How soon after eating can I can do yoga?

As a teacher and a blogger, I hear this question a lot, so here is a quick post on the food & drink before (and after) yoga question!

Mmmmm….

You have probably heard that yoga is ideally practiced on an 'empty stomach.' Anyone who has accidentally tried to do a vigorous yoga class after a big lunch can relate to the truth in that!  But that is more or less where the advice begins to diverge.

When considering this question, remember above all that in the yogic worldview, everyone is different. While yoga teachers often try to give simple and straightforward answers, because we think that is what people are looking for, the truth is that every individual has a unique ayurvedic constitution, meaning that there are no 'hard and fast rules.' Rather, think of these as guidelines that you then need to explore to see which is the most appropriate for you.

There are so many variables here (ayurvedic type, climate, season, diet, lifestyle, what else is going on in your life…) that I think the 'ideal' answer requires a solution that is tailored to your unique needs. One way to think about it is to keep a journal detailing what you ate before practice, when you ate it, and how you felt. Over time that may help you to hit upon the right solution for YOU.

Remember also that your needs are going to change throughout your life, depending on what else is going on - so just when you think you've got it figured out, you may have to change it up again!

If you practice in the morning:

Many schools of thought teach that yoga should be done first thing in the morning, before you eat or drink anything (other than room temperature water). Some people find this pretty comfortable, but I know others who feel light-headed or even faint if they so much as attempt a sun salutation on a completely empty stomach.

If you wake up hungry (which in ayurvedic terms is a good thing!), if the length and intensity of your practice requires a bit of fuel, or if you struggle with low blood sugar in the mornings, try the following:

• Have a glass of room-temperature or warm milk 15-30 minutes before practice. Milk temporarily buffers stomach acid, so it can be good to tide you through your practice. However, once the milk is digested your stomach will produce even more acid, so if you are in the habit of drinking milk, make sure you eat a nice alkaline breakfast after your yoga. 
• Have a (small) cup of milky coffee or tea 15-30 minutes before practice. Yoga guru BKS Iyengar began all of his days like this, and, well, he's going on 96 so it must work for him! Coffee also helps to empty your bowels which is another (less often quoted in a public yoga class!) recommendation for before you start practicing asana or pranayama.
• Have a small piece of fruit about 15 to 30 minutes before practice. It should be something light, like a peach or an orange, not a banana, and if possible, something fresh, not tinned.  I prefer solid fruit to fruit juice because with solid fruit you get fibre as well as just liquid and sugar, but then, that's just me!
• You don't have to wait too long after practice, even an intense practice, to head straight to a nice big breakfast. Wait about 15 or 20 minutes (just time for a shower and to get dressed) and then tuck in!

If you practice in the middle of the day:

If your favourite class is in the middle of the day, it's going to be a bit of a balancing act to figure out the right times to eat before and after practice. In the middle of the day, your energy is high and your digestive fire is at its peak. You might find that this means you are able to eat a light snack before practice and burn right through it, or you might find that you do better eating a big meal after practice. Try some of the following and see what works best for you:

• Have a light or normal breakfast followed by a high-energy mid-morning snack. The usual advice would be not to snack on anything within an hour of practicing.
• Have a big breakfast and don't eat again until after your practice.
• If you are hungry right before your class, try having a piece of light fruit about 15-30 minutes before class.
• You may find that you need to leave a bit of time after practice in order to be able to digest a big meal. If you are hungry right after practice but when you eat, you feel like it doesn't digest well, try having a light snack (fruit or a granola bar) right after practice and waiting about an hour before having a meal.

If you practice in the evening:

Personally, I find evening practices the most difficult to schedule healthy eating around. Eating too late is bad for my digestion and sleep, but so is a vigorous practice late in the evening. If you have similar issues, try the following:

• Try swapping your biggest meal of the day to lunchtime. Make sure it is a balanced meal that will give you enough 'fuel' to make it through the rest of your day and through your yoga practice. Then, have a light meal for dinner after practice (a soup or a salad for example). Remember that if you usually eat with your family you might have to warn them in advance on those days, too!
• If your class is too late for you to have dinner afterwards, try mixing and matching your breakfast and lunch quantities and timings (e.g. big breakfast, medium lunch, or small breakfast, big early lunch) so that you can eat an early dinner of something small and light. Try to leave at least 2-3 hours between dinner and your class for ideal digestion.

