Last week I said that your body is very smart and knows what’s best for its health. So what about the cravings that we all get that most definitely are NOT good for our body? You and your body know very well these cravings are not beneficial for your health but you just can’t help yourself. Like my mom said: “we all know the theory of good heath but putting it into practice is a different story.”
There was a time, few of my friends might remember, when I used to smoke, and drink more than normal. Yoga has helped me overcome these addictions. Now I’m into the sweet life (see the pic above). I love sweets, not everything though. I can’t stand oversaturated candy, cakes or pies. Therefore I’m always on a look out for the perfect amount of sugar, fat, moisture and the right texture in cakes, cookies, pastries, ice cream and so on. Oh yeah and I love fancy coffee, once in a blue moon. It just goes so well with sweet pastries.
Everyone has a guilty pleasure, it’s natural, and there is nothing wrong with enjoying things. It’s the amount or the quantity that you take that’s making a regular craving into a guilty pleasure which can grow into an addiction.
How does one stop or at least limit those bad cravings?
Here is yogic approach to not give in to your cravings.
Step 1: Take three deep breaths right before attempting to commit your offense. Feel the each breath fully.
Step 2: Imagine how are you going to feel after you have that piece of chocolate, that cigarette, that third glass of wine.
Step 3: If after these two steps, you still decide you really want to have that thing, then go for it and enjoy. However, there is a large chance that you WON’T conform to your craving and come out victorious. Congratulations to you. With the power of your breath and imagination you’ve overcome your craving. You were able to rationally asses the situation and act accordingly. No power of will was needed, no sacrifices were made. You simply expressed the true love for your body.
Good health is created in tiny little steps of loving our bodies.
Yogic explanation why this works:
All the cravings and eventually all the addictions are based in our disconnect with our soul. You are looking for a deeper, fuller life experience, the kind that our soul knows from its true state of being. However, too much of these cravings is at the end self destructing and very soon it stops giving you that deeper fuller life experience. So what is one to do? How does one experience deeper fuller life and get in touch with your soul or spirit?
Through breath.
Your breath is a direct highway to your soul. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that in so many languages the word soul and breath are same or similar. Even in english we have spirit and respiration. In slovakian it’s ‘dych – breath’ and ‘duch – spirit’.
If you practice conscious breathing or what’s called pranayam, you will slowly walk towards deeper and fuller experience of your life.
Sat Nam
Here is a question for you, are there other languages in which the words breath and soul are similar? You can leave a comment below and share with others
Thank you