Introduction to Sattvic Veg Diet

Speaker 1 0:53

On the last retreats, I was introduced to the idea of the Sattvic Veg Diet. I got curious about that and saying how that can be. I'm a bit more curious about Ayurveda in general, I'm very Vata, I'm very inclined to be in the air and of the air, and the diet itself is a little bit more airy like that. So I was listening some youtube clips talking about vata in particular, but but sort of you know, eating in a way to get you in in a state that improves your meditations, perhaps, but saying, well, it can actually then make the day-to-day experience a little bit trickier, should you say, and sometimes you might need to balance some dulling foods in order to get you to be able to function in the gross state, so I guess I'll just throw it out there, in case that's worth commenting.

Understanding the Three Doshas

Speaker 2 1:51

Talking about Ayurveda in this kind of format is difficult if there's not an understanding of the basic principles of Ayurveda. It is such a vast body of knowledge. For those of you who haven't heard about Ayurveda, it is a body of knowledge and a system of health and longevity. Ayurveda actually means the science of longevity and it was cognized by a great rishi, a great master, I think, like 2,700 years ago Maybe. I think no, yeah, don't quote me on that, I'm going to cut that out um a long time ago. And uh, it is. It is a very, very elaborate and comprehensive uh system of understanding how to prolong body life, to get into high states of consciousness, essentially and it breaks down what we are physiologically relative to the subtle elements, the Mahabhutas, the elements of earth, water, fire, air and space, and we're all made up of different percentages of these elements, and the percentages of these elements create unique constitutions that are referred to as doshas. Constitutions that are referred to as doshas, and there are three doshas that encompass the way in which the elements configure themselves to make up our constitution, and those doshas are to inform us of how we can best live in harmony with our environment in order to maximize body life and sustain high states of consciousness.

Balancing Sattva and Constitution

Speaker 2 4:06

And Jim was referring to Vata, which is one of the doshas. It's Pitta, vata, kapha and, without going into all of those in great depth, each of those have different percentages of elements that dominate, that inform the way in which our body reacts and responds to food, the elements, the environment that we live in and the seasons. And we can eat in very particular ways to ensure that we are maximizing sattva, which is a purity of physiological, psychophysiological state. Sattva refers to a purity of psychophysiology that can enhance consciousness and sometimes, if we eat sattvically, certain body types can become vata aggravated. Now what you can see, we're starting to get into some complexity here. That requires me explaining a lot in order to really understand what we're talking about. So anyway, to cut a long story short, it's important to make sure that the three doshas, or your prakriti, which is your birth constitution, is always dominant and to address the imbalances so that your birth constitution is flourishing and then you're ensured to maximize your high state of consciousness and live as long as you can.