AHARA: Ayurveda on Diet & the Importance of What We Take In
In Ayurveda, diet is considered the most important pillar of health. Diet is called “ahara” which literally refers to “what we take in.” The things we take in have never been so important. What we eat becomes the building blocks for our bodies from tissues and muscles to bones. We need food to survive and grow. The body builds itself up by breaking down food through the enzymes in saliva, the peristalsis of the gut, hydrochloric acid in the stomach, bile in the liver... becoming our cells and hormones. We have an incredible means of transformation through ahara. Our food becomes us!
In Ayurveda, diet is considered the most important pillar of health.
Getting proper nutrients through food is vital, however if the mind is disturbed or threatened, the body will prioritize its safety and lock itself in survival mode. In such a state, even the most nutritious meal will be difficult to digest, absorb, and assimilate. This is why mental nourishment is incredibly important and must also be considered for holistic health and well-being. Ahara doesn’t just refer to a physical diet, but includes “what we take in” mentally and sensorially as well. Form is food for our eyes, sound is food for our ears and so on. Ahara is whatever we bring in and give attention to whether gross like physical food or subtle like mental stimuli and consciousness. From the Ayurvedic perspective, health is achieved when there is a balance between all aspects of a being: body, mind, and soul. The health of the body and the soul both depend on the mind. Our mental states have so much power over our quality of life. We are not just feeding our bodies, we are nourishing our entire being!
āhāra
ā + √hṛ
diet; “what is BROUGHT in”
Ahara doesn’t just refer to a physical diet, but includes “what we take in” mentally as well.
These days, our mental spaces can appear clouded, turbulent, or even chaotic. Or our minds might feel overwhelmed, dull, or dissociated. Our mental plates are full. Now more than ever before, our senses are constantly taking in an incessant flow of impressions, bringing outer influences into our awareness at rapid speeds, demanding more attention and capacity to focus. Most of us let the senses pull us indiscriminately toward our pleasures. The sense organs receive vibrations from objects within our environment. The mind analyzes these vibrations against memory and determines what decisions to make and actions to take. We learn through exposure and repetition and soon our behaviors become our habits. We are not just what we eat, but everything we continuously take in. Our brains, bodies and nervous systems are learning too. They are constantly processing information and sorting through whatever we are feeding it (food, entertainment, water, thoughts, energetic cues, sensory impressions and certainly experiences) to determine nutrients from waste. With more and more “waste” around us for easy and fast consumption, staying clear and aware is near impossible. Yet, we must develop sharp senses. We have to regularly cleanse ourselves of waste and eliminate toxins within us to maintain health and balance the functional intelligence within the body. Physiologically speaking, this is called homeostasis and our bodies are constantly working toward it.
āhāra can be material, mental, energetic
But how do we know if a thing is nourishing for us?
If what we eat does not agree with the body, the gut will be upset.
Within the physical body, we can examine the state of our digestion and metabolism through the quality or regularity of our bowel movements and other indications for how well (or not) we are processing what we consume. It is much more difficult to see how well we have integrated what we mentally consume. To bring about balance, we have to “cleanse our systems” and detox physical channels. For toxins of the mental space, meditation can be used. The mind cannot truly multi-task or manage multiple thoughts or perceptions at a time but because it processes information at such an incredible speed, we believe that we are attending to many senses simultaneously. One way to slow down the oscillation of thought-waves is to practice bringing the mind to a state of single focus (eka-graha). Focusing on a single point is the mental version of chewing your food thoroughly. But before all of that, engaging in pratyahara by closing off the senses or narrowing the channels through which information flows will bring a sense of ease to the practice. Even the simple act of closing the eyes shuts the mind off from a stream of visual stimuli, thus redirecting the outer sense of vision “behind the curtain of the eyelid" and within the body instead. This inward directed awareness is often referred to as connecting to the third eye. It is helpful to allow this inner eye to rest at the space between the brows or “third eye point” before connecting to your inner point of focus. Pratyahara can be thought of as allowing the mind to be nourished by inner-impressions and inner-sensations.
A powerful and understated point of single-focus is the breath. If the breath is calm, the heart is calm and there is a feeling of contentment. If the breath is fast, the heart beats fast which can indicate stress, fear, or anxiety. The respiratory and cardiovascular systems are intimately connected. The heart pumps blood and supplies energy to the lungs and circulates to all parts of the body. But the heart is not just limited to its physiological function as an organ. The heart is also symbolic of our deep feelings, emotions, and spirit. Knowing this, by focusing on the breath, and thus the heart, we can understand the actions of the mind by way of the heart. First, the mind is aware of the breath, thoughts begin to slow and there is a sense of mental spaciousness. Within meditative awareness, while observing a gap between thoughts we can slip into the space of the heart (hrdayam). The space of the heart is said to be a direct doorway to consciousness and consciousness is the most subtle ahara that feeds all of life.