Blog – Page 2 – Integral Yoga San Francisco

Seven Steps to Make “Go on a Diet” Resolutions Obsolete

by Deborah Kesten

Losing weight and eating more healthfully are two of the top, most common New Year’s resolutions that millions make each year. It’s understandable. Overeating and weight gain have been problematic for many for many years.

What if you never again need to make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight or “go on a diet” because your most-of-the-time way of eating empowers you to eat and weigh less throughout the year? The science-backed Whole Person Integrative Eating ® (WPIE) program by nutrition researcher Deborah Kesten, MPH—author of this article—and behavioral scientist Larry Scherwitz, PhD, reveals that replacing the complex reasons you overeat with the elements of our scientifically sound Whole Person Integrative Eating ® dietary lifestyle may up your odds of eating less and weighing less. Without dieting.

“If people follow the revolutionary [WPIE] program…it may be the most helpful step they can take toward losing weight and keeping it off,” says Kenneth Pelletier, MD, PhD, clinical professor of medicine at University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco.

The 7-Step, Action-Filled, WPIE Toolkit

Here are the seven what-and-how to eat ingredients of the Whole Person Integrative Eating ® program that can inspire you to re-envision your relationship with food, eating and weight, so that each time you eat, ‘all of you’ is nourished—physically, but also emotionally, spiritually, and socially.

WHAT TO EAT WPIE GUIDELINE

1. GET FRESH
What do the Mediterranean Diet and the Blue Zones diet of people who live into their 90s and 100s have in common? Plant-based foods (fruit, veggies, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds) with small (or no) servings of fresh, unprocessed animal-based foods (dairy, fish, poultry, meat) are the staples of both diets. The secret? The naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, fiber, antioxidants, and more, in plant-based foods help you stay slim and keep you and your microbiome (organisms that can protect against infection) balanced and healthy. Plant-based foods are the opposite of the WPIE Fast Foodism overeating style (lots of processed, high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt food products) that leads to overeating and overweight and an imbalanced microbiome.

HOW TO EAT WPIE GUIDELINES

2. POSITIVE EMOTIONS

If you turn to high-carb, high-fat, high-sugar food—especially when you experience negative emotions such as anxiety, depression, or anger—it’s likely you’re an emotional eater. Emotional Eating was the #1 WPIE overeating style that leads to overeating and overweight. The serotonin that’s released when you consume high-carb food products may be soothing for a while, but they don’t work for the long-term. Enjoying food when you’re filled with positive emotions (such as serenity, gratitude, hope) and you have a healthy appetite is the WPIE antidote to Emotional Eating.

3. MOMENT-TO-MOMENT MINDFULNESS

Do you ever eat while doing other things, such as working at your computer, watching TV, or while driving? The WPIE Task Snacking overeating style leads to eating more and weighing more. The WPIE antidote: Bring moment-to-moment nonjudgmental awareness to every aspect of the meal. Research reveals that bringing a “mindfulness consciousness” to meals lessens overeating and the way in which food is metabolized, and in turn your health…and waistline.

4. HEARTFELT GRATITUDE

For centuries, human beings said prayers of gratitude over food. And they blessed the food before them. Today, prayers of apprecciation for the nourishment food provides aren’t too typical. Instead, most of us have learned to relate to food with the WPIE Food Fretting overeating style, meaning, we are often over-concerned about the “best” way to eat. Or we diet, and count calories, carbs, or fat grams. The WPIE antidote to Food Freting asks that we go from our head to our heart when we eat: Appreciate food and its origins—from the heart. This calls for being “other aware,” meaning, focusing your attention of your food, while feeling authentic, heartfelt gratitude.

5. LOVING REGARD

For millennia, Eastern healing systems, such as India’s Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), perceived optimal nourishment based on whether the meal contained the 6 tastes: bitter, sweet, salty, sour, pungent, astringent—which is not typical of how most of us have learned to relate to food today. The WPIE Sensory Disregard overeating style wasn’t expected. We were surprised to discover that not taking the time to enjoy the colors, flavors, and the sensory elements of the dining experience lead to eating more and weighing more. Tthe WPIE Rx for Sensory Disregard: Savor and “flavor” food with loving regard.

6. APPETIZING ATMOSPHERE

Both an emotional and aesthetic Unappetizing Atmosphere was another unexpected, surprising WPIE overeating style. This means that eating while, say, someone nearby is arguing; or you’re taking bites of your sandwich while pumping gas, the unpleasant emotional and surrounding environment may contribute to overeating and weight gain. The WPIE antidote: Eat in pleasing emotional and aesthetic surroundings.

