A guest post on yoga and mindful eating by Melina Meza.

(Want to read Melina’s previous guest post?  Click here)

I’ve been deeply inspired in my daily life by the very first sutra in the classic text called Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The arrangement in which the sutras are placed is related to their significance, so the very first word in the first yoga sutra is central to understanding what Westerners call “yoga.” The whole sutra is atha yoga anusasanam. Atha is translated as now, also referred to as the moment-to-moment transition. This simple word, atha, echoes the basic wisdom often forgotten in today’s society, that in order to feel whole and connected, you must be present. Right here, right now. But, where do we spend most of our life? Somewhere in between the past and future.

I once heard a riddle that asked, “If you had a treasure to hide, where would you hide it?” The answer is, “in the present moment.” What would happen if we started weaving this wisdom from the Yoga Sutra into our daily life and eating? Would our health improve? I believe it would. This first step is perhaps the most important step on this journey because it brings your attention to what you are doing in the moment, no matter what you are doing. How can you ever understand or feel the benefit of a well prepared meal, restorative or vigorous yoga practice, healthy relationships, parenting, working, or whatever you do in life, if you are always distracted with emails and text messaging or if you are busy fantasizing about some time other than right now?

One translation of the word “mindfulness” means to pay attention or take care in every thing you do. Mindfulness and atha have a lot in common, they both remind us that now is the prime time to pay attention to life and take nothing for granted, they both graciously steer the waxing and waning mind towards one goal, one task versus many. After all, can your energy really go more than one place at a time?

Mindfulness or atha can be used as a “mantra” to be repeated throughout the day in various activities such as yoga, meditation, walking, cooking, paying the bills, or listening to a friend. Repeating this mantra throughout your day will help remind you to stay present and awake, right here and now. What would it be like to wake up to each moment’s sensual offerings and accept that moment as enough?

Mindful eating
What if eating became a part of your meditation practice? Whether you eat three square meals a day or numerous smaller meals, eating food is something every human must do to survive. To maintain healthy tissues and organs, it’s essential to eat the right foods everyday. Because we all need to eat so regularly, it’s a great place to consider sequencing in mindfulness and atha into your daily routine. Enjoy how your food tastes, smells, how well it digests, and how much you need to satisfy your hunger.

In the western culture, people are not fully conscious of the fact that they are eating; instead we are busy driving, typing at the computer, watching the TV or a movie, reading the paper or discussing politics or the latest Facebook events while hanging out with friends. Each of these scenarios requires a certain amount of energy output–energy that is pulled away from the digestive and metabolic functions occurring within. There is a classic saying, “Where your mind goes, your energy will follow.” So, why not focus on eating when eating, to prepare your digestive organs to process the nutrients?

If we were to apply mindfulness to eating, we would start by choosing a special, clean place to eat each meal, free of clutter and distractions. I believe it is valuable to choose a specific comfortable seat just for eating (like you do for meditation) other than your couch, desk, bed, or car because it promotes conscious eating. This also prevents overeating. Consider the classic conditioned behavior patterns described in Pavlov’s experiment. His research proves just how easily you can train yourself to get hungry every time you approach your desk, couch, or car, if that is where you most commonly eat. Conscious, mindful eating promotes efficient digestion and metabolism, so you’ll have more energy at the end of the day, week, and year to do your life’s work. When you take the same seat over and over again to eat, you’ll remember that eating is a ritual for nourishment rather than a reward or comfort tool.

By eating in a quiet seat, you also give your body the opportunity to stop vibrating from the day, calm the sense organs, indulge in a few deep breaths, and drop into a moment of appreciation for the delicious food you are about to consume. The food you eat, after all, will soon become you, so it would be wise to be attentive to your new guests and pray for a speedy, harmonious transformation in the walls of your GI tract.

Melina Meza, BS Nutrition, 500-RYT, has been exploring the art and science of yoga and nutrition for over 16 years. She combines her knowledge of Hatha Yoga, Ayurveda, whole foods nutrition and healthy living into a unique style called Seasonal Vinyasa Yoga. Melina’s Seasonal Vinyasa Yoga classes, workshops and DVDs emphasize the healing teachings of the ancient yogis and inspires students to adapt their asana practice, diet and lifestyle routines to better harmonize with the seasonal changes occurring in nature. Melina is the lead teacher at Seattle’s 8 Limbs Yoga Centers and is also the author of Art of Sequencing an innovative book that includes 34 unique yoga sequences and over 1,500 photos offering creative inspiration for experienced yoga teachers as well as fresh instructional ideas to jump start a home practice. More information about Melina and her offerings can be found at http://www.melinameza.com/

As you may or may not know there is a General Election going on in the UK at the moment.  Every Thursday night there is a Leadership Debate on the TV where the leaders of the three main parties belittle each other in front of a live studio audience.  Think Jerry Springer with more politics and less barechested fighting.  The Election isn’t until 6 May but I voted on Friday night.  Himself and I have postal votes because he is sometimes away for work and the forms arrived yesterday.  To be honest if I don’t do these things straight away I don’t do them at all so I have made my decision and no gameshows are going to change my mind.

