To Latte or Green Tea? That was the Question

Sometimes we have a hard day and we want some special pleasure or comfort. And for many of us, we want that comfort through food. Many times it is sugar, caffeine, alcohol, unhealthy fats, and processed food. Recently, I had one of those days. My morning was frenzied, rushed, and frustrating. What I really WANTED NOW (desire) was to drive to town (30 minutes from our camp in the jungle), escape from all my responsibilities, try to escape from my irritable feelings, and find comfort in a LATTE.

This would have been fine and no harm really done, except some small voice inside said, "Not so fast, Monique. First of all, do you really want to act on this impulsive desire? Do you really want to lose about two hours in running around and then possibly feel distracted for the rest of the day? You just counseled someone yesterday on letting go caffeine; how about that? huh? Is this a treat or an escape? Think about it."

Somehow, I listened to that voice. And instead of a latte, I made a piping hot green tea. Green tea, by the way, contains caffeine that our systems can handle better so it's not such a hit to the nervous system (and not such a let down later). Tea in one hand, I picked up the phone and connected with some old friends. We really laughed! I didn't do my "work," but I did feel stable, grounded, peaceful, and connected to my heart. As it turned out, it was a blessing that I stayed home because I actually needed to be there to handle a certain situation.

The diet part of the Yogic Diet is not about saying NO! to any particular food. Rather, it is about crowding out unhealthy choices with healthier ones. It is about making choices to deeply nurture ourselves with food, activity, and a positive lifestyle. It's about bringing awareness to our habits, patterns, thoughts, and tendencies.

Starting All Over Again

No matter how many times you have to start over, just start over again! Whether it is with your fitness plan, your diet, your spiritual practices, practicing yoga, an intention to read to your children each day, cleaning your desk off, or turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth, it is worth it to start your practice over again and again and again.

Life will always give us obstacles in pursuing our path, our practices, and our dreams. There are illnesses, hormonal fluctuations, scheduling difficulties, financial problems, relationship troubles, and times of indecision and confusion in everyone's life. And of course it takes courage to pick up the pieces and start again. We all know that breaking promises to ourselves can hurt the old self-esteem. So we may doubt and fret over starting again. Nevertheless, we must! The alternative could mean giving up.

Also, my teacher says that if you have pursued a discipline in the past, you still retain it's merit. For example, if you used to practice hatha yoga and now you have stopped, when you start again you can quickly get back to the level of body awareness and flexibility that you once had. You never lose the merit of your past discipline.

So, just do it! You know what you need to do. Follow your inner wisdom and start over again. May your return(s) to discipline and consistency bring you great happiness.

The Secret of Yogic Diet Success

Remember that blue giant in the law of attraction movie “The Secret?” He appears towering before a person and bellows, “Your wish is my command.” That film urges us to crystallize a vision or wish for ourselves (energetic body, radiant health, loving relationships, fulfilling work, abundant prosperity) and then watch it manifest.

The actual point of the movie, "the secret" if you will, is that whatever vision we hold of ourselves, even unconscious beliefs of unworthiness, have been and are becoming the MGM movies of our lives. The blue giant is our very soul telling us: You Create Your Own Reality. So then the question becomes WHAT do you want? WHAT do you wish for? And how much of your energy is going toward reinforcing the obstacles that are blocking what you want and how much are you actively welcoming the blessings and changes coming your way?

One key aspect of the Yogic Diet program is that you have the opportunity to crystallize your visions for yourself and write them in your Strategic Attraction Plan(TM). Discovering your goals, dreams, and plans adds energy to your body-mind-soul practices. You are energized from the inside out and from the outside in and you begin to watch the deepest dreams you have for yourself come true.

The Space Between Thoughts

During one retreat at the ashram that I visit for meditation and yoga programs,I learned a teaching from an ancient yogic text that made a big impression one me. The sutra is "Mudya vikasat chidananda labaha" which means "when the center expands, the bliss of Consciousness rises." The thing is, I did not just learn this sutra, I actually had an experience of it which lasted for three days!

