Ayurveda is 5,000 years old and the food scene today is totally different than it was way back then. This makes it tricky to apply the ancient wisdom to things that didn’t even exist when the tradition started. In addition, if you are living in the West and not in India, there will be lots of other cultural differences, differences between the seasonal food that grows locally to you, and the food that is available in supermarkets compared to the food that was around in India in that time. Therefore, it may not be appropriate for you to try all of the ancient teachings to your life. I try to spin Ayurveda through a permaculture filter which means I try to use what I’ve got, eat locally, eat in season and don’t waste. I’m also aware that we are more likely to be worried about obesity than hunger, the effects of too much than too little.
In fact, many Westerners come to Ayurveda looking to find a happier and less rule-bound relationship with food. Often there is a desire to lose weight or ‘get in control’ of their eating having ‘tried’ various other approaches to weight loss or food control. With each new approach, rules are made and then broken and then with each failed attempt, confidence and self-esteem are crushed and desperation sets in. Rules have that kind of impact on people, especially when it comes to food if the rules just give rise to cravings, fears and feelings of deprivation and powerlessness.
Therefore, I like to share the principles of Ayurveda and steer clear of a rule-based approach. Once you understand the underlying principles, you can start to apply them to your lifestyle, bit by bit and feel your way to a balanced and happy relationship to eating and food. You can move away from pendulum swings, yo-yo diets or fasting and starving towards moderation and a peaceful relationship with food. When you truly understand the principles you can tune in to how you are feeling and give your body what it really needs. This way, you are being guided from within rather than sticking to a plan that may not actually be best for you. This is known as self-discipline, or following the “disciple within”.
The word "disciple" is actually about learning and it means “student”. It comes from within, because only you can do your own learning, no matter where you get your instruction, guidance or information from. It is an internal process and one that is necessary for change to happen. Without learning, there can be no change. So discipline is not about obeying rules that someone else enforces, that is obedience. Ayurvedic discipline involves learning the guiding principles, testing them out to see how they work for you and then making a decision to consistently apply those practices that enhance the quality of your life and health. It’s a bit like the draw and pull of an excellent yoga class that you find yourself going back to over and over again because it gives you just what you need.
Applying Ayurvedic principles that you truly understand deep in your body gives you a system of flexibility and choice. Attempting to stick to rigid rules that live in your head on the other hand will keep you stuck and quite possibly unhappy. Let’s face it, life is all about making constant decisions and compromises. Ayurveda gives you the tools to help you stay eloquently flexible and fluid in all of life’s decisions, not just the ones about food. Everyday you have to decide what to do with your time and resources, but if you have already decided what you will choose in many situations, you get to gracefully flow through your day avoiding decision fatigue . Learning to be guided by principles give you a compass that will help you navigate your days with ease.
In my experience, one way to changing an unwanted behaviour is this:
Understand with your head why the change is beneficial and decide what you want the new behaviour to be.
Change your mind. This step is about changing your mind about why the old habit, including any pay offs, is not as desirable as the new intended one. Do whatever it takes to persuade yourself to really change your mind, without a shadow of doubt. Read, gather information, talk to people or journal. Use what works for you.
Put everything in place to make it easy to do the new thing and hard to do the old thing.
Practice, practice and practice the new behaviour until you have done it more times than you did the old one. At this point you will have created a new habit more powerful than the old one was. Imaging putting a rock in a pile each time you do a behaviour until you have a big pile of rocks. Then, each time you do the new desired behaviour, you take the rock from the old pile and put it in the new one. In Ayurvedic terms these piles of rocks or habits are called Samskaras. You have to keep at it and know that there may be slip ups in the process. Just keep growing the new pile of rocks.
Talk to someone about what you are doing. It helps to commit to your new change and firm up your resolve. If you would like help making changes, I’d love to work with you through this process. You can get in touch with me here to book an Ayurvedic consultation.