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BlueRaincoat
United Kingdom
1734 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 20 2014 : 05:57:23 AM
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Hello fellow yogis
This is about rule I was given many years ago by my first yoga teacher - that is to not eat straight away after doing yoga. The instruction was to not eat for 2 hours!! which is of course totally impractical (don't eat before, don't eat after, how are you then going to organise your daily schedule? - pain in the bum  ), so I stopped paying any attention to this a long time ago. However, I have recently noticed that it does make a difference if I can allow at least a 15 minutes interval between finishing my sitting practices and the next meal. I feel that whatever is released in each meditation seems to have a better chance to dissipate if I don't eat straight away. It sort of allows that bit of purification to complete.
Has anyone else heard about any similar rule? Or have you notice any difference if you delay your food intake for a little while after meditating?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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Dogboy
USA
2296 Posts |
Posted - Aug 20 2014 : 08:26:09 AM
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| After my rest of my morning sit I always eat breakfast (nuts and fruit on cereal, coffee) to set up my day correctly, but rarely after the later-day meditation, only because I'm not hungry at that time. Not eating before meditation makes complete sense. My digestive system is always gurgling during meditation with the up flow of prana. |
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Ecdyonurus
Switzerland
479 Posts |
Posted - Aug 20 2014 : 08:30:04 AM
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Hi, if possible I don't eat for at least 20' after practices but this is not always possible. I did not notice any major trouble if I eat - and even drink alcohol - right after practice. I am not saying that it doesn't matter, I simply try follow only those rules that I consider very relevant, i. e. I accept "minor mistakes". For example, I prefer to have a good dinner with my family right after practice than eating alone because I want to follow at any price a yoga rule that says that I can only eat 2 hours after practices. Somebody wrote: we do yoga for living, we don't live for yoga.  |
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BlueRaincoat
United Kingdom
1734 Posts |
Posted - Aug 21 2014 : 08:52:51 AM
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Hi! Thank you both for your replies.
@Dogboy (by the way, what's the name about? I'm quite positive it's not saying "it's a dog's life"  , but what is it saying?)
Since you're not mentioning any difference between your morning & evening post-meditation time, I gather you're not noticing any difference.
@Ecdyonurus
Interesting you have heard about this too. I've not heard it mentioned by anyone in the last 20 years, but then I it is true I didn't meet any advanced yogis before finding AYP. I agree, it's not something that should reorganise your day. I'm still trying to figure out how much difference it does actually make. Keeping an eye on it for now.
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Ecdyonurus
Switzerland
479 Posts |
Posted - Aug 21 2014 : 09:38:23 AM
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Well, yoga is really reorganising my day, but it does that in a gentle, spontaneous way, not with rules that I suddenly decide to strictly follow.
The rule about not eating before and after practice is just too much strain for my current life, so I decided to simply not care about. What happened, however, is that I tend spontaneously not to eat at all before practice, and possibly not to eat just after, which after all is in line with the rule.
The same apply to the rule that you should empty the bowels before practices. In some days, this would mean skipping practices. In the beginning I was tryng to follow this rule but as I realized that emptying the bowels had become more important than practice itself, I just skipped the rule. Again, after some time empting the bowels in the morning became very easy.
That's just some examples on the body level, but there a lots of examples on more subtle levels such as yamas and nyamas where I found that good things happen almost spontaneously, no need to strain in order to strictly follow rules. To me, it seems that those changes come from the inside, and this is a new aspect im my life. |
Edited by - Ecdyonurus on Aug 21 2014 10:03:40 AM |
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Dogboy
USA
2296 Posts |
Posted - Aug 21 2014 : 10:17:14 AM
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quote:
@Dogboy (by the way, what's the name about? I'm quite positive it's not saying "it's a dog's life" , but what is it saying?)
So as not to hijack your thread I will keep it short and simple: imagine a creature half dog and half boy with a personality to match. I belong to a pack of Dogboys who venture into the dark and ancient New England woods once a month to howl at the full moon.  |
Edited by - Dogboy on Aug 21 2014 10:47:24 AM |
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BlueRaincoat
United Kingdom
1734 Posts |
Posted - Aug 22 2014 : 10:49:53 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Ecdyonurus
[ there a lots of examples on more subtle levels such as yamas and nyamas where I found that good things happen almost spontaneously, no need to strain in order to strictly follow rules. To me, it seems that those changes come from the inside, and this is a new aspect in my life.
Yes, it does work like that, which makes yoga a joy to practice. Totally agree about not getting bogged down with lots of small rules.
quote:
Originally posted by Dogboy
I belong to a pack of Dogboys who venture into the dark and ancient New England woods once a month to howl at the full moon.
No kidding!? Well, I can see this has the potential to hijack a thread, however short you put it And that's all right as long as everyone is having fun. Perhaps we should start a thread about the meaning of user names
Again, thank you both for replying.
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Edited by - BlueRaincoat on Aug 22 2014 10:57:05 AM |
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Eating/not eating immediately after practices
