The Yoga of Eating - Charles Eisenstein

[Nico]

In your journey to find better health, balance and grace, your Awareness may lead you to a great change in your "modern" society life : ketogenic diet. The idea of a body working on long standing rocket fuel is very attractive and gives lots of hope, dreams and fantasies which can be very far from the original idea of a pure "material" body health. But, great, if that kind of dreams can get you stick to this wonderful diet. Even though body synchronisation problems show up, go for a walk in the diet and health section and you probably find the solution. However, if the problem is more profoundly rooted and is part of an archaic twisted view such as "eat or be eaten" (sounds reptilian eh) you might have a little more to dig (Eiriu Eolas may help too !).

I found myself in such position that even after learning about problems I encountered (constipation, loss of tension, high HDL cholesterol) and got rid of some of these there were always some unpleasant leftovers. So I thought that maybe my view and the way of eating was a cause of perpetuating these these leftover problem, and indeed I ate with a lot of worry thoughts, and wantings, to be more conscious, to have more from the food that it can be given (craving of the physicality ?). So here is a book which talk about the necessity to let go and eat more consciously !

The Yoga of eating - Charles Eisenstein

Charles Eisenstein is a teacher, speaker, and writer focusing on themes of civilization, consciousness, money, and human cultural evolution.

His on-line writings have generated a vast following; he speaks frequently at conferences and other events, and gives numerous interviews on radio and podcasts.

Eisenstein graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy, and spent the next ten years as a Chinese-English translator. He currently lives near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with his wife and four sons.

http://sacred-economics.com/about-the-author/

Chapter 1 The Fallacy of Willpower
Willpower is not what you think it is, indeed willpower is not a thought that you can hold constrictively in mind hoping you will be a better "eater", that is called wishfull thinking.

Chapter 2 Body and Soul
The body and the soul are connected... breathe to know !

Chapter 3 Birth and Nurturance
The link between childhood and security cravings. (today I read this great article : https://www.sott.net/article/154258-A-Structural-Theory-of-Narcissism-and-Psychopathy)

Chapter 4 Food and Personality
As you eat physical food, you eat also the more subtil food of thoughts and emotions which are in your experience. Le silence est de rigueur.

Chapter 5 The Karma of Food
Eat as your life depend on it.

Chapter 6 The Natural Breath
Everything begins with breathe. Four exercices to learn breathing before eating.

Chapter 7 The Central Practice
Remember Peter Levine and his jaw discharging exercise, chew thoroughly !

Chapter 8 Making It Practical
Beware of self denial and let it go, enjoy the food.

Chapter 9 Discovering the Right Diet
Listen your body (and the science) to find your right substance.

Chapter 10 Distinguishing Appetites from Cravings
Take a deep breathe before eating one more piece of chocolate.

Chapter 11 Loving the Body, Loving the Self
Sugar may be sometimes good in helping overcome a bad feeling :).

Chapter 12 Fasting
As before, listen to your body asking this Shakespearian question : to eat or not to eat ?

Chapter 13 Dieting and Self-Acceptance
Make goals about eating but don't forget to let go the inconscious cravings.

Chapter 14 Fat and the Good
Yep, yoga doesn't necessary mean vegetarian.

Chapter 15 Meat and the Life of the Flesh
Grass fed animals !

Chapter 16 Sugar's Sweetness
Beware, beware, of the tooth decayed evil !

Chapter 17 The Yoga of Drinking
Drinking consciously is more difficult than eating. Drink slow.

Chapter 18 Supplements
No flavour, no taste, be mindful of what you take that is not found in nature because the body will not know how to process the subtility of supplements.

Chapter 19 Processing
Stay away from the monster Big Food.

Chapter 20 The Yoga of Cooking
Cook slowly, not too much.

Chapter 21 Food is Only Food
Yep, it is just for continuing the experience on earth.
Eisenstein cites Gurdjieff :
The Russian-Armenian mystic G.I. Gurdjieff was once quoted as saying, "To change one thing, everything must be changed."Amore positive corollary of this proverb is, "Change one thing, and everything else will change." Change any one of the ruling junta of birth, television, diet, and schooling, and change will call out to the others as well. An excellent diet is simply not compatible with sickness in any other part of life.
Balance is key.