7. SHARE FARE

Even before Covid and the ensuing lockdown lifestyle and social isolation, more and more of us were eating alone. The WPIE Solo Dining overeating style is quite a contrast to sitting around a fire while eating with our tribe; or enjoying fresh, homemade food with family and friends at a table. More and more research links eating alone with the Fast Foodism overeating style and obesity. The WPIE antidote: Share fare with others as often as possible. Given the work-at-home isolation that has become the norm for more and more of us, consider taking online food breaks or sharing virtual meals with friends, coworkers, or family members.

The Takeaway

By shedding light on the root causes of overeating, Whole Person Integrative Eating ® presents a program that empowers you with a personalized plan, and in turn new hope and new choices to help you reduce overeating, lose weight, and keep it off.

You’re invited to join Deborah for one or both of her upcoming workshops, online and in-person:

Ancient Yogic Food Wisdom, Modern Science: The Dietary Lifestyle to Transform Weight and Well-Being on Saturday, January 11 from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm PST
Ancient Yogic Food Wisdom, Modern Science: Cultivate Mindfulness Eating to Nourish Body, Mind, and Soul on Saturday, February 8 from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm PST

Deborah Kesten, MPH, is a nutrition researcher and award-winning author, specializing in the multidimensional power of food to heal. Her research career began as Nutritionist on Dean Ornish MD ‘s first clinical trial for reversing heart disease, which is an Integral Yoga-based lifestyle program inspired by IYI founder Swami Satchidananda. She also specializes in the health-and-healing benefits of ancient food wisdom from cultural traditions (such as Yogic Nutrition), world religions (Hinduism, etc.), and Eastern healing systems (such as India’s Ayurvedic Medicine), and in preventing and reversing overweight, heart disease, and other diet-linked chronic conditions.

Deborah’s science-backed Whole Person Integrative Eating® program–which is a distillation of ancient food wisdom and modern nutritional science–is about the power of food to heal ‘all of you’: physically (Biological Nutrition), emotionally (Psychological Nutrition), spiritually (Spiritual Nutrition), and socially (Social Nutrition); ergo, ‘Whole Person’ Integrative Eating. Deborah is married to IYI certified yoga teacher and behavioral scientist Larry Scherwitz, PhD, co-founder of Whole Person Integrative Eating®. To learn more, visit IntegrativeEating.

prajna2025-01-06T10:01:41-08:00January 6th, 2025|

Teaching of the Month: Recovering Natural Joy

by Swami Ramananda

Many of us think of joy as an experience we have when something special happens. We may plan specific activities that we think will bring us joy, such as a vacation, some entertainment, or dining out. This thinking is so prevalent in our culture that we don’t realize how limiting it is, since it is built on an unconscious belief that enjoyment comes from something we do or get.

As a new calendar year begins, we decided to practice the understanding that joy is a natural state. We intend to explore what it means to enjoy the present moment and what prevents our enjoyment of it. Sri Swami Satchidananda often spoke about peace and joy as our birthright, our very nature. He encouraged us to analyze our actions in order avoid anything that would disturb that natural condition.

Desire can have that disturbing effect: wanting things to go my way, hoping someone will love me, or counting on some specific outcome from my efforts. In all these cases, I am unconsciously depending on something that I cannot control as the source of my happiness.

Another one of the primary obstacles to experiencing joy is the way we get caught up in our heads — constantly planning, judging, and worrying about ourselves and the things we think will bring happiness. A mind that is preoccupied this way is effectively cutting us off — both from the heart, where we experience love and connection, and from the present moment, the only moment in which true joy can occur.

When we open our hearts to others and make efforts to serve and give, we give rise to a deep sense of fulfillment that is free of dependency on people or things. This can be a very rewarding practice, but it requires paying close attention. When we find ourselves feeling anxious, disappointed or frustrated, we must ask ourselves, “Am I letting my state of mind, my enjoyment of life, be determined by the events around me? Can I choose to give my best effort, accept the results, and be content in this moment? Must I wait to enjoy life?”

When darker emotions arise from deeper hurts and losses, it’s not the moment to cultivate joy or try and slap a smile on. These feelings are a natural part of the human experience and are strong teachers that must be acknowledged. Ultimately, they remind us of the fragility and preciousness of the present moment, and can inspire us to seek the unchanging spiritual presence within.

It’s also important to acknowledge the numerous opportunities to delight in the ordinary miracles that manifest daily around us. Instead of thinking of happiness as the end-result of completing tasks, we can make time to appreciate small, precious moments as we pursue goals. We can pause to take in the smile of a baby, watch a hummingbird in flight, or keep company with a slowly darkening sky at dusk.