To celebrate this event I drank wine (half a glass, I know how to live).  The wine was also to celebrate Himself finishing a big work project and another decision we made (clue: the wine’s Australian!)

Had a pedicure

Bathed the cats.  They hid from us

But there was no escape.  They stank.  And are moulting.  And had dandruff.  The time had come.  It was an ordeal.  One I cannot go into again.  Himself has some great wet cat pics here.

Himself built me a light box for my photographs (go here if you want to know how to do the same).

And I  made vegan peanut butter cookies.  What’s that you say?  You want cookies too?  OK, here’s how.

First, put 60z (175g) rolled oats in a bowl and seive in 8oz (225g) plain flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder and a teaspoon of salt.

In another bowl mix together 6floz (175ml) vegetable oil, 4floz (125ml) vanilla soy milk (any milk alternative is fine but the vanilla flavoured ones work well), 12oz (350g) brown sugar (I know it’s a huge amount of sugar!!!!  but you really need it.  This does make 12 huge cookies or 24 normal cookies so you might want to half the mix actually – now I tell you ha ha!), and 60z (175g) crunchy peanut butter.

This is what happens when you mix soy milk and oil.  It is like giant frogspawn

This PB is from the healthfood store.  They have a sort of grinding machine and all that is in it is peanuts.  It takes a bit of getting used to actually.  My palette is used to the additions in ordinary PB.

Start to mix the wet ingredients into the dry a little at a time until you have cookie dough.

Who likes raw cookie dough?

Roll the dough into balls and place on a greased and lined baking sheet.  Squash the dough balls down to make cookie shapes.  Then bake.

Now here is the tricky bit. Bake them at 180*C/350*F/Gas Mark 4.  I would normally say for about 15 minutes but these took half an hour.  I think there is something fundamentally wrong with my oven (which is great), so perhaps check them after 15 minutes and then keep checking at 5 minute intervals until they are golden.

Allow to cool for a couple of minutes then place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Yesterday was baking hot outside.  Today is cold and raining.  I wish I lived somewhere where the weather was more consistent.

Back in my previous life when I worked in a big American law firm in London I used to buy my lunch and snacks every day. This used to involve too much coffee, too many processed foods, way too much packaging and a lot of money.  When I look back on it I’m quite shocked at how much I used to spend.  To buy a sandwich, a small snack (like a granola bar), a fruit salad and a juice in central London cost about £5 a day.  And then there would be a couple of Starbucks coffees and a croissant.  We’re talking nearly £10 a day, that’s £50 a week, on lunch!  Not particulary nice lunch either.  Lunch that wasn’t very good for me, full of secret fattening ingredients and preservatives.  Not to mention all that plastic packaging that I threw away every day.

Dear Earth and Bank Account.  I am truly sorry.  Love, Me.

Anyway those days are behind me.  Now I have a nifty little Bento Box.

I got this lunchbox from Laptop Lunches.  I think this is the child’s size (I don’t eat very big portions) but you can get bigger ones.  The website is great and has a nice little blog with loads of lunch ideas.

I’m a particular fan of the bento box because it means you can take a variety of food to work with you without it all spilling out or mingling with adjacent foods (I should point out at this stage that one of the bigger sections has a lid for food with sauces), and it comes with a little cutlery set.  The containers are microwavable should you want to take something to heat up. It means you can take something a little bit more interesting than sandwiches.  However, if you do want to take sandwiches you can take some of the little boxes out to make space!  And there’s no waste!  And it’s dishwasher proof!  And it fits in my bike basket!  Plus it comes with a recipe book – genius eh?!

Have I mentioned I’m a huge fan?  I’m not even getting paid to write this either!

I tend to take the previous evening’s meal with me to work.  I always make a little bit extra for lunch.  Pasta dishes, curries, stir frys, salads all work.  This particular taste combo that you see in the picture is cous cous and a sort of vegetable tangine (recipe below) with a handful of pretzels and half a mango on the side.  That along with a couple of pieces of fruit is perfect for me (there is space for a pieces of chocolate or two down the side as well – not that I would ever sneak chocolate in my lunch )

Quick Vegetable Tangine (serves 3)
Chop up one onion, a few mushrooms and one red pepper and gently fry in a drop of olive oil over a medium heat for a couple of minutes.
Add one tin of chopped tomatoes and one tin of drained chickpeas.
Add a teaspoonful of Bart Ras El Hanout Spice Blend (or any other spices you like)
Allow to simmer for about 10-15 minutes until the sauce has started to reduce
Serve with cous cous and maybe a green salad.

What are your lunchtime favourites? Do you take lunch to work?