Bliss-Girls

In the previous two posts we had a peek into the life of yoga guru Nandini. In this final post to the series, she answers to questions about yoga, health and lifestyle. Read and enjoy.

Q: What is yoga?

Nandini: Yoga is going back to one’s own nature. For example, look at a child’s life, it sleeps according to its requirements, it cries when its sad, it laughs when it is happy. It has no impressions about past, it lives in present. But as we grow up, our lives get disorganized and we are not in tune with our true nature. We keep oscillating between past and present. Yoga is a para science that works on chitta vritti nirodhaha (Restraint of fluctuations of mind).

Q: What does yoga tell about sleep?

Nandini: Humans have a natural rhythm known as circadian rhythm. Our organs functions at specific times and all of this is controlled by the circadian rhythm. For example, liver works between 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. If we are awake in the night, it affects the circadian rhythm and organs do not function effectively.

It is best not to stay awake between 12 to 4 a.m. Even if you had to stay awake for 6 hours in the night, compensate it with 2 hours of sleep during the day time.

Q: Tell us about food consumption

Nandini: Food should be consumed in such a way that all 5 senses feel the presence of food. Cook food at home and as much as possible stick to what your ancestors consumed.

Ideal timings:

Breakfast: 7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m.
lunch : noon -2p.m when sun is at peak, food gets digested very well
Dinner: before 7 p.m.

Eat with you hands if possible so you can feel the food. Nerve endings in your fingers sends signals to brain. There is a connection formed between the food and your brain even before you put it in your mouth.

When you cook at home, you know the exact quantities of ingredients you are consuming. As an example, with store brought fruit juice, you will not know how many fruits have gone in, how much sugar has been added. But when you eat a whole fruit you see the fruit, you know what you are consuming.

Eat Sattvic food. Do not consume food that have high sugar and food that is too spicy. Eat food that should not be difficult to digest. Do not eat too much at night. Avoid food that does not suit your body. Avoid virudhha ahara.

Q: What is virudhha ahara?

Nandini: Certain foods should be avoided at certain times and certain combinations should not be consumed. For example, do not have fruit and milk. Do not mix fruits like in fruit salad. If you need to reap the benefit of fruits, have one whole fruit at a time. Avoid consuming hot and cold food together like ice-cream and hot gulab jamoon. Do not consume curd at night, replace it with buttermilk which is much easier to digest.

Q: What does yoga tell about breathing?

Nandini: In yoga, there is a saying ‘chale vatam chale chittam’. When the breath flows, mind works. How we breath, so is the mind. Observe babies breathing, they use upper, middle, lower abdomen and chest for breathing. That is yogic breathing. We should use all three lobes of lungs for breathing. This happens naturally when we are tension free, relaxed and when we do asana and pranayama.

As adults we take 21600 breaths  per day. When we are angry we breath fast and do not use all of our lungs. Not only that, we do not pay attention much of the time to our breathing. Our nervous system has two parts: central and peripheral. The autonomous nervous which is a part of peripheral system has two components – sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Sympathetic nervous system causes fight or fright response. Parasympathetic nervous system causes our body to relax. Naturally these two systems should be activated alternatively. But most of us are having overly active sympathetic nervous system. Through asana, pranayama and dhyana we can bring balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

Q: What is the purpose of life according to Yoga?

Nandini: According to scriptures the purpose of life is dharma, artha, kama and moksha. Any human wants to lead a happy life. That is the purpose of life – to find happiness. And yoga tells that happiness is within you. It teaches you to slow down, understand and enjoy life.

A short story from Mahabharatha about this topic. Once all pandavas were discussing how to get liberation from life? Dharmaraya, the eldest says Dharma is the path of liberation. Arjuna says but to perform dharma, you need artha (wealth, health) and so artha is the path to liberation. Bhima says to perform dharma or to acquire wealth and maintain great health one must first have kama (desire) to do so. Hence kama is the path to liberation. Kama should be satkama or virtuous desires.

Q: Any suggestions for our readers?

Nandini: Kalidasa says ‘Sharira madhyam khalu sadhanam’. The costliest device on this planet is human body. 10 years back, in one of the lectures I attended, the speaker mentioned that human body was worth 8 crores, now what might be its cost can be imagined. For a happy life, we need to take good care of this body. Simple steps – sleep well, wake up early, before going to sleep read something good, read scriptures, listen to talks of great people everyday.

Another key thing to practice everyday is Silence. Do nothing for 10 mins, no meditation, no asana, no pranayama. Just practice stillness. And last but not least read bhagavad gita and patanjali sutras.