Yoga IS Nutrition
Have you ever had the time when you thought you did something but really didn't do it?
Actually paying attention is more difficult than we think. It requires that we are not distracted by other thoughts, that we are mentally monitoring what we are doing, ("Let's see, I'm putting the sunblock on my face before going outside." Awhile later, "Did I put that sunblock on before coming outside?"), and probably most importantly that we feel what's happening in the mindbody.
We don't often ask each other if we are paying attention since that would be disrespectful but we can sense when people are not.
To pay attention is to be fully present in the mindbody.To not be distracted by thought.
Doing postures in yoga asks us to pay attention to what the mindbody is saying to us as we do the posture. Not necessarily to comment, "Wow this is really hard." but rather feeling the lack of mobility, the heaviness and density in the muscle, sharp/penetrating tension in the ligaments, and sensing at times cloudiness of thought.
Transition from yoga asana practice to nutrition then is very easy. How do foods produce sensation?
Foods can make us feel lack of mobility(or static) and heaviness with congestion such as when we eat dairy, or sharp/penetrating when eating hot chilis leading to less mental cloudiness. These sensations are bundled as sweet sour salty pungent bitter and astringent tastes but nonetheless convey to us these contrasting qualities.
When we have diarrhea, we have too much mobility and when we use dairy such as yogurt, ghee, rice and sucanat to relieve it we are adding heavy, slow/dull, dense, and static through the tastes of sour and sweet.
The energy science medical model says that when we pay attention we are practicing being present in the mindbody. The matter science model takes us out of the mindbody through measurement and intellectualizing.
So whether we are doing postures in yoga class or paying attention to how food affects us is no different. And when we are sick being fully present helps heal us.
For tomorrow enlightenment. To health as a Skill Love DrBill