When the center expands can mean...when the space between two thoughts expands. When the mind is truly quiet, this bliss is supposed to rise up from within. You can try it right now and see if it works. Let your mind be completely quiet and notice how you feel. No judgments, no chatter, just silence. Looking at nature enhances the experience. Eckhart Tolle calls it "the power of Now" and Dr. Wayne Dyer calls it "getting into the gap."

Yogis say that the reason we practice regular meditation, yoga, and chanting is to still the mind for a while, so that we can experience the blissful and healing energy that exists within us. With regular practice, we can also extend the experience of the space between the thoughts into our daily lives. And one who can experience this quiet space indefinitely (or who knows how to get back into it at will) is known as an Enlightened Being.

Having an enlightened teacher has perks. When I was given this sutra, I was also given the experience of its teaching. I was a cheery and studious 27 year old with lots of ideas, thoughts, opinions, and feelings milling around inside. While at the ashram, I had a lot of commentary to share with others at breaks, meal times, with roommates, etc. However, once that teaching entered inside of me, I made shift.

I became deeply and completely quiet in all ways. I had no opinions yearning to be shared, no room for idle chit chat, I was silent. Being in nature was the most satisfying as nature easily mirrored outside what was going on within me. I was in an enlightened state for three whole days.

People who knew me said that my quiet was not stoic-feeling or unwelcoming as it was set off by a full smile and a lot of sweetness coming through the eyes that they could feel. I experienced many miracles in the days following the sutra suggested silence. And through the ongoing practices of meditation, chanting, and yoga that still my mind and infuse my days with the touch of silence, I still do.

Feeding the Inner Hunger

Everyone has deep seated hunger and feelings of emptiness and lack. We try to fill this hunger by satisfying our desires and sense pleasures. We eat and drink, watch TV, spend money, meet with others, try to find fulfillment in work, and go on vacations all to feed this hunger. However, we can never fill the hunger inside by satisfying our desires for sense pleasures.

In the Bible, Jesus says, "Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled." (Luke 6:21) The great yoga master Paramahansa Yogananda elucidates this passage saying "Blessed are you who thirst for wisdom and who esteem virtue and righteousness as the real food to appease your inner hunger, for you shall have that lasting happiness brought only by adhering to divine ideals - unparalleled satisfaction of heart and soul." (The Yoga of Jesus, p.78)

So how do we feed this hunger that we are blessed to have? The great masters tell us that the deep seated hunger that every man feels is actually the soul's desire for God. And to appease this hunger, we actually have to turn our hunger around from seeking to fulfill the desires of the senses on the outside to going within and seeking the kingdom of God within. This can be practiced in big and small ways.

Practices such as prayer, meditation, hatha yoga, scriptural study of your religion, stilling the mind in the present moment, mantra repetition, formal worship, and making some time to be with yourself in contemplation can all be forms of going within.

Desires can also be turned around with awareness and managed in order to start to truly feed our inner hunger right away.

Here are some ways that the Yogic Diet teaches to manage desires:
- I feel hungry, but I don't overeat (desire) because I want to have a lot of energy to do my my practices and be there for others.
- I want to eat a mostly highly nutritious diet, but I crave sweets (desire). So I pass on the cookies, gum, and diet coke and reach for the fresh pineapple and raisins instead.
- I want to be fit, but I feel a little lazy (desire). So I nudge myself off the sofa to go for a brisk walk in the evening.
- I want to be and feel beautiful, but I dislike parts of my body and want to criticize it (desire). So I train myself to love my body the way that it is.
- I try to remember to nurture myself and refrain from harming myself by smoking, drinking, picking my face, overeating, etc (desire).
- I want to have good health, but I am still holding on to resentment from the past (desire) which makes me susceptible to illness. So, I practice forgiveness and positive affirmations and achieve great health.
- I want to please others (desire), and sometimes I over commit. I turn it around and take time for myself first to deeply relax in meditation. Then I can serve other others with light-heartedness.

Learn more about practices like these in our Yogic Diet Workshops!