Chapter 22 Health and the Quest for Wholeness
One day we'll maybe nourishing ourselves with just pure cosmic energy :).

Chapter 23 Relaxing Into Change
Do not impose change on yourself, let the change happen.

Appendix I The Illness Seeks the Medicine
From looking at your neighbor and realizing his true significance, and that he will die, pity and compassion will arise in you for him and finally you will love him.

- G.I. Gurdjieff

A tough program of myself : be ill in order to be healed...

Appendix II The Ethics of Eating Meat: A Radical View
Meat and fat made us as we are now.


And remember : everything may serves to The Work.

 

[Buddy]

{snip}

Chapter 4 Food and Personality
As you eat physical food, you eat also the more subtil food of thoughts and emotions which are in your experience. Le silence est de rigueur.

Another reason to eat with a quiet mind: you might actually feel the sensation of the blood flowing down to your stomach to meet the demands placed on the stomach and digestive system. A mind that stays active during a meal requires blood to be kept flowing to the brain and so stomach and digestive activity may not be as efficient as it could be.


Also, reading down the list, when I read the quote attributed to Gurdjieff in "Appendix I", it got my attention. I'm not used to G speaking on "love" like that, so I looked up the quote.

The following quoted portion is the context around the saying mentioned above and is excerpted from: Gurdjieff: Essays and Reflections on the Man and His Teachings By Jacob Needleman, George Baker, pg 282:

[Scattered throughout the accounts by Gurdjieff's pupils, one finds numerous vivid fragments showing the manner in which Gurdjieff revealed new aspects of his teaching through replying to questions. The following is from C.S.Nott, Teachings of Gurdjieff: The Journal of a pupil (London:Routledge, Kegan and Paul, 1961; New York:Weiser, 1962), 114-15]


In reply to a question about the second food, air, Gurdjieff said:

There are two parts to air, evolving and involving. Only the involving part can vivify the "I." At present this involving part serves only for general cosmic purposes. Only when you shall have in yourselves a conscious wish will you be able to assimilate this...

In order to be able to assimilate the involving part of air, you should try to realize your own significance and the significance of those around you. You are mortal, and some day will die. He on whom your attention rests is your neighbor; he also will die. Both of you are nonentities. At present, most of your suffering is "suffering in vain"; it comes from feelings of anger, jealousy, and resentment toward others. If you acquire data always to realize the inevitability of their death and your own death, you will have a feeling of pity for others, and be just toward them, since their manifestations that displease you are only because you or someone has stepped on their corns, or because your own corns are sensitive. At present you cannot see this.

Try to put yourself in the position of others - they have the same significance as you; they suffer as you do, and, like you, they will die. Only if you always try to sense this significance until it becomes a habit whenever your attention rests on anyone, only then will you be able to assimilate the good part of air and have a real "I." Every man has wants and desires which are dear to him, and which he will lose at death.

From realizing the significance of your neighbor when your attention rests on him, that he will die, pity for him and compassion toward him will arise in you and finally you will love him; also, by doing this constantly, real faith, conscious faith, will arise in some part of you and spread to other parts, and you will have the possibility of knowing real happiness, because from this faith objective hope will arise - hope of a basis for continuation.

When I read the above, it doesn't really remind me of the way I'm used to Gurdjieff speaking. Maybe C.S.Nott is paraphrasing in that book because I noticed there were no quotation marks to indicate an exact quote by G.

I just check on things like this because it's too easy to misdirect 'the line of force of development of ideas' in Gurdjieff's work and wind up with just a "meme."

Did Charles Eisenstein actually cite that statement as a quote from Gurdjieff? I'm just curious, really. Thanks for posting.

 

[T.C.]

When I read the above, it doesn't really remind me of the way I'm used to Gurdjieff speaking. Maybe C.S.Nott is paraphrasing in that book because I noticed there were no quotation marks to indicate an exact quote by G.

