A student of mine asked recently why the whole blog seems to be about food. I laughed a little, then groaned inwardly. I feel like I’m so focused on yoga. And yet, I’m always talking and thinking about food.
Well, in one way the answer is simple. I’m a foodie. I love good food. I love creating it and feeding guests, and eating out and matching it with wine. Ok, I’m attached.
But there is a deeper, more multi-layered answer. When I first began practicing yoga, my teacher said “there is nothing that can affect your practice more than the way you eat.” Ok, maybe that’s not a direct quote. It was something like that. That’s what I heard in my head. And I had a very specific idea in this same befuddled brain of what he meant by that. I immediately set out to be the “Perfect” eater.
But I was misguided. First of all, there’s no perfection. Second of all, one of the lessons I might have learned from this idea was that the way I eat, the way I treat myself, will affect my practice, every single day, but that doesn’t mean I should judge it. I should approach each practice with equanimity and detached observance, knowing each day will be different and accepting it. Also, what’s perfect for me might not be what I thought. It might not be what’s perfect for others, or perfect in some stereotypical way. Whoops. Took me a while to get there.
But what I also found is that yes, the way I eat affects the way I feel in practice and in life, and there are times when that will be most important, and times when it won’t. Times when I’ll have control over how I feel, when eating “perfectly” will give me the desired result, and times when it won’t. Times when ‘perfection” is nearly accessible, and times when pretty good is perfect for the moment.
I also came to realize that joy, satisfaction and delight in food are very important to me. I am Jewish after all. Food is love. My husband is Greek, it’s the same but more. Trying to deny it is just postponing the inevitable. Food is lots more than just sustenance to me. And that’s really fine, if I can find my balance and peace with it.
I am a foodie. When people come over my house for a visit, they generally try not to eat for a while beforehand. And that’s part of the delectableness of me. Apparently, though I love yoga, delight in wine, and get jazzed by writing compelling brand messaging, I almost always end up talking about food.
Welcome to my world.