Through a practice of Yoga asanas and meditation, we can learn to quiet the incessant activity of the mind and sense an inner peace that is already present. Both sitting still and serving are forms of Yoga practice that can reveal to us an immense potential to enjoy life.

It inspires me to remember that it is our nature and birthright to experience joy, and that I can choose to enjoy this moment as it is without needing anything to make it better. Even though it may not be easy at times to cultivate this feeling, I plan to enjoy trying.

You can join Swami Ramananda, in-person or online, for Satsang: Setting an Intention for a New Year on Saturday, January 4 @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm PST. Learn more.

Swami Ramananda C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, is the Executive Director of the Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco and a gr.eatly respected senior teacher in the Integral Yoga tradition, who has been practicing Yoga for over 45 years. Ramananda offers practical methods of integrating the timeless teachings and practices of Yoga into daily life, and transforming the painful aspects of human experience into steps toward realizing one’s full potential.

He leads all levels of Yoga teacher trainings and programs around the globe. Ramananda co-developed the Stress Management Teacher Training program and has trained many teachers to bring Yoga into corporate, hospital and medical settings. He a founding board member of Yoga Alliance and is a co-founder of The Spiritual Action Initiative which brings together individuals committed to working for social justice for all beings and for the care and healing of our natural world. His warmth, wisdom and sense of humor have endeared him to many.

prajna2025-01-02T10:37:50-08:00January 2nd, 2025|

Effort and Ease – Non Harming for the Holidays

by Marc M. Morozumi

Being amongst diverse communities, cultivating meaningful connections and reserving personal downtime, all feel like useful ingredients for living a rich life. Engage, then relax. Out and about, then in and quiet. “Effort and ease” students often hear me mention during a Hatha class. I’ve learned my introverted/introspective self needs quite a bit of downtime to reflect, process and let go.Insights for self-care that have lasted from the pandemic…

While I’m certainly grateful for all the ways I can be connected with these experiences, I also know from my ongoing connection to the genocide in Gaza and other crimes against humanity, that my full experience of being on this planet is also filled with great sadness and anguish. And I need time to process and reflect on that. Rather than feel like I need to only focus on the happy things, it’s sobering and grounding to stay aware of how our everyday actions may contribute or perpetuate the cycle of harm. How being disconnected from our full story of existence may actually be the silence in the background that allows things to normalize in the foreground. What ways do our cravings for privilege and convenience require harms to be sustained, all the while knowing it’s not sustainable?

I saw the news about the 21 protestors in the 98th annual Macy’s Day Parade today. I’m sure we all have different viewpoints on this based on our tolerance and interest in holding numerous points of view at once. What if a parade included a full section to honor our indigenous people? Not simply a land acknowledgement which only first took place in 2020, but a full section to help educate? What if the parade included a moment of silence for all the harms from past and present settler colonialism? What if we were to make it a practice that we understand the harm we sustain when not acknowledging the pain that has been caused? I am grateful Native American Heritage Day exists, but I wonder how many people know that, versus Black Friday?!

In the same way that I make a conscious choice to be vegan and not wear or purchase products made from animal skins, etc., I aim to be mindful of all actions with a goal of ahimsa, non-harming in Sanskrit. I see our actions being linked to one another, all cause and effect as an interconnected web. While I know there’s no way to avoid causing any harm, I do my best to add in as much positive energy as I can, one interaction at a time.

I am grateful for you and for your connection with Mukunda Studio. I hope you enjoy this holiday time. May we celebrate, honor and have highest gratitude for the land, creatures great and small, and all of humanity. May we make the choices that call us into present time versus cause us to linger in unconscious habit time. May we deepen our bonds with family and friends and trust there is a higher purpose that will reveal itself in the right time. May Truth guide us, Liberation unite us, and Peace settle us.

Marc M. Morozumi, E-RYT-500, CMT #73144Marc is a certified Integral Yoga Hatha, Raja yoga and stress management teacher with over 4000 teaching hours and a CMT in the state of California. His diverse career history, which has varied from a life in the arts to working in a high-paced event world, unifies in one voice today as a health and wellness entrepreneur.

prajna2024-12-16T16:37:48-08:00December 16th, 2024|

Ahimsa As a Way of Life

by Swami Ramananda

Ahimsa is a Sanskrit word that translates as “without injury” or “nonviolence” in English. It’s a principle in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jainist philosophy that involves causing the least amount of harm possible to all beings. It’s the first ethical principle given as a practice in the eight-limbed path described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. There are endless ways for us to incorporate this intention into our lives – I’ll share some of my reflections and efforts here.

