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Maximus
India
187 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 31 2007 : 10:32:09 AM
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| What to do if you get hungry right at meditation time? I face this problem several times in the evening. |
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Mar 31 2007 : 10:40:23 AM
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I assume you mean you have faced this problem several times on different days.
When this has happened to me, I just eat a couple bites, then meditate, and put off the rest of the meal until later. It doesn't seem to affect the meditation if I eat very little.
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weaver
832 Posts |
Posted - Mar 31 2007 : 10:42:18 AM
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Hi Maximus,
I do my practices most of the time when I'm hungry and it works well for me. The sense of hunger seems to fade away in the background and is not noticed during the practice. |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Mar 31 2007 : 9:54:18 PM
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| Wow, two perfect terse answers. Yeah, both work for me. What does not work is rescheduling practice a lot to try to work around hunger. That's a dangerous first step down the path of disrupting one's practice, I've found. |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Apr 01 2007 : 01:44:57 AM
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Thank you Maximus for bringing this topic to forum! I opened up my computor this morning to start a topic on it, but you already did!  Synchronicity! Love it!
I have wondered how much eating really alters the effect of meditation. People I have spoken to says it is not such a big difference once you have established a stabile connection with stillness. I am curious about the cause behind it. I know the digestive system is important in many ways, but why does it affect the "depth of meditation" (or is is something else it affects?)
The reason for my thought are bad experiences, and I'd like to share them. Hopefully noone else will recognize themselves in my story, but if someone else does and can give feed-back it might be worth the effort.
First, I am a pitta type. When I am hungry I crave food instantly. I have always in my life made sure there's always food in the fridge or I get anxiety.
Second, I have never had a "stress stomach". I have put all my stress and tension in my muscles around shoulders and neck instead.
When I started to meditate a few months ago I wanted to do it RIGHT from the start, so I altered my eating habits. I tried at first to go up 30 min earlier in the morning in order to first meditate (5.30), then eat. But it turned out my sleeping system went totally out of order from that change, and I must have my sleep... So I changed back and decided to bring breakfast to the train and eat there (Train leaves 7.50). That meant I didn't get to eat until 2 hrs after waking up. My pitta nature protested, but I forced myself. (Two hrs seem long, but I have to go on tube before I can go by train and there are distances to walk between stations. Takes some time.)
Days when I came home directly from work (hungry like a wolf) at 17.30 I could meditate first and then eat, and it would seem ok. But, it turned out that meditation slowed my metabolism down quite markedly, so I was not hungry until 1-2 hours after meditation. And even that would have been ok, if all my days looked the same, but then we have the excercise part... I must go to the gym preferrably 2 times/week or my muscles that takes all my stress hurts a lot! I have to get all stress hormones out of my body. On those days I don't come home until 20.00. Meditate... and... well, you can figure it out, huh?!
I simply was not hungry and quit eating. I had to go to bed in order not to disturb my sleep again. I need 8 hrs of sleep, and should be in bed 21.30 and calm down so I can go with my biological rythm sleep train that leaves 22.00... If I miss that one I have troubles falling asleep until next train a few hours later... sometimes I ate late - missing the sleep train at ten - sometimes I went to bed on empty stomach. This even made me quit training now and then beacuse I got so tired from it all! Falling out of training rythm... bringing more stress...
So... the result of this little change, to add 30 min meditation twice a day?
- intestinal catarrh
- sleep deprivation
- muscle ache
- higher stress levels
It felt really strange - the meditation made me feel so much better mentally, but all my other systems were torn to pieces.
I write in the past tense, but actually this insight hit me yesterday. So from next week I'll do some changes. The only option I see on how to fit in the meditation is to do it constantly on the train (takes 27 min) and shorten it to 5 min pranayama + 15 min min meditation (instead of 20 min) to make sure I can rest at least 5 min afterwards). The problem with that is that I will miss out on the important social interaction with my colleagues on the train... It is the only time of the day I meet them and it means a lot as well... In addition, the quality of meditating on a train is not optimal!
Strange, that so little can disturb so much.
So, I will have to do some re-thinking on my rituals and try different solutions. But it seems as if eating before meditation will be needed in order to get rid of my catarrh. So, back to the question. How much is actually the quality of meditation influenced by meals before or after?
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Edited by - emc on Apr 01 2007 01:58:04 AM |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Apr 02 2007 : 08:09:24 AM
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Nobody know to what extent the effect diminished if you eat before meditation? Have nobody tried out? If not, I'll try out now for a couple of weeks and report on my experiences.
During my first trials so far I have only felt less hungry, more at ease, less stressed and am still going just as deep if not deeper into meditation. |
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Nirodha
New Zealand
86 Posts |
Posted - Apr 02 2007 : 9:05:38 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Maximus
What to do if you get hungry right at meditation time? I face this problem several times in the evening.
Hi Maximus,
If I'm hungry at meditation time I just have a light snack and then meditate. If I'm still a bit hungry after that - sometimes I'm not - I have a full meal.
Some people recommend just having a glass of water, if one feels hungry, then meditating and having a full meal afterwards. However, some people have conditions, such as hypoglycemia (i.e. a lower than normal amount of blood sugar), that require them to attend to their dietary needs quite diligently. So, I think it's best to attend to these things as one sees fit, as opposed to following someone else's formula.
In terms of how eating prior to meditation will effect one, generally, it tends to make one a bit drowsy, but not always - certain foods can actually be quite energizing. However, if one is a relatively skilled contemplative, the drowsiness is only a minor hindrance that's overcome once one enters Samadhi (i.e. meditative absorption).
I do hope this helps.
May you all be happy and achieve the highest bliss,
Nirodha
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Edited by - Nirodha on Apr 02 2007 9:12:06 PM |
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AYPforum
351 Posts |
Posted - Apr 17 2007 : 09:58:44 AM
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| Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2007 : 07:58:53 AM
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Checkpoint 1, after 2 weeks:
Still no sense of difference. On the contrary.
- My life is getting more relaxed with one demand less to mind about.
- My stomach is feeling happier.
- The depth, intensity, quality of my meditation has not altered in any negative way. I can instead meditate in a state of contentment.
I think it is in a way similar to the priority "it's better to sit comfortably than sitting correct and have pains and bodily disturbances". For me it is far better to eat whenever my stomach needs food, and trust that the stillness is kind enough to enter in spite of a small *burp* now and then.  |
Edited by - emc on Apr 18 2007 07:59:23 AM |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2007 : 08:30:54 AM
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Checkpoint 2, after 5 weeks:
- intestinal catarrh: Absent! Healthy again! 
- sleep deprivation: Better. Sleeping full 8 hours at least 2 times/week.
- muscle ache: Better. Started training again, and gave myself a gift out of pure selflove and inner guidance: Life gave me an opportunity to meet 5 times with a professional massage therapist. Thank you life!
- higher stress levels: Getting them into balance again!
I now meditate before or after meal in a way that flows easiest. I never push myself on that point. The regularity of 20 min x2 is not a priority. Meditating twice a day is a priority though - however, the length will differ from 5-20 minutes. It works fine, since I now quickly go down deep and don't seem to need more than say "hello" to keep contact.
This was truly a great lesson! My relationship with my body is very important. If the temple is in bad condition, the meditator will have nowhere to reside. |
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kadak
79 Posts |
Posted - May 13 2007 : 03:00:46 AM
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| It is likely that empty stomachs are needed only for khumbaka, the emptier is your stomach, the longer you keep your breath. With a full stomach, it is impossible for me to go over 3mn. With 12h without eating, it is easy to go over 5mn. It appears that the winds go more easily in the central channel without food... |
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Hungry at meditation time