Foodie Fridays: 2 Great Mushroom Recipes, and some Ayurvedic musings

Anyone who has done a bit of study on Ayurveda (the yogic food & lifestyle science) will know that mushrooms are a bit of a controversial food. Classically, Ayurveda  classifies mushrooms as tamasic (err, roughly translating as 'rotten', although the gunas are much more complex than that), advise us therefore not to eat them, and then pretty much moves on. On the other hand, just over the border in China, many edible mushrooms (for instance, shitake) are classically considered to be excellent foods and to have medicinal properties. So what gives?

When I asked my Ayurveda teacher about this, she quipped that, well, they are a fungus and don't grow in sunlight so they can't be considered sattvic, but probably some sage of long ago ate a poisonous mushroom in the forest with bad results, wrote it down, and next thing you know, "no mushrooms". Of course, her anecdote has a definite ring of truth: people today still die of mushroom poisoning, and in the days before supermarkets, the ayurvedic advice to avoid mushrooms entirely was probably excellent counsel for those gathering food in the forests of India.

Thankfully (for mushroom lovers like me, anyway!), modern ayurvedic doctors are opening their minds, and their kitchens, to mushroom consumption. Many now consider mushrooms to be a nutritious and tasty supplement to a vegetarian diet. Mushrooms, being moist and cool, would generally be considered to reduce Vata and Pitta, but to augment Kapha dosha (people of that type should favour the dried varieties to lessen this effect).  Overall they are still tamasic, so they should be eaten absolutely fresh, and considered as an addition to your diet as opposed to a staple. Also their moist and heavy qualities might make them difficult to digest for those with more sensitive systems, so careful spicing and flavouring is definitely recommended.

So, readers, if your mouths are now watering for mushrooms, here are two fresh and delicious recipes that I have enjoyed recently! The best part is they are both super quick and easy!


1. Fresh Mushroom Soup

I found this recipe from Jamie Oliver but it was a bit fancy, so I adapted it as below. With the quantities I used it made about 3 hearty servings and it was unbelievably delicious! The lemon zest really made the soup come alive, so definitely try it!

- Chop 4 large portabello mushrooms and 2 handfuls of brown mushrooms. Also prepare an onion and some garlic, to taste
- Add some olive oil to a large pot, and throw in the onions and garlic; when they are soft, add the mushrooms
- Cook until the mushrooms are juicy and then add 3 cups of veggie stock and a lot of fresh thyme.  Simmer about 20 minutes.
- Blend the soup in the blender and then put it back in the pot.
- Add 2 tablespoons of cream cheese if you want to make the soup creamier
- Combine: the zest of 1 lemon, the juice of 1/2 lemon, and a pinch of salt and pepper

Serve the soup, then pour some of the zest mixture into the centre of each bowl and top with parsley. Stir the zest through, and enjoy - YUM!


2. Herby Mushroom Pasta with Mustard Sauce

This is based on a recipe that we found on BBC Good Food (who knew?!), but I added spinach to the sauce, which was super tasty. Plus, the tri-coloured (gluten free!) pasta made it fun and colourful, AND it only took about 20 minutes from start to finish.

Basically, while the pasta is cooking:

• Take about 2 big handfuls of field mushrooms or 1-2 portabello mushrooms (the recipe says 250g, however you're supposed to figure that out) and chop them thickly
• Optionally, chop 1-3 cloves of garlic, to taste (I don't think it really adds much to the recipe, but it does smell good as its cooking)
• Throw them into a frying pan with about a  1/2 cup of vegetable stock and 2 teaspoons of wholegrain mustard
• Stir and simmer until the mushrooms are soft and the stock is nearly gone
• Roughly chop 3 big handfuls of spinach leaves (and stems if you like them) and add to the mushrooms
• When the spinach is cooked (how cooked is up to your taste!), turn off the heat, toss in the pasta, and add a handful of parsley (or other tasty herb) and the zest of a lemon, and then serve!

