The Yoga of Eating: Transcending Diets and Dogma to Nourish the Natural Self

8 reviews for The Yoga of Eating: Transcending Diets and Dogma to Nourish the Natural Self

1. 

   Justin Ritchie – January 10, 2025

   The most important book on food you’ll ever read
   When reading Charles Eisenstein’s Ascent of Humanity a few weeks ago I was amazed at the depth and breadth of his scholarship. Unfortunately the book is so tremendous, weighing in at over 600 pages its enough to scare most people off. The Yoga of Eating is a focused piece of writing that takes all of Eisenstein’s core philosophies of separation from core humanity and presents in an easily accessible 160 pages.However, while Ascent of Humanity is focused on the entire scope of existence, Yoga of Eating is solely about our attitudes and approaches to food.Charles begins by stating that, “the health crisis engulfing the modern world is a spiritual crisis, and a precocious opportunity as well. Pain and illness in the body can illuminate what is important in life.” And it is that approach which forms the basis for his thesis. By listening to our body when we eat and truly, wholly trusting it we can begin to find our actual dietary needs. Modern western medical practice indicates that our bodies are imperfect and need discipline but as we have imposed more and more willpower the results have been continually diminishing.Only by practicing the occasional eating in silence, attentive eating and focus on breathing can we reunify with the sacred practice of consuming life in the form of plants and animals.To highlight one example, we will examine the sweetness of our food, something I have particularly noticed in US foodstuffs (with the emphasis on ‘stuff’). This sweetness may be a result of the ever increasing desire to break free from bland lives filled with illusory “choices” between Kmart and Walmart, CBS and NBC, focusing on security above all else. The sweetness is a glimpse of the fullness of our true existence.Key to practicing the Yoga of Eating is understanding that our bodies are adapted perfectly to the conditions we have experienced. If we look at the world around us, we must understand that if I were you, I would do the same things you do. If God were you, he would do those same things. We must embrace this understanding of our perfect bodies. A body separate from a false image propagated by the establishment. By effortlessly trusting ourselves, we will likely lose weight, eat less and exercise more but without the pain and struggle of diets and willpower.Perhaps the Yoga of Eating will be too irrational for many, and if the approach Charles advocates will make you skeptical, challenge yourself by reading this book. You will not emerge from the final page the same. It is time for a call for true selfishness. When we are good to ourselves we can embrace the abundance nature provides and we can relax into the change the we most crucially desire.

2. 

   T. Avallone – January 10, 2025

   Need a new relationship with food? With your body? Get this book.
   Fictional works aside, I don’t think I have never in my life have I so vehemently disagreed with some of the foundational assumptions of an author and yet agreed with so much. The Yoga of Eating is just such a book. My first time through, I couldn’t stop reading and I had to wait for my second and third times through to actually take the time to fetch my underlining pen and highlighters. My biggest disagreement with Mr. Eisenstein is his premise that there is no Creator and the body itself is a fountain of divine wisdom if we’d only just listen. However, I found that when I substituted the idea that God had made our bodies with the ability to communicate to us what we needed to stay healthy and balanced and that we should just listen, I had a foundation I could work with. There were still places and ideas that absolutely didn’t fit with my personal belief system; nevertheless, there was a lot that I think I needed to hear.For example:”The proper function of willpower and self-discipline is to extend wisdom and insight into times of imperfect clarity.””Often we use self-discipline to tell our inner voice to shut up, preferring to trust in the rational mind and its received beliefs. This is unfortunate: What if our inner appetites and urges are telling us something important?””Second-guessing and ignoring the body is what has gotten us into this mess in the first place, and we will not get out of it by imposing on the body yet another set of dietary principles, no matter how new-and-improved they might be.””Healing then is not the fixing of a miscreant body, but the removal of the impediments to self-healing, an unleashing of the body’s natural repair systems.””If the body and soul are not separate, then to heal the body at the deepest level is a work of the soul.”In short this book was a fountain of really good ideas for someone like me who in fighting a weight problem has increasingly picked up the bludgeon and turned it on herself. When a completely anonymous instructor on a completely impersonal video suggested that my wieght might be a reflection of a mind-body disconnect, I said (aloud) “well DUH!” At this point I don’t even think of my body as part of ME. It’s IT! And I am really unhappy with IT right now Thankyouverymuch. After so long a fight, so long a struggle, it should be patently obvious that it isn’t diet or exercise that is my problem…or I would have be “fixed” a long time ago. This book has given me some real food for thought and perhaps the motivation to put down the bludgeon and just listen for a while. To be still. To be grateful.So what am I doing with what I learned so far? I am eating organic, minimally processed foods as much as possible (but not being dogmatic about it)…so that the signals my body receives from what I eat are as true to what God intended as possible. I have started calling artifical addditives “food lies” to increase my distaste for them. I am eating when I am hungry but paying attenion to what I am eating for as long as I am eating it. I am drinking when I am thirsty. And I am resolutely ignoring all of the myriad diet tips/dogmas that show up at this time of year. I am also pretending that this is just to make me healthy and balanced not to lose weight. Maybe if I pretend long enough I can make that last part true.If you have decided that you need to re-work your relationship with your body, with yourself, with food, this book can give you some very sound food-for-thought (in EVERY sense) for a new foundation to buttress that new relationship. STOP being pushed around by people who haven’t spent a single second with your body and start to listen to your mind-body-spirit about what it needs to heal and be healthy AND support the way in which God you wants to be present in the world.

