Yoga and Ayurveda complement each other perfectly, but have you asked why? There are a couple of points to make but one of the main commonalities is that they both aim at helping us acting in the present. In the now we make better decisions and are able to judge the situation for what it is. The power is in the now like the famous Mr Tolle says.

MINDFUL DECISIONS

For successful judgements, or we could call them “yogic” decisions, we need a state of mindfulness so that we act from a place of relative objectivity and understanding that everything is contextual. Nothing can be judged as absolute. Anything can be good and anything can be equally bad, depending on the context.

Understanding relativity is essential if and when you live ayurvedically, especially regarding decisions on what you eat and do. Sometimes it’s good to eat spinach, sometimes not. Coffee brightens your day today and tomorrow it gives you jitters. Being in the now is very important when it comes to choosing what to eat because there’s nothing like the present moment to define the nutritional value. 

FEELING YOUR FOOD

To understand the value of our food we need to connect with the present moment and see how food feels like in the when we consume it and moreover, how our bodymind feels like. Sounds a bit fuzzy as a concept but I’ll give you an easy example. If you feel cold you probably feel like having a hot drink rather than a cold one. Cooling drinks are nice when you quickly need to lower down the heat, for example after a run.  This concept can be taken very far in everything we eat or do. If you feel lethargic, a nice walk or even a visit at a gym will spark up your day whilst moving on the spectrum between slow and fast

If there is a match between opposite feelings, then food has a potential of being healthy. No need for nutritional labels or counting calories. We just need to focus on what the body is telling and what sensory messages the food in question provides.

LEARN HOW TO FEEL YOUR FOOD! – 1 DAY WORKSHOP COMING SOON! 

You can learn this easy method to engage with food which, in reality, you already do all the time unconsciously, every day. We all do! When your skin is dry, or the mouth is dry, you know exactly what to do, without consulting anyone: moisturise and hydrate, or both!

Jivita Academy is organising a 1-day workshop on ayurvedic diet and lifestyle. In this potentially life changing event you’ll learn how taste sensation and the qualities of your food are all you need know to understand what is good for you and what is not. You’ll discover how to nourish yourself with superfoods, the ones that you need in any specific phase of the year. 

Book your place now, we’ll have a fabulous day!

CONTACT anu@jivitaayurveda.com

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I saw a young actor recently. Back home, lounging on the couch watching telly I told my partner about this exciting sighting. Somehow, I couldn’t for the world remember his name but, as if by magic, there he was on the TV screen, right at the moment I needed to know his name. What a nice coincidence!

Yesterday, I was walking back from home, wondering how my friend was and the second I turned the corner, there she was, ready to update me on her life events. How nice was that!?

Also, for some quirky coincidence, both me and my partner have looked at the time exactly at 11.11am several times within the last few weeks! We’ve been taking screenshot and sending them to each other every time it happens. Moreover, many nights we’ve ended up turning the lights off exactly at 22.22. Bizarre! Or is it?

There is an explanation to these surprising coincidences and I’m going to crack it open by explaining what constructive interference is. Sounds ominous but stay with me and learn how and why the magic of the universe manifests and what it has to do with something called dharma.

Constructive interference is easily explained by waves on the surface of the water. If you drop two identical sized rocks in water from the same height, the likelihood is that they create the same size of wave around them. Travelling away from the centre, the waves eventually meet and by this contact they amplify each other. If the waves are not identical in frequency (the wave length) they cancel each other. This would be called destructive interference.

What does all this have to do with those weird coincidences? In Ayurveda we talk about living in sync with nature. This means being in harmony with the rhythmic changing of nature, the days and seasons mainly. The lives of all beings have been designed to flow in pace with the ever changing, yet systemic set up, created by the relationship of the Earth with the Sun. Nature has designed our bodymind to work on a clock and when we do things at the right time, live our lives as intended for human beings, we are transmitting on Mother Nature’s frequency. The result is an amplification of life experience. Something magical happens. You start getting messages that she’s there with you. A communion of fun and joy is established and life goes in a flow. You’re grooving with the Universe. The message is: you’re on the right path.

When you are on the right path you are living a dharmic life. Dharma is often associated  with your vocation or finding your thing and yes, it is part of it. Living a dharmic life, however, does not necessarily mean you’ve found the thing you are looking for.  If it still hasn’t happened, nothing to worry about, you can be fully dharmic in the meantime. Dharma implies living life as intended as a human being, a member of the Earth community. Finding harmony by living seasonally, having daily rhythms and healthy habits, maintaining loving kindness as a guiding line for thoughts, speech and action. Creating good karma, in other words. That’s all dharmic living. Finding your thing, might happen when you hit 70.

Amplifying your life experience does not come for free. If you sit on the couch and expect life to happen to you there’s very little chance it will happen. You will need to make an effort. Once that effort is made, and you keep on making it, the rewards are multiple, eventually ending in a joyful flow of life that really makes it worth living. You are the master of your life which gives you the free will but also responsibilities. Mother Nature has designed a pattern for you and you either follow it or not. You need to take care of yourself first, then the others, flora and fauna included. You need to find the right rhythms and patterns for you as an individual in this ever-changing world so you can start working with the universe. When you do that, she’ll return the favour, providing you the joy of funny coincidences and solutions to get where you want to be.

