Food for the Soul

HOLISTIC HEALTH Food for the soul Charles Shahar explains how the guna aspect of the food we eat affects the prana contained therein and plays a vital role in maintaining our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being 58 LifePositive | DECEMBER 2018 he type of food you eat is crucial intensely negative emotions, who is ill, or who to maintaining your physical is agitated. Also important is the atmosphere and mental health and is an that surrounds its preparation and even the essential aspect of a spiritual ambience experienced during the ingestion of lifestyle.T Food is synthesized into energy by the meal. All of these factors affect how much your body, and lack of proper nutrition can vital energy, or prana, the food itself retains and lead to serious imbalances, resulting in a host how much of it we absorb from the food directly. of symptoms such as tiredness, irritability, and depression. Many illnesses can be traced The body reflects our food type directly to deficiencies in diet and could, You can sometimes tell what foods people therefore, be prevented if proper food habits eat simply by looking at their bodies and are cultivated. All of this seems to make studying their behaviours. While it is difficult perfect sense, but people don't generally think to generalise, a person may have a superb about how food directly impacts their life and, body in terms of conditioning or muscle even less obviously, how it has a bearing on tone, but on a subtle level, they may lack the the state of their consciousness. qualities evident in someone with a more refined diet. For instance, a very heavy meat- Each food has a particular quality of vibration eater will often have different vibrations than and a certain influence on the subtle body as a strict vegetarian. The former might seem well. They say that you are what you eat, and more robust, but vitality related to the subtler this is not far from the truth, at least in terms of dimension transcends the energy related the vibrations which we allow into our system. to physical vigour and has more to do with a That is why a sensitive person should be luminosity or glow that is a reflection of the vigilant about their diet. Unfortunately, many deeper side of the being. people are not aware of the harm they do by simply putting any type of junk food into their People who consistently ingest heavy foods or mouths. To some extent, their systems become compulsively overeat, often have bodies that inured to such effects, and chances are that are flaccid and inert. Overeating is actually a their food habits are simply part of a lifestyle form of self-abuse, and bloating or distortions that lacks refinement. in the physique are often reflected on the subtle level as well. Excess fat chokes the The quality of food is influenced not only by circulation of prana that courses through the what we eat but also by the way it is prepared nadis, or subtle nerve channels, promoting a and who handles the actual preparation. For kind of stagnation in the vital pranic sheath. example, undesirable vibrations can easily get That significantly overweight people tend to into the food if it is prepared by someone with be more sluggish and susceptible to disease is Holistic Health 59 simply the most obvious sign that overeating is tamasic nature. Their sensibilities are thus detrimental on many levels. most in harmony with sattva. There are actually three classes of foods which The problem is not that the gunas are present we will discuss in this article: those that arouse and pervasive in all of nature, but rather, the passions and stimulate the senses, those because of personal habits or dispositions, which promote lethargy of mind and body, and we are susceptible to their domination in ways finally, foods which contribute lightness or that are detrimental. For instance, if a person's vitality and help balance and purify the organism. diet is dominated by the influence of too many rajasic or tamasic foods, an imbalance can Three food types result, which can have a profound effect on According to Hindu scriptures, energy in their life. In other words, certain foods will the world manifests in three ways, as sattva, exaggerate certain tendencies in a person and tamas, and rajas. These are known as the others will create a more harmonious state. three gunas. These fundamental aspects of People with unhelpful physical or psychological nature are present in different proportions predispositions should, therefore, avoid foods in all things, including food. They can also be which perpetuate imbalances and lead to a used to describe psychological dispositions, diminished quality of life. physiological mechanisms, and even the way inert matter reacts and interacts in the physical Rajasic food world. Without the gunas, there would be no For example, a rajasic (overly active, nervous) manifestation in nature, and both the subtle person may want to keep away from rajasic and material worlds would not exist. foods, such as sweets, hot spices, coffee, and other stimulants. This is obviously true in the What are the qualities of these different case of hyperactive children. Their nervous gunas? Sattva is described as the refined system is full of rajas. Parents should always and purified element, rajas is responsible be aware that a diet with a heavy consumption for growth and movement, and tamas, for of sweets simply aggravates their condition stability, inertia, and stagnation. I shall refer further. If you are feeling nervous, worried, to tamas and rajas as the ‘lower gunas.’ The or irritable, avoid rajasic foods and find more sattvic element is of a higher quality. It is most grounding foods to anchor your energy. evident when the influences of the lower gunas are balanced and reach a type of equilibrium. A rajasic person should not only avoid certain It is also true that the yogi (or spiritual person) foods but create less rajasic conditions while generally lives his or her life in moderation, they eat. Such people tend to eat quickly, taking what is known as the ‘middle path’ and which is not healthy for the organism. Not avoiding extremes, whether of a rajasic or only is the food not digested properly and the 60 LifePositive | DECEMBER 2018 A sattvik vegetarian diet enhances the flow of prana in the body maximum nutrients not extracted, but less of Sometimes, it is even a good idea to close your its prana, or subtle energy, is absorbed. If you eyes and say a brief prayer or meditate before have a rajasic bent, take care to eat as slowly eating. A few seconds of quiet contemplation as possible, chewing the food calmly. Avoid takes the mind away from the activity of the speaking too much while eating, focus on your day and lifts the thoughts to a higher level. meal rather than other activities, and schedule Prayers also have the effect of projecting your meals so that you are not under pressure positive vibrations into food and, in that sense, to rush through them. can help purify it along with the atmosphere where it is eaten. Unfortunately, if you are caught up at work, scurrying about frantically, you generally Tamasic food carry this harried state into your lunch hour. At the other extreme, tamasic foods are heavy If you want to enjoy a little calmness, avoid and bland, and weigh down the organism, eating in your office and find a quieter spot. making it feel dull and lethargic. Stagnant, Being relaxed during meals is highly desirable overly cooked and overly processed foods are and along with a proper diet, will ensure that generally tamasic foods. Those diets which you get the maximum benefit from the food. are very high in items such as meats, pastas, Holistic Health 61 cheeses, and breads are often tamasic as well. feel heavy and moribund, as the consciousness My mom cooked Eastern European food when is weighed down and restrained. I was growing up. It made my digestive system sluggish, and it was only when I started eating Finally, the most tamasic foods are meats. They more moderately spiced Indian foods that my represent dead and decaying material and are system became balanced. Introducing more thus, by their very nature, tamasic. This might rajasic foods also affected my thinking in a seem a bit controversial to say, but among very subtle way. My mental state became more avid meat eaters, the physical body itself takes lucid, not weighed down by a heavy diet. on a less refined or coarser appearance. I often hear from people who have become vegetarians As I suggested above, sometimes tamasic how much ‘lighter’ they feel, how much more foods help ground the energy in the case of energy they have, and how much more lucid people with too much rajas in their system. For their thinking is. One cannot argue with such instance, when I worked in a psychiatric ward, testimonies. In fact, stopping meat-eating can we used to load patients with heavy foods to be a life-altering event for someone who is calm them. Generally, though, someone with committed to leading a more spiritual life. a tamasic disposition should stay away from heavy diets, or the tamas will be perpetuated Sattvic food and will affect not just one's physical state, but There are certain nutritional habits which have their emotional disposition as well. When tamas sattvic or purifying effects and which do not dominates, the emotions become more rigid promote the types of imbalances inherent in and crystallised.

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