One of the first ways I began to practice Ahimsa was with my diet. I embraced a vegetarian diet as a young person, wanting to avoid causing unnecessary harm to any living creature.

Recently, I began to eat a vegan diet after learning in detail how the dairy industry causes so much suffering to cows. But I see that when it is inconvenient for me, I too easily give up that commitment and consume some dairy product – case in point: pie at Thanksgiving. Reflecting on this makes clear how limited my commitment has been, and how easy it is to rationalize disregarding a spiritual principle for a little pleasure.

Another important way that I am trying to practice Ahimsa is in communication. I have found the teachings of Non-Violent Communication especially helpful in practicing mindful listening and speech. I really appreciate the idea of listening carefully without interpreting the facts and jumping to conclusions. I also believe an important aspect of this practice is to not take to heart the comments that are spoken when someone is upset. If I can remain neutral and refrain from being triggered, I can better ascertain what timing and response will bring the most benefit to a relationship.

In the last 6 or 7 years, my vision of how Ahimsa can be observed has been enlarged. I began to think more about the subtler energies that we all bring into being through even our thoughts, as well as our words and actions. I have been considering how the feelings of compassion or ill-will that I cultivate become my contribution to the collective consciousness of our world. This understanding makes me feel that I am responsible, first of all, for making peace in my heart by practicing regularly Hatha Yoga and meditation. These practices have made it possible for me to calm and clear my mind, and give me at least a chance to carry compassion in my heart as I go about my day.

In meditation, I have been cultivating an awareness of the ego — the me-centered thoughts that identify me as this separate entity with beliefs and desires that pertain only to me. I am attempting to see how these habitual ways of seeing myself as separate pervade the way I interact with others, making it easy to identify them as either allies that support my personal desires, or obstacles to those desires. I am beginning to see how even in very small ways I end up being friendly and loving to those whose behavior is supportive, and indifferent or even unfriendly to those whose behavior is not aligned with my desires. Catching myself and interrupting that tendency is another form of this practice.

I do believe that regular meditation practice and the glimpses of freedom I experience are supporting the subconscious mind in a new way of seeing things, and that new values and beliefs can emerge from experiencing a sense of connection with all of nature.

I hope this evolution in my relationship with my own mind is laying the foundation for practicing Ahimsa as a gift, not just a way of feeling good about myself or building a spiritual identity. I envision that my efforts are integrating precepts like Ahimsa more and more fully into my consciousness in a way that will one day make them a natural response to life, implying a concurrent freedom from needing something from outside myself to feel secure and at peace.

At this point, one of the most difficult places for me to practice Ahimsa, and even to recognize when I am not practicing, is with myself. I readily push myself to my limits in my service and always feel compelled to do more. This tendency is so familiar and feels so natural that it’s hard to catch it until I really suffer from it. I have improved from the days when I would go for long stretches sleep deprived and stressed, but I still struggle to remember that I can serve from a much deeper place, be more fully present, when I am rested and clear.

Clearly, I have not yet learned to value my state of being, staying grounded in the source of connection and peace within, as much as keeping the to-do list down to some imaginary place that seems manageable. At least becoming aware of this is a start and it helps me to remember that those around me that I wish to serve as a leader and teacher, don’t need to see another example of a stressed-out person trying to do more instead of being fully present.

One last intention is to see the practice of Ahimsa as a gift. I see all the Yogic teachings as gifts in the form of principles that initiate the process of awakening, that bring ever subtler awareness of my behavior and its effects. In this same way, I see the suffering as a gift, the teachings and teachers as gifts, and even this body/mind that lives and breathes on its own as a gift. My prayer is to make good use of these gifts and offer as little resistance as possible to the process of realizing the truth.

You can join Swami Ramananda for the following programs* this month.

Dec 24 @ 4 pm – Christmas Carols Satsang, online & in-person with Swami Ramananda & Snehan Born
Dec. 22 @ 11 am – Sunday Spiritual Talk: Swami Satchidananda’s Jayanthi, online with Swami Ramananda
Dec 31 @ 8pm – New Year’s Eve Program, online & in-person with Swami Ramananda & Swami Vimalananda

*By donation/free

Swami Ramananda C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, is the Executive Director of the Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco and a greatly respected senior teacher in the Integral Yoga tradition, who has been practicing Yoga for over 45 years. Ramananda offers practical methods of integrating the timeless teachings and practices of Yoga into daily life, and transforming the painful aspects of human experience into steps toward realizing one’s full potential.

prajna2024-12-03T09:14:09-08:00December 3rd, 2024|

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