Readers, do you eat, or choose not eat, mushrooms? Share your recipes here! :)

Coffee and Yoga: An Ayurvedic Answer

 

Coffee and yoga. Some swear by it. Some swear off it. Some swear by swearing off it! Since coffee probably didn't come to India until at least the 17th century, it is unlikely that anyone will dig up an ancient scroll to light our way... So what's a yogi to do?

Thankfully, yoga's sister science, Ayurveda, has kept pace with changing diets over the centuries, and modern ayurvedic doctors have some pretty clear guidance to help poor confused yogis navigate the dietary perils of the modern world.

For those of us who need a refresher: Whereas yoga is primarily concerned with the subtle body (pranamaya kosha) Ayurveda deals directly with the physical body (anamaya kosha). The goal of Ayurveda is to keep the body healthy, and in doing this, Ayurvedic practitioners believe more than anyone in that old saying "you are what you eat". Essentially, the health and balance of the body is regulated by our diet, and dis-ease is caused by "pollutants" that we consume which then wind up in our tissues. Yuck.

Ayurveda is not, however, a universal prescription. It recognises three fundamental "qualities" of the human body - called doshas - and says that everyone is made up of a unique combination of those three qualities, which in turn are made up of a combination of the 5 elements. Of course, we all have each element within us, but it's the combination that makes us way we are. As a reminder, the 3 doshas (and their elements) are:

- Vata (air, ether)
- Pitta (fire, water)
- Kapha (earth, water)

According to Ayurveda, every individual is born with a combination of the elements that give them their prakriti, or nature. A person's essential prakriti never changes, but of course everyone will move in and out of balance in their life, depending on their diet, their environment, their age, and even the seasons. To keep optimum health and balance, therefore, your need not only to eat right for your dosha, but also to be aware of imbalances (vikriti) creeping in, and to modify your diet to deal with those.  To find your dosha, take a quick online quiz (this one is pretty good and part 2 gives you your vikriti)... Although it's no substitute for a detailed diagnosis by an Ayurvedic doctor, it should at least get you thinking.

Anyway, back to the original point, what does Ayruveda have to say about coffee?  Well, first we need to think about the qualities of coffee. We all know that coffee is stimulating and drying (dehydrating + a diuretic). In the language of Ayurvedic tastes, coffee is pungent (stimulating), bitter (lightening/diuretic + laxative) and astringent (drying/dehydrating).

So what does this mean for coffee and the doshas?  Well, the general ayurvedic wisdom is as follows:

	Most Balancing	Most Aggravating
Vata	Sweet, Sour, Salty	Bitter, Pungent, Astringent
Pitta	Sweet, Bitter, Astringent	Sour, Salty, Pungent
Kapha	Pungent, Bitter, Astringent	Sweet, Sour, Salty

Which lets us easily see that Vatas should NOT drink coffee, Pittas should drink it in moderation and favour decaf, and for Kaphas, coffee is positively recommended (within reasonable limits of course!), although without milk or sugar, which are not recommended for Kaphas.  For people with combination doshas (e.g. Vata/Pitta or Pitta/Kapha), use common sense in finding the right balance - for instance, a Vata/Pitta with Pitta predominance might drink decaf occasionally.

Finally, in Ayurveda you eat first for your imbalance. So if you are a Kapha but you have a Vata imbalance, coffee is out... And if you are a Pitta but you have a Kapha imbalance, then you can have a cup - but only until your imbalance is resolved!

And as Ayurveda is all about customisation, here are a few ways you can help to moderate the negative effects that coffee might have on your dosha:

Vatas: drink weak or decaf coffee mixed with plenty of warm (boiled) milk (at least 1/2 the cup) - almond milk is even better! - sweetened, and spiced with cardamom (the best spice for Vatas),  nutmeg, cloves or cinnamon.

Pittas: drink coffee mixed with warm (boiled) milk, sweetened with sugar or honey.

Kaphas: drink coffee black or use rice milk instead of cow's milk. Avoid sugar and instead, sweeten with honey, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Mmmmmmm. Enjoy!