3. 

   anonymous – January 10, 2025

   Changed my life
   Wow, wow, wow. Eisenstein knocked this one out of the park. I am an avid reader and long time yogini, recovering vegan and this spoke deeply to me, a book quite unlike any I have ever read. This is a book that actually dispenses wisdom and I have already integrated what seems like the beginning levels of intuitive eating. (As a side note, I just noticed that he has another book out called Transformational Weight Loss, which I most definitely will order), and, although I didn’t have this expectation, I have lost 9 lbs. in about 2 weeks! All from enjoying and tasting my food. Paying attention to the flavors and delight of eating! Food has become so enjoyable and tasty and now that I know what I’m looking for when I “listen to what my body wants and know when to stop,” it really works!I think this book will be especially helpful for those of us who have gone through the vege, vegan, paleo, raw diets. He mentions these types of diets and incredibly wise perspectives behind them and makes the convincing case to go above labels and listen to your body. He even talks about how different diets may be better for different lifestyles (i.e., monastery life is indeed best met with a light, vegan diet. Equally, a light, vegan diet is best for a yogi living away from office demands.) Charles makes so many fascinating points about diet that I have never heard of but ring true, and though the book is slim, I felt like his points were incredibly well-thought and explained thoroughly. I read it slowly and it took me quite a few evenings to get through it, not because it is dense or convoluted in any way, just that I felt in a very special, deep mind state while reading it.I highly, highly recommend this one!!! Charles, please keep writing for a very, very long time.

4. 

   Amazon Customer – January 10, 2025

   sehr interessantes buch, kann ich jedem empfehlen der an so was interessiert ist 🙏🏻

5. 

   dasha – January 10, 2025

   The book itself is low quality print, so if you’re buying as a gift consider that. For me that was no problem at all.I think the author is biased against veganism because he gave up, so there’s quite a lot of prejudice against vegans. I think it has some interesting ideas, but so many misconceptions at the same time. It’s well written, but be careful with taking it too seriously.

6. 

   Rose – January 10, 2025

   Use of the word ‘Yoga’ in the title of this book may attract those who see yoga as a purely physical practice and are looking for a way to lose weight. They will be disappointed because this is not a diet book. For those familiar with the concepts of mindfulness and awareness it will make a lot of sense.Eisenstein examines our relationship with food and explains how eating mindfully,cultivating better awareness of our bodies needs, can lead to a healthier diet. If you learn to listen to it, your body will tell you when you are really hungry and whether you should eat that piece of cake. What you do eat should nourish you and leave you guilt free.Every morning I sit at my computer with a coffee and a biscuit. Some mornings I would reach for the biscuit only to find I’d already eaten it. After reading this book, I now either stop and enjoy the biscuit or don’t eat it at all. By paying attention to food at mealtimes, I’ve noticed how bland some food is and I’ve started to cook with more herbs and spices. When food tastes great it seems much more statisfying and I find myself eating less. So now I can eat what I like when I like and I have lost a little weight.

7. 

   Joyful – January 10, 2025

   It is a clear book and brings you into an awareness that many of us do not want to confront or acknowledge. This book was written in love and very compassionate book, clearly brings you understanding our relationship with foods and how to proceed.

8. 

   Tinsel – January 10, 2025

   More difficult than I have expected to put his suggestions and approach into action but when I do, it all feels good. This is a very sane book and sane approach to eating and can be applied to other areas of your life. I wish I had read it years ago.