om lite
I
find it funny when people ask me what I eat, as if being a yoga
teacher implies some radically different way of nourishing
oneself. I resist the temptation to joke that I’m breatharian!
After all there’s a lot of discussion and interest in what a ‘yogic
diet’ might be. I’m sure there always has been, right back to
the days of Vedic horse sacrifices and offerings of milk and honey in
the temples. In modern times we pick and choose from such ancient
traditions to find the aspects that cohere with our current ideals.
I don’t know any yogis who would sacrifice a horse as part of their
practice, but I do know those who will debate intensely whether
Patanjali’s discussion of Ahimsa (non-harming) means that we
should all become vegetarian, or ideally vegan. Or those who tend
towards Ayurvedic understanding and think of food as Rajasic or
Tamasic, foods that increase or decrease our energy, as they seek the
perfect Sattvic diet that will keep them in balance, from the inside
out. Clean eating, we might say, to use a modern expression.
Such issues are all well and good, and I do love a discussion about
interpreting ancient traditions to suit modern needs. But right now
my concerns are more practical in nature. It’s the run up to Christmas
— and that means party season! As if fitting meals around my
teaching schedule and my practice times wasn’t a challenge enough,It’s okay for even the strictest yogis to relax the rules
now and then. By Victoria JacksonEat, drink & be merry
I’m now juggling some extra social activities into the mix — and they
all involve food or alcohol or both.
Ordinarily the difficulty I have is in spacing mealtimes away from
practice times without the need for too much pre-class snacking
or without eating dinner ridiculously late at night. Now there
are invites to work lunches and after-work meet-ups in the pub,
celebrating the holiday season with colleagues and friends from
the office. Even if I stick to soft drinks and avoid the bar snacks, I
still don’t feel like doing a yoga practice when I finally get home.
Having fun can be tiring!
But yoga is about flexibility, isn’t it? Flexibility in our mindset,
that is. So my yoga practice in December looks nothing like my yoga
practice in July and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m not about
to disappear in a sea of boozy lunches, but I am making space for
having some seasonal fun, lighting up the winter months with some
extra social activities — and a few glasses of festive cheer. January,
bringing with it the compulsion for new year’s resolutions and
austerity, will come round all too soon.Victoria Jackson lives and teaches in Oxford. She is registered with
Yoga Alliance Professionals as a vinyasa yoga teacher