We have a yoga retreat coming up: Fri 31/3/23 – Sun 2/4/23 in Springbrook next year. It’s an annual event, it’s filling fast and it is an amazing way to take stock of your life and move your self-growth to a whole new level. And next year’s retreat is all about your microbiome – how you and your bacteria assimilate and love life.

The obvious physical causes of gut dysfunction will be explored in depth. Food and food intolerances, auto- immunes, and how the happiness of your gut plays a huge role in the happiness and stability of your mental and emotional disposition. But in the world of yoga we are never satisfied to stop at the physical, we believe that there is always an underlying mental, emotional and spiritual aspect to every dis–ease and dysfunction in our bodies, and as the gut is the engine of your body, it’s a great place to start.

From a metaphysical viewpoint, digestive health is about what you digest in life. It is about receiving the gift of life, and being able to break it down into its component parts for better acceptance, or to eliminate it. It is about becoming aware of what you are asking your body, emotions and spirit to take in. And metaphysically, we regard digestive disorders as a response by your body to refuse to digest what is coming in. Is it just the food, or was there something emotionally, mentally or spiritually charged around that food that makes your microbiome regard it as a toxin and not digest it well? 

Ideally, we should spend the majority of our life digesting food, ideas and emotions that are pleasing to us and allow us to enjoy radiant mental and physical health. If you are taking in a lot of worry, fear, and doubt, you are going to have a difficult time, because these are uncomfortable energies to take in and digest. Farfetched? Not really. Try and eat dinner in front of the TV with the news blaring. Those microbes, fungi and bacteria in your tummy are going to have a hard time digesting that meal, as your mental and emotional body responds to the deluge of bad news you cannot do anything about. Your digestion, your empathy, and your feelings about life are integrally linked.

In Ayurveda, the energy we use to digest life is called Samana Vayu. The energy of Samana Vayu is what enables us to digest and absorb the nutrition from the food we eat. It’s also the force responsible for digesting our life experiences. So, the same force that enables you to extract nourishment from food, allows you to extract sustenance from life. When this force is dampened due to stress, it can have a direct effect on your capacity to digest food, as well as your feelings.

Margot Wagner
Yoga Under the Bodhi Tree

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