Eating with Awareness -The Yogic Eating

       Food does not satisfy only the sense of taste. One has to enjoy food with all the senses. One enjoys the sight of food - red, yellow, green, orange, the shades of different colors satisfy the eyes. Various odors stimulate the smell organs. The touch of foods with bare hands itself is a pleasure. Various forms and textures of foods are felt with the hands. In the mouth, the six types of tastes (sweet, salty, sour, bitter, hot and astringent) are tasted. We enjoys four modes of eating - drinking, licking, chewing and gulping. Different textures like softness, graininess, hardness, roughness, powdery and crispness, etc can also be felt while eating. Unfortunately, we enjoy only the first few mouthfuls of eating. Then we forget about the science of eating! We read, watch, talk, work or think of other things, rather than eating.

Eating has become mechanical
       Eating then becomes as mechanical as filling gas in a car. There is no involvement of the mind. The mind is not aware of what is being eaten. Therefore, we don’t get the full benefits of eating. If we are aware of what is being eaten one can get the full benefit of it. If the mind is aware of the fact that the food that we are eating is  healing, naturally the body will be healed with the food. You may wonder whether this is true. Ancient masters have observed these minute details which are still unnoticed by the scientists. When you eat while you are emotionally upset, the food is less digested leading to constipation.

        We remember when we were children, we talked very little while eating. In modern times,  people become restless if they eat without talking. In India, our  grandmothers used to be very strict about following silence while eating as one of the table manners. You cannot read with full concentration if you drive a car or while watching a TV. Of course, many people do just that, but they don’t understand that they don’t get the full fruit of that action. In every action we are asked to fully concentrate on the work, but we don't think that the same applies to eating also. Therefore, eat peacefully and be aware about what you are eating, thereby, reaping the full benefit of eating.