This post is mainly based on class notes with my Ayurveda teacher, but I am also super-grateful for the wisdom found on the following websites & blogs:

- Hey Monica B (Ayurvedic blog): Customise your cup o'joe
- Eat, Taste Heal: The 6 Tastes

6 tips for practising yoga in winter

A while back, I wrote a post on practising yoga in the cold, and got some great replies and tips in the comments. A friend of mine commented recently, giving some great ideas and asking if there is anything else that I learned.  Now that I am back in the tropics for a while, those cold dark mornings seem far away, and the distance makes it easier to reflect on practising through the winter.  So here are a few general reflections I have on how to maintain your practice during the winter months.

1) Get enough sleep: it's already hard to wake up early on a cold dark morning, or step on your mat after the sun has gone down. A well-rested body is absolutely key!

2) Brighten up your space: turn the lights on, drape furniture in bright cloth, wear bright colours, play music - add some cheer to your space. This really helped keep me going for my morning practice - I don't usually practice to music but in the winter I found it absolutely life-saving!

3) Add some heat-inducing pranayama to your practice, such as: Ujayi breath, Udiyana kriya / nauli, bhastrika & kaphalabati.  (If anyone wants more info on those, just ask!)

4) Warm up properly! In winter (especially with a morning practice) I found I really needed to warm up the body more. I added sun salutations to my warm-up, and kept up a brisk pace through my practice.  If you have a flow practice with a varied routine, winter is a great time to add dynamic standing poses, balances and twists that generate heat from the core, like Utkatasana (chair pose), parvritta trikonasana (reverse triangle), parvritta parsvakonasana (reverse extended angle pose), Warrior III, Garudasana (Eagle Pose), Plank Pose & Side Plank Pose. Be more cautious about going into deep forward bends, hip openers or backbends, since your muscles may not be as warmed up as they are in the summer months - take lots of time to warm up to these. Take vinyasas between sitting poses to keep the body heated, and keep some warm socks and a sweater / blanket ready for your meditation and savasana.

5) Modify your diet: Eat warm, cooked foods in winter to balance out the cold.  If you are a student of yoga, chances are you have come across Ayurveda, the yogic lifestyle science, (if you need a refresher, have a look at this post), which allows you to look at the elements of your individual constitution, and identify imbalances. Cold, dry winters are most likely to aggravate Vata, and cold, wet winters are most likely to aggravate Kapha, which may cause imbalances. If you feel that winter throws you particularly out of balance, it might be worth delving deeper into your ayurvedic type and adopting some of the lifestyle recommendations specific to you.  Ayurveda also offers some suggestions for what type of physical practice might suit you best or balance your imbalances.

6) Practice at different times: Some people (like me!) really benefit from having a regular practice time and sticking to it, but others may find that varying your practice time can help you maintain a practice during the winter months.  If you are able to, try practicing at different times of day and see what suits you best.

7) If you are teaching in winter, you can also include many of these tips in your teaching routine. Winter classes can be a great opportunity to bring your students into challenging standing sequences, and work on core strength. Make sure your students are properly warmed up by adding heating poses to your warm up sequence, like cat / cow balance (opposite arm and leg raised), one-legged cat/cow (on inhale, extend one leg out behind you, on exhale hug the knee to the chest and engage the core), plank pose variations (one legged plank or side plank), utkatasana with twists. Warn your students to be especially cautious with hamstrings, hips and lower back, and to make sure they feel properly warmed up before trying deep poses in these areas.

And, just for fun, check out this page for some yogis who thought they'd take their winter practice a bit farther and practice yoga in the snow!!  Also, check out more amazing snow crystal photos like the one above at Snow Crystals.com!

Yoga for your Dosha

I recently put together a workshop and compiled some advice on Yoga practices for different Ayurvedic types, and I thought I'd post them here.

Without going into too much detail, Yoga and Ayurveda are sister-art/sciences that are deeply connected to one another. Yoga is the spiritual path, while Ayurveda is therapy- and lifestyle-oriented. The Ayurvedic "doshas", Vata, Pitta and Kapha describe three different energy types, and everyone's basic nature, or prakriti, is made up of a composition of the three. Usually people have a dominant Dosha, or two Doshas share dominance (although in rare cases there are people who have even amounts of all 3). In addition, the equilibrium of the doshas, or vikruti , will fluctuate throughout your life, and can be made balanced or imbalanced by factors in your lifestyle, diet, environment, and physical habits, as well as by age, season and even time of day.

