You are what you eat
Let us say you are about to eat a healthy meal like this one of toast with avocado. If you wished to raise the energetic healing of your food as it goes into your body, there are some ayurvedic things you can do. one, you can eat slowly one bite at a time and be present while you are eating. Two, make sure you drink water after your meal, not during, but milk would be an example of a food to drink while you eat ie. a lassi. You could also before and during your meal observe a prayer from your religion/spirituality. Or, Ayurveda has a ritual. Sprinkle some pure water around your food before you eat. Chant the Gayatri mantra or bij mantra OM while you sprinkly water around your food. Then, sip just a little water like taking in the blessing. Then, recite the mantras out loud or internally of the five pranas.
OM Pranaya Swaha!
OM Apanaya Swaha!
OM Vyanaya Swaha!
OM Samaya Swaha!
OM Udanaya Swaha!
Swaha is the mantra for making any offerings to the sacred fire. In this way the food we eat nourishes all our pranas through the digestive Agni fire. Jatharagni. The offerings of food we eat is pranagnihotra, pranic fire offering..whether this is an offering of every day or at a puja.
"Yoga is an inner fire ritual that does not use external ingredients but rather the different faculties of our nature." Yoga & Ayurveda, David Frawley.
In Yoga, we use the fire of breath and mind to transform our consciousness. As we practice our hatha (physical yoga practice) and pranayama (breath practice) & pratyahara (sense withdrawal), we open the flow of energy through our energy pathways and chakras. We light an inner fire, kundalini shakti, with this energy through our yoga sadhana.
Many forms of agni exist in the natural world. We have the agni from the earth, stars, vegetable (produces organic life), animal fire (breeds emotion & passion), human fire (promotes truth & compassion), and angelic fire (love & devotion). Through Yoga Sadhana we learn about the Atmic fire (pure consciousness) which is also the Brahmic fire, absolute flame of pure existence. These cosmic fires relate to the koshas we learn about with our yoga sadhana.
Annamaya kosha - jatharagni, digestive fire
Pranamaya kosha - pranagni, fire of qi/ vital life force
Manomaya kosha - manasika agni, fire of perception
Vijnanamaya kosha- agni of intelligence, fire of discrimination
Anandamaya kosha- bliss sheath, fire of love
Chidagni- fire of consiousness , true self
brahman agni - fire of being, absolute being
Well now, that may have you look at your breath you are taking in, thoughts you take in, and the food you take within a little differently. You are what you eat, digest, take in, breathe in life.
namaste
Lotus Anwen Wachiwi Sagebrush (satya)
