Dieting is a meditative act

[1]

Amrit Sadhana [1]

Is diet a four-letter word for you that leads to deprivation, suppression, and ultimately, failure? Maybe it always stays on your wishlist and seldom becomes a reality. Dieting cannot be successful unless it becomes your lifestyle. If you are on and off the diet do not expect any coveted results.
Let us analyse the problem from the other end. What is diet? The simple definition of diet is: eating with aw­a­reness. So before trying out various diet formulae, the fi­rst and the foremost would be growing your awareness.
Food is the most basic habit of the body, it is next to br­eathing. When the child is born and starts breathing, the first thing s/he gropes about is food. Food is one of the deep-rooted functions of the body, hence it is unconscious.
Watch people going in search of food in a big feast, their body language, their eyes, nostrils savouring the appetising aroma! They look almost mesmerised. Nobody looks conscious and alert. In this condition you can’t expect them to be conscious of what they are eating. The palate has the better of their desire, and they gobble food that appeals to the senses, not what is good for the body.
Dieting is possible if the ritual of eating is converted into a meditative act. Ancient Indians gave a lot of importance to the ritual of eating. Th­ey said it is a sacrifice, a havan as the food was offered to the inner deity, the inner fire.
There is a beautiful meditation in tantra. The sutra goes like this: When eating or drinking, become the taste of the food or drink, and be filled.
Remember that eating is a celebration of senses. Unless all the senses are appeased the body cannot enjoy the food.
Osho elaborates on the sutra lucidly: “Feel more... be sensuous. When you eat, first feel it with your hand... smell it. First let it be known by the body. Then taste it... close your eyes and let the taste spread all over. And don’t be in a hurry; don’t simply go on stuffing. Enjoy it... chew it well — because this food is going to become your body. Don’t miss this opportunity. So receive it, welcome it, and you will have a totally different body within a few months. You become alive, as if you were a lion sleeping and now the lion is coming back... spreading its legs, stretching its body. You will find that same sensation of arising life”.
It will be helpful if you meditate every day before you take food. Close your eyes and just feel what your body needs, get attuned to your body, your being. Let the body speak to you.
Here are a couple of Osho meditations that may be useful in understanding your body.
Breathing and Eating: Be aware of the sensation wh­en the breath is going out. Breath is the most vital th­­ing. If you eat your meal with an emphasis on the ou­t­g­oing breath, then no matter how good the food is it will not be good for your body. Even if you eat too much, there will be no nutrition if your emphasis is on the outgoing breath. So eat with the ingoing breath and let there be a gap when the breath is going out. Then, wi­th a very small quantity of food, you can be more alive.
Humming Food and Beckoning Food: Make a distinction between the humming food and the beckoning food. Humming food is that which makes your body hum with health. If you can find your humming food, you can eat as much as you want and you will never suffer, because it will satisfy you. The problem arises only if you are eating food items that are beckoning foods. They cannot satisfy you because there is no need in the body for them. Feeling unsatisfied, you eat more, but whatever quantity of food you might intake, it is not going to satisfy because there is no need in the first place. The deeper you meditate while eating, the greater will be your gratification. Then overeating is impossible.

— Amrit Sadhana is in the management team of Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune. She facilitates meditation workshops around the country and abroad.