want to do on any given day?
Yes.
But don't get me wrong,
Sometimes I feel like going through a preset sequence of poses.
I'm not saying that you cannot or should not ever do that.
And for beginners,
Of course,
Having a planned sequence of poses and knowing exactly what to do is often the best way to establish a regular practice.
Someone who is in touch with the creative aspect of yoga,
Though,
Will not feel like doing it that way very often.
At least I don't.
But it is one of your options,
And it may be appropriate occasionally.
How does a student come to this understanding?
It is something you learn.
That is what teachers are for.
The main thing is to go by the inner feeling,
To cultivate sensitivity and trust,
And to be guided from within.
Not only with regard to the food you eat or the poses you do,
But in all matters.
Your within is connected with the whole ocean of mind.
Get the picture.
You and I are like waves on the ocean.
The surface of the ocean is the physical world,
What we can perceive physically.
And on the surface,
We appear separate.
But underneath,
We are not only connected to each other,
But to everything.
By learning to go within,
Then,
Diving into the wave,
The ocean of consciousness,
You tap into a vast reservoir of wisdom and guidance,
And eventually,
You learn to trust it.
Inner guidance comes in the form of feelings,
Hunches,
Impulses,
Desires,
And attractions,
And is available and operative whether you have asked for it or not.
But it happens better when you are asking for it,
Waiting for it,
Expecting it.
This is why it's important to be open and receptive.
Most of us have learned to ignore the subtle inner messages because our surface conscious mind has a difficult time explaining them.
You are receiving information from the whole ocean,
All the time.
But if you discount this inner guidance,
And only go on what you can physically perceive,
Logically explain,
And intellectually accept,
Then you are limiting the data available to you.
The new information you learn to receive intuitively,
However,
Will enable you to logically explain and intellectually accept an expanded view of reality.
So you are suggesting that we develop our awareness and sensitivity such that we are able to tune in to a much larger perspective,
A universal mind,
A universal intelligence,
Rather than just our limited consciousness?
Right.
So you can be receptive to that place where the most information is available.
You do this by quieting your mind,
And listening as though you were waiting to hear a message.
Actually,
You don't have to quiet the mind.
You simply listen.
The act of listening is what quiets the mind.
It is then up to you to act on the guidance you receive.
And the more in touch with the universal we are,
The more whole we feel.
This is the union of yoga,
Adjoining with that largeness,
That vastness,
From which we were never apart.
We only thought we were separate.
And as long as you think that and believe it,
It will seem quite real.
And the world will be a scary place for you.
And you will experience a lot of fear,
Justified fear,
So you think.
