Food plays an integral role in promoting balance in your life. Just as your yoga essentials help you achieve balance in your poses, the food choices you make help you achieve balance in your overall well-being. If you view your diet as an extension of your yoga lifestyle, then you will understand that healthy food creates a healthy body and mind.
The food choices you make reflect your level of awareness of your personal development. The practice of yoga simultaneously requires and creates a state of harmony, a love of life and a connection with those around you. This concept gives rise to the notion of Ahimsa (non-harming) which is why many who practice yoga eventually find that a vegetarian diet suits them best.
Pure, Non-Harming Diets
Sattva is a Sanskrit word that means purity or goodness. Coupled with Ahimsa, these two principles lay the foundation for a diet that many yogis and Ayurvedic practitioners choose to follow. A sattvic diet minimizes the introduction of foods considered to be rajasic (stimulating – like sugar); and avoids foods deemed tamasic (harmful – like alcohol). Sattvic diets remain in balance with nature and include foods that are grown naturally, picked when they’re ripe and prepared with love.
Yogis and yoginis who thrive on a Sattvic diet primarily eat:
- Beans, tofu and mung beans
- Fruit of all types
- Whole grains (Gluten-free when possible)
- Natural raw sugar, molasses and honey
- Fresh vegetables (except nightshades like eggplant, peppers, garlic and onions)
- Herbal teas
- Water with lemon or lime
- Plant-based oils
- Seeds and nuts
- Sweet spices
- Fresh milk and fresh milk products
When Digestion Goes Awry
No matter what type of diet you follow, there will be times when your digestion is just not going smoothly. Whether you ate too many beans or indulged in foods you don’t usually consume, you may feel puffy and bloated following a meal. Rather than turning to over-the-counter remedies like antacids for relief, turn to your yoga essentials to feel better.
Bring your body and digestive system back into harmony with a yoga pose recognized by Dr. Frank Lipman, a pioneer and internationally respected expert in the fields of Integrative and Functional Medicine and founder and director of Eleven-Eleven Wellness Center in New York City:
- Place a yoga block (and by block, we mean Egg) against a wall that’s free of other obstructions.
- Set a bolster at a right angle to the wall, so that the far end of the bolster sits approximately five feet away from the wall. (Your height will determine final placement)
- Sit on the middle section of the bolster as you face the wall, and then recline back across the end of the bolster.
- Adjust the placement of the bolster, or your position on it, so that with straight legs, your feet contact the wall firmly as your shoulders rest on the floor. Your heels rest on the yoga block (Egg).
- Remain in that position and relax for five to 10 minutes with your eyes closed.
Yoga essentials can work in conjunction with your yoga diet to bring balance your life.