Nourishing the Yoga Body

Guest Speaker: Rujuta Diwekar

February 26, 2024

The art of eating correctly is Mitahara and Mitahara is Yama, the first limb of the eight limbs of yoga. This was one of the concepts about nourishment from a yoga perspective that Rujuta Diwekar, a leading sports and nutrition expert shared with students at Patanjala Yoga Kendra.

She related how Guru ji used to say, “as a yoga student you must follow Yama or Yama will follow you.” Eating correctly was a theme Rujuta built on during her presentation. She also advocated for a common sense approach to eating with an emphasis on traditional wisdom and science.

Patanjali wrote about understanding the functions of the body: existence, birth, growing, maturing, changing/decaying, and death as a means to understand the physical body and learn how to accept the changes our body goes through. Accepting these changes is a way of getting more benefit from each stage and going through life without fear of what is going to happen to our bodies. Even in aging there are benefits that may not be available to a younger person such as wisdom and inner peace. Another concept that Rujuta shared was the importance of keeping hunger alive to ensure our body is nourished on a daily basis. The person who over eats and then skips a meal because they don’t feel hungry is depriving their body of a balanced input of nutrients.

She described the three types of hunger, Hita, the well being of all, Ritu, the practice of changing what we eat based on the season, and Mita, only eat enough so you will still be hungry for the next meal.

Ghee was described as a food from India’s ancient past that can can be very beneficial to foreign students to help with digestion. And for those with colds, mixing one teaspoon each of ghee, jaggery, dry ginger and turmeric into small balls and consuming two or three every morning can help fight a cold. Using sesame, ghee and jaggery is another beneficial remedy for colds.

Practical nutrition tips for yoga students included, eating a small breakfast before yoga such as a banana and nuts, avoiding spicey foods, eating a meal such as sabji and rice after a late yoga class, and avoid fasting during regular yoga practice.

Correct eating can be informed by the teachings of yoga masters of the past and achieved with common sense, honouring traditional food practices and paying attention to nutrition science.

By following these guidelines, a well nourished yoga body is easily attainable.

To see the complete video:

https://youtu.be/3nXXg6RLMuM