We hear about this all the time - 'you are what you eat' is the common phrase. And, truly, in this trillions-plus celled vehicle called your body, that is continually recreating itself made of stardust and headed for dirt, we are creating this physical reality in what we ingest and process.
The primary physiological process that occurs in the ongoing living body is digestion... breaking down and assimilating that which we ingest. And, when we can't follow an optimum diet, when we are overly stressed, when we knowingly eat and ingest foods void of nutrition but high on grease, starch, fat, salt and sugar, we jam it all up and have a hard time with elimination; congestion, constipation.
Everyone of us has suffered from this in the physical form - too much of a good thing, a stomach ailment or virus, traveling and living in foreign lands where our immunities aren't tuned, all of these can mess with digestion. Especially for those with the Pitta dosha, or constitution - I speak from experience! Sometimes you can't get your shit together, other times you can't get your shit moving... that's the traveler's dilemma, on multiple levels.
However, it's not just what goes into our mouth - it's everything we ingest! That means whatever we take in through the eyes, through the ears and through all the senses. Maybe you've heard the expression in the foodie world 'we eat first with the eyes'. Couldn't be more true. So, while our day requires us to squint and focus and perhaps fill our eyes with less than encouraging or inspiring images, what else do you 'feast' on? Is it nutritious, or softly pleasurable or is it like visual junk food - crackerjacks and cotton candy?
Sure, it can be a nice release, but we eat that in with the eyes, and we listen to shrill drama that is not relevant; we call people treating each other badly and our witness of that exchange as 'entertainment'... how do you process that? Do you simply digest it, take out any tiny bit of nutrient you may and eliminate the rest? Or, perhaps a little more likely, do you have some mental indigestion and some constipation of the imagination? It takes time and effort, physical effort, to digest. On every level.
In Sanskrit, there is a term "ama"; the definition I like is "undigested sticky matter" since it's just so visceral and tactile, and feels true. "Ma", nutrition that is assimilated; "ama", the opposite. That crap that in the very real world becomes plaque in the colon, or diverticulitis, and impactions. The byproducts of convenience foods, created for the convenience of the industry, not the consumer (long shelf lives, non-pereishability, added salts and fats, stabilizers to hold it all), clogging up the pipes and festering.
In the mental realm---no preacher here---I'm speaking to myself: what are you watching and filling your brain with? What music are you just drinking in like big gulps? What gossip are you nibbling on like an unending bowl of popcorn? Same thing, we should be digestion and flushing and eliminating, not letting our minds get cluttered with meaninglessness and shite. What's getting taken in, and what is becoming ama?
What time are you putting into digesting that stuff, that ama?? Or, are you just mentally constipated, full of shit? Are you emotionally drained for others because you consume and ingest their dramas and emote them, and then can't actually process them or be involved with helping improve the situation?
What's your mental digestive process? The fire of creativity, imagination and manifestation in images, words, sounds or movements? Discernment through seated silence? Inspection and introspection - what are you doing to ensure there is a moving, flowing digestive process working up top, as well as down under?
What's your physical digestive practice?? Can you use your asana practice to help encourage your metabolism to optimize? To encourage a stability in the glandular system and enable you to create some beneficial routine in your life.
Are you willing to set a bedtime and a time that you rise at each day? And, can you commit to more than 90% of the time, to no waiver more then 1/2 and hour either way, either end? Physical body craves routine and care, what are you doing with yours? And, what are you challenging it to digest, over and over, that it tells you is not its preferred ingestible?
It's a curious question, an interesting perspective. Let's frame it at this - you are what you ingest... ingest nutrition and benefit from it; ingest non-nutrititive things and digest them, appropriately. avoid the congestion by ensuring you have time for digestion of what you ingest.
Eat, live well, enjoy life, play, eat crap in moderation and keep it all moving. Use your body, train your mind and meditate a little just to remove clutter and keep things moving. Watch what you eat!
And, give thanks and praise.
The primary physiological process that occurs in the ongoing living body is digestion... breaking down and assimilating that which we ingest. And, when we can't follow an optimum diet, when we are overly stressed, when we knowingly eat and ingest foods void of nutrition but high on grease, starch, fat, salt and sugar, we jam it all up and have a hard time with elimination; congestion, constipation.
Everyone of us has suffered from this in the physical form - too much of a good thing, a stomach ailment or virus, traveling and living in foreign lands where our immunities aren't tuned, all of these can mess with digestion. Especially for those with the Pitta dosha, or constitution - I speak from experience! Sometimes you can't get your shit together, other times you can't get your shit moving... that's the traveler's dilemma, on multiple levels.
However, it's not just what goes into our mouth - it's everything we ingest! That means whatever we take in through the eyes, through the ears and through all the senses. Maybe you've heard the expression in the foodie world 'we eat first with the eyes'. Couldn't be more true. So, while our day requires us to squint and focus and perhaps fill our eyes with less than encouraging or inspiring images, what else do you 'feast' on? Is it nutritious, or softly pleasurable or is it like visual junk food - crackerjacks and cotton candy?
Sure, it can be a nice release, but we eat that in with the eyes, and we listen to shrill drama that is not relevant; we call people treating each other badly and our witness of that exchange as 'entertainment'... how do you process that? Do you simply digest it, take out any tiny bit of nutrient you may and eliminate the rest? Or, perhaps a little more likely, do you have some mental indigestion and some constipation of the imagination? It takes time and effort, physical effort, to digest. On every level.
In Sanskrit, there is a term "ama"; the definition I like is "undigested sticky matter" since it's just so visceral and tactile, and feels true. "Ma", nutrition that is assimilated; "ama", the opposite. That crap that in the very real world becomes plaque in the colon, or diverticulitis, and impactions. The byproducts of convenience foods, created for the convenience of the industry, not the consumer (long shelf lives, non-pereishability, added salts and fats, stabilizers to hold it all), clogging up the pipes and festering.
In the mental realm---no preacher here---I'm speaking to myself: what are you watching and filling your brain with? What music are you just drinking in like big gulps? What gossip are you nibbling on like an unending bowl of popcorn? Same thing, we should be digestion and flushing and eliminating, not letting our minds get cluttered with meaninglessness and shite. What's getting taken in, and what is becoming ama?
What time are you putting into digesting that stuff, that ama?? Or, are you just mentally constipated, full of shit? Are you emotionally drained for others because you consume and ingest their dramas and emote them, and then can't actually process them or be involved with helping improve the situation?
What's your mental digestive process? The fire of creativity, imagination and manifestation in images, words, sounds or movements? Discernment through seated silence? Inspection and introspection - what are you doing to ensure there is a moving, flowing digestive process working up top, as well as down under?
What's your physical digestive practice?? Can you use your asana practice to help encourage your metabolism to optimize? To encourage a stability in the glandular system and enable you to create some beneficial routine in your life.
Are you willing to set a bedtime and a time that you rise at each day? And, can you commit to more than 90% of the time, to no waiver more then 1/2 and hour either way, either end? Physical body craves routine and care, what are you doing with yours? And, what are you challenging it to digest, over and over, that it tells you is not its preferred ingestible?
It's a curious question, an interesting perspective. Let's frame it at this - you are what you ingest... ingest nutrition and benefit from it; ingest non-nutrititive things and digest them, appropriately. avoid the congestion by ensuring you have time for digestion of what you ingest.
Eat, live well, enjoy life, play, eat crap in moderation and keep it all moving. Use your body, train your mind and meditate a little just to remove clutter and keep things moving. Watch what you eat!
And, give thanks and praise.
