When yoga becomes part of your lifestyle rather than an exercise system, you begin to change other aspects of your life to fit with the new you. The physical asansas (or poses) are only part of yoga. The practice of the asanas brings calmness to the mind and creates space for you to think about the focus of your life. I am often asked if diet is important and the answer is yes, of course it is important! If you are taking so much care of your body and mind by practising yoga then you must look after the health of your body by means of diet.
Eating healthily does not mean sacrifice and once you cut out the junk you feel so much more alive. The easiest way to change your diet is to start looking at ingredients on things that you buy. Once you see how many additive, fats, flavourings etc are in the food you eat it doesn’t seem so attractive any more. Remember where your food comes from and try and cook from whole foods. Use lots of fresh vegetables, pulses and beans to create wonderful flavours. Chances are you will surprise yourself.
I am also often asked if you need to be a vegetarian or vegan to really get the most from your yoga practice. My answer is this – if you believe in yoga as a lifestyle then what you are aspiring to is a life where you take care of yourself and others. A life without violence. From my perspective, the killing of animals creates suffering and to me is a violent choice. Opinions vary and I would never tell my students they had to change their eating habits. However I might ask them to think about it….