I’m telling you all this because it is my personal experience. Ayurveda has opened my eyes to understand the order of nature and how to harness its forces. However, I do fall off the wagon occasionally and by my own choice! For example, I might go on holidays which put my body clocks out of whack and set me off by eating and drinking too much. Stressful life events can take me to places where I get anxious and stressed out, where I feel like withdrawing and burying my head in the sand. That’s life and the thing that makes it all manageable is that I know I can always climb back on the wagon and align with the rhythms of nature. Soon I feel well again, my heart starts transmitting on the right frequency and the magic re-appears.

Nature will never close the door on us. Dharmic syncing is always possible and the beautiful thing is that you don’t have to be perfect with it. However, the more you do it the better it gets.

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Bacteria reside everywhere on the body surface, inside and outside. The main storehouse of bacteria is found in the gut but they are abundant obviously on the outer skin and in our orifices. Intestinal bacteria help to digest our food with digestive enzymes and mechanical churning of the gut itself. When we have an abundant amount of good bacteria and there is a great variety of different strands of them we are better at digesting and consequently absorbing food.

What we eat determines the quality and quantity of gut flora. Organic, local and seasonal food is the best way to create a good mix of highly efficient bacteria. It is important to know how to eat, as even the best of foods can become toxic if eaten for example too fast and not properly chewed.

Lifestyle has a big impact on the bacterial behaviour as well. Stress, in any form, be it mental, physical or emotional compromises gut function. When our lives are balanced between stress and relaxation our gut collaborates with us providing us with high levels of energy, the end result of good digestion.

It is well understood that in a relaxed state we digest well. We rest and digest. In a relaxed state, gut motility is smooth and therefore we experience less cramps and random pains. Relaxation allows good circulation of blood which brings more energy and enzymes to the digestive tract. Digestion takes a lot of blood and stressed and tight blood vessels struggle providing enough blood to digest food well. When stressed digestion slows down or can stop altogether. This allows bad bacteria to proliferate causing gas and bloating. Consequently, the food ferments and becomes too acidic also by bacterial waste products. Food also stays too long in the gut and being made acidic by the bad bacteria it easily creates an inflammatory reaction inside the gut. An inflamed gut lining is unable to digest well.

Small intermittent fasting has now been proven to be one of the best ways to counteract proliferation of bad bacteria and development of a healthy gut flora. Ayurveda has always recommended to engage in this activity. What does it mean in practice? Firstly, it means no snacking i.e. we need to avoid eating between meals. The time after meals is spent on digestion and it should happen undisturbed. Grazing or eating small portions of food with intention of not feeling hunger and without having digested the previous portion is one of the worst habits we can have. Hunger is an important maker of activity in our body and we should familiarise ourselves with it, be comfortable with a few hours of empty stomach and healthy hunger. Feeling hungry before eating is a digestive must. It shows us that our stomach is ready for new food and that there is a high chance for good digestion. Our bodies are able to cope with quite long periods of time without food. Therefore, avoiding snacking between meals should not put us in danger of losing life force. In fact, this kind of small fasting should increase our energy levels and make us feel light and strong at the same time. During this break the food moves down the digestive tract in a peaceful way, is absorbed better and the waste is eliminated timely.

Small fasting is also good to do in the evening and at night. I would say that it is even more important to do fasting in the evening than in any other time. At night, the body is engaged in activities that aim to nourish, replenish, detoxify and lower down inflammation. If there is food in the stomach all the energy goes into trying to process the ingested food. In response, the above mentioned activities turn to opposites: the liver function is compromised, the lymphatics won’t drain and the inflammation increases. Consequently we feel tired and hungry in the morning, our body has retained the liquids it should have eliminated, there are bags under the eyes, joints are stiff and swollen and probably the quality of sleep has not been the best.

Fasting doesn’t have to be something strenuous and stressful. In fact, stressful fasting is not conducive to increased energy levels nor detoxification. Therefore, small intermittent fasting is much more preferable than long tiresome fasting regimes. By all means, there is a way of doing longer fasts as well but they take a lot of mental stamina in order to be able to withstand the feeling of hunger for longer periods of time. The best way to do fasting is to do it daily and with comfort. Ayurveda has always been very conscious of the importance of digestive breaks. Not eating between meals, having early small supper and ever so often maybe even giving supper a miss.

What is amazing about small intermittent fasting in my opinion is that you don’t have to be so mindful about everything that goes down your throat. Small fasting makes digestion so strong that anything you eat is digested better. No gas, no bloating and you probably resolve your issues with hard to digest proteins like lactose and gluten. I sometimes have to buy my lunch and I also enjoy going out with friends to eat. Usually I choose a place where I know the quality of food is good. But, restaurants use mainly bad fats for cooking and you aren’t always able to make choices seasonally. Also, often going out means eating late. But, by doing small intermittent fasting most of the time we can make up for those occasional digressions. Life is about enjoyment and one of the great sources of joy is eating good food with a good appetite. Small intermittent fasting does not deprive us from food but makes the whole experience of eating much richer. 

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