Ayurveda is often a nesting place for women who have struggled with body issues or controlling relationships around food. This is primarily because it is often taught in the West by women who have also struggled with relationships around food. Thus, it is presented as a set of principles that can be neatly tucked into clear rules about what to eat and what not to eat.
But from a different perspective, one that is a lot more fluid in its nature, we toss out the lists and focus on listening deeply.
Intuitive eating is important, but only if we see that knowing what is intuition and what is ego is a lifelong game of hide and seek. I prefer to think of Ayurveda as a practice in getting quiet and asking: What am I hungry for today? Then we do our best to fulfill that hunger in a way that is closest to pure without denying that sometimes we want what we want, and bowing to that can be sacred too.
It’s less important to eat the “right” foods than to eat food with intention. If you know why you are eating something, which may be to soothe some rough spot or to course correct from past oversoothing, you are moving in the direction of purpose. That’s all that Ayurveda really asks of us.
A Journaling Prompt to Bring this to Life:
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Write down a simple diary of what you eat in a day, morning, midday, and evening.
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Next, write down your emotional experience of the day, morning, midday, and evening.
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See how the two line up.