Cue: Yoga and your dosha. Since any regular activity in your life can either help to balance your dosha or cause imbalances, so will your Yoga practice. So, Ayurvedic theorsists provide us with some guidelines on what type of asana practice works for which Doshas. [At this point, if you don't know what your Dosha is, head over to google and search for "dosha quiz" and take one of the many online dosha assessments. As a starting point, there is a simple 12-question quiz on Deepak Chopra's site. Also, see lower down in the post for tips on assessing your dosha.]

Got your Dosha yet? Good. If you have multiple doshas, I've put a few tips below to help you begin to sort through things.

Advice for VATA

People of Vata nature or with Vata imbalance are most complimented by a yoga practice that is grounding, calming, and slightly warming. This practice will help to balance out Vata's tendency towards anxiety, insecurity and spaceyness. In addition, since imbalances in Vata mostly manifest in the large intestine and lower back (2nd chakra) as well as joint pain, people of Vata nature can benefit from poses that strengthen the lower back and work the lower abdomen.
Best Asanas for Vata: All standing poses, especially Warrior II and Uttanasana, Paschimottanasa, Balasana, Dhanurasana, Padmasana.
Asanas to Avoid: Avoid over-stimulation through many fast repetitions of sun salutations or similar sequences. In addition, because Vatas tend to have prominent joints, use padding on asanas that put pressure on your joints such as shalabasana, salamba sarvangasana and halasana.

Advice for PITTA

People of Pitta nature are most complimented by an asana practice that is calming and cooling. Pittas tend to be naturally assertive and driven, so when practicing asana they should focus on keeping a steady breath and keeping softness in tense areas such as the shoulders and face. Furthermore, pittas are prone to imbalances in the small intestine (3rd chakra), so practicing backbends that stretch out the solar plexus area can be very beneficial.
Best Asanas for Pitta: Ustrasana, Bhujangasana, Dhanurasana.
Asanas to Avoid: Avoid over-stimulation through many fast repetitions of sun salutations or similar sequences, which can generate excessive heat. In addition, Pittas should avoid holding inversions such as headstand for prolonged periods, as they generate a lot of heat in the head and the belly.

Advice for Kapha

People of Kapha nature are most complimented by a heating, stimulating practice. Kaphas tend to be slower-moving and are prone to congestion in the lungs, so a fast and hot practice is the best tool for bringing Kapha back into balance.
Best Asanas for Kapha: Ustrasana, Salamba Setu Bandhasana (to open up the chest and help prevent congestion), repetitions of Surya Namaskara A and B.
Asanas to Avoid: Almost all asanas are good for Kaphas, but since their weakest areas tend to be kidneys and lungs, avoid prolonged holding of poses that place pressure on the lower abdomen, like Dhanurasana.

Advice if You have More than One Dosha

If you have a combination dosha, it may be tricky to navigate the advice above. For example, if you are Pitta-Kapha, you are supposed to avoid heat on the one hand, but generate it on the other? For dual dosha types, I can make a few recommendations, although obviously nothing substitutes for an actual ayurvedic/yoga consultation!

Firstly, try to determine if you have a dominant dosha. Sometimes you can do this by taking a different dosha quiz - if you took a long quiz, try taking a shorter one and see if you get a clear majority. Secondly, you can analyze your results and see if your physical (as opposed to temperamental) attributes fall more into one category than another - this might help guide your physical practice. Thirdly, take the quiz with an "adviser" - a spouse/partner, sibling or parent who can give you objective answers to some of the questions - you'd be surprised at the difference sometimes!!

If you still have a tie, you will need to do some self-study to find what is right for you. Going back to our Pitta-Kapha example, you may find that in the mornings you have lots of fiery energy typical of Pitta - so then a morning practice should be slow and calming. Or you may find that at this particular time in your life, your Kapha is dominating, and you can compensate with a more stimulating practice. This is also the case if you are one of the rare people who is a balance of all 3 doshas - you will need some careful self-examination to determine which dosha applies to which of your physical and personality attributes.

Learning about your Dosha is not the end of the journey - it's just the beginning!! The balance of the 3 elements in your life will fluctuate with the years, seasons, even the time of the day. But Ayurveda gives us some handy tips for how to keep those elements in balance and get in touch with your unique "dosha pattern" and your true nature. :)