I just check on things like this because it's too easy to misdirect 'the line of force of development of ideas' in Gurdjieff's work and wind up with just a "meme."

Did Charles Eisenstein actually cite that statement as a quote from Gurdjieff? I'm just curious, really. Thanks for posting.

I recently read that book.

I came to the understanding that a heck of a lot of what we think about the way Gurdjieff was and presented himself came from Ouspenski, whose psyche was centred in the intellectual centre. Therefore, reading G.'s quote's in ISOTM, he comes across as quite dry or cold or analytical.

Nott, on the other hand, had his gravity in his emotional centre. Thus, his exposition of Gurdjieff's teaching comes through as much more loving and emotional. I saw a different side, got a different taste of what it must have been like to be around Gurdjieff and what he was like as a man.

Of course, this raises a kind of chicken and egg scenario in that, I'm sure Gurdjieff would have easily understood the differences in different people and I don't think it's going out on a limb to suggest that he presented himself differently to different people depending on their personal character and idiosyncrasies. So were we seeing each pupil's biases in their viewing of G., or was he working on those biases himself? Probably both.

I thoroughly recommend Teachings of Gurdjieff. It was a beautiful book and really changed my assumptions of what Gurdjieff was like - not only a cold, ruthless and merciless destroyer of falseness in people, but a warm and loving friend, father and brother to those who worked on themselves with real sincerity and made true progress with his system.

 

[Buddy]

I recently read that book.

Awesome! Then you probably read the essay entitled Time and Initiative, by David Appelbaum? If so, I'm practically beside myself with glee that someone else on here has read that. I enjoyed it immensely!

Of course, this raises a kind of chicken and egg scenario in that, I'm sure Gurdjieff would have easily understood the differences in different people and I don't think it's going out on a limb to suggest that he presented himself differently to different people depending on their personal character and idiosyncrasies. So were we seeing each pupil's biases in their viewing of G., or was he working on those biases himself? Probably both.

I'll buy the "both" argument as the most likely. We already know he had a concept of being plastique and I'll never forget the way some of G's company was shocked when he boarded that carriage in St. Petersburg. It's like he instantly changed into another person...posture, limb movements, attitude, etc. so he could be accepted as one of the 'barons' he would be sitting with.

My take, anyway.

I thoroughly recommend Teachings of Gurdjieff. It was a beautiful book and really changed my assumptions of what Gurdjieff was like - not only a cold, ruthless and merciless destroyer of falseness in people, but a warm and loving friend, father and brother to those who worked on themselves with real sincerity and made true progress with his system.

So far I've only read extracts from the book that I've found. I may just have to get it.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Nico]

Thank you both for your enriching answers !

Another reason to eat with a quiet mind: you might actually feel the sensation of the blood flowing down to your stomach to meet the demands placed on the stomach and digestive system. A mind that stays active during a meal requires blood to be kept flowing to the brain and so stomach and digestive activity may not be as efficient as it could be.

It seems so scientifically and unbelievably simple !... common sense but when the mind wanders while eating it becomes not so obvious, thanks to make this into perspective :). I struggle a little with quieting the mind while eating, because when I eat I try to focus on what I feel in my mouth, but then I sense like a contraction in the throat and a feeling of nothingness in the stomach. Maybe I will try to follow the food as it descends from eyes to mouth, throat, stomach and after smoking, in the digestive track with some pipe breathings to mass my body from inside :P.


For Gurdjieff, the only thing that came to my mind it's that Eisenstein put the quote without any interpretations, just in the context that he choosed, here Appendix I the Illness Seek The Medecine where he talks about this self disgust that hind us to grow. And indeed as I read ISOTM Gurdjieff seemed to me as a rude master and the reading left me with a lot of self importance going wild (for the part of the talkings about the inside of Man and especially when he talks about the absolute need to have a master... An "i" of me wants to transform itself alone). Thank you T.C. I may have the confirmation that I am this intellectual man type like Ouspensky, and maybe it's linked to my constricted throat (I heard that the lower intellectual center manifested itself in the throat chakra).

So in any case I will go for a look at the books you've mentionned to see an "other" Gurdjieff !