As a yogi, you quickly realize that a free mind and a healthy body aren't just achieved through diligent practice of asanas. Our diet has a profound impact on our physical well-being, our psyche, and our soul. If we eat carelessly and often have fast food or processed meals on our plates, we quickly realize that our body doesn't respond well to these foods. If we eat mindfully and in a balanced way, we feel light and support a healthy physical well-being and a calm mind.
A sattva diet helps you fully concentrate on yoga and meditation. As with Ayurveda , it contains a particularly high amount of prana, the universal life force energy. You should avoid heavy meals for at least two hours before your yoga session. Otherwise, the food sits in your stomach, making you tired and making it difficult to practice strenuous asanas. The yoga mat is more conducive to rest than to yoga practice. If you eat a sattva diet, your mind stays alert and your body light.
What is Sattva?
Sattva translates as purity, clarity, goodness, and harmony. Along with Rajas and Tamas, it is one of the three gunas that characterize the Prakriti (nature/primal essence) of the world. Sattva describes a state that every yogi should strive for in life. In this state, the individual is in complete harmony and balance with themselves. It is complete balance and equilibrium in all areas of life. A sattvic life, as in Ayurveda, is characterized by conscious, pure food, the adherence to ethical values, and the practice of yoga and meditation .
All good things come in threes: the yogic nutritional system based on the Gunas
If you engage in yoga and a healthy diet, you'll quickly come across the philosophy of the three-part nutritional system based on the gunas. Ayurveda is also based on this. Food is divided into three different types. These are based on the three gunas, the basic qualities of nature (prakriti) from which everything on earth consists. We humans also have the three gunas within us. Depending on which of the gunas is more pronounced, we are restless, sluggish, or in complete mental and physical harmony.
The 3 Gunas at a glance:
- Rajas food - here, for example, restlessness and passion are assigned
- Tamas food - means, among other things, inertia
- Sattva food - stands for lightness, purity, harmony
Since the ultimate goal of a yogi is to live a pure life, an Ayurvedic diet based on Guna Sattva helps achieve this. However, if we eat primarily according to Tamas or Rajas, we quickly notice the consequences, and the goal of balance and purity becomes a distant prospect.
You can learn more about the three-part nutritional system in our article " Yoga and a balanced diet ."
How does Sattva affect my body?
Sattva supports us humans on the path to physical and spiritual purification. You will quickly feel the positive effects of this guna in your life. Your body will be supplied with all the essential nutrients and won't be burdened with too much sugar, alcohol, or unhealthy fat.
This is how Sattva or Ayurveda nutrition can affect:
- Mind is calm
- promotes increased serenity
- Increase in general well-being
- Strengthening the immune system
- Sattva has a calming effect on the stomach and intestines
- no more feeling of fullness
- Feeling of positive energy
Sattva foods: how to ensure purity
Fresh and healthy cooking is a top priority in this lifestyle. With Sattva food, you can choose from a wide variety of healthy and delicious foods. To become mentally and physically fitter and more balanced, these foods, among others, will help you on your path to a "pure self":
- Legumes
- Natural yogurt
- Nuts
- Dried fruit
- Fruit
- Vegetables
- Water
- Whole grain products
A healthy Sattvic lifestyle doesn't have to mean deprivation. To get a good overview of Sattvic foods, you can buy yoga cookbooks or Ayurvedic cookbooks. They often offer a clear compilation of Sattvic foods. This gives you a clear overview and provides inspiration for delicious Sattvic and Ayurvedic recipes.
Tamas and Rajas: these foods cause unrest
When eating according to the Sattva Gunas, you should limit stimulating or heavy foods. But you don't have to avoid them completely. If you feel like you have to forgo a lot, Sattva alone won't calm your mind. Try to integrate Sattva into your life to the extent that it's good for you and brings you joy. You'll see that over time, your diet will increasingly contain more Sattvic foods. Incidentally, Sattva has Ahmisa as its highest principle, meaning absolute non-violence toward all life. Therefore, you should avoid meat and fish completely.
You should avoid these rajasic and tamasic foods, among others:
- Ready meals
- overcooked food
- Meat
- caffeine
- alcohol
- sweets
- Garlic
- chili
