Yoga means union

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.” – Carl Jung

Hey bloggies! I hope all of your weeks have been going well! I’ve been slowly continuing my way through part two of Eat, Pray, Love where she travels to India to learn about devotion. Part of her learning involves the practice of yoga.

This is a perfect time for me to read this part of the novel, since I’m just beginning my own journey with yoga. So far the extent of my experience with yoga has been a few easy classes at my university and a few solo sessions where I didn’t really know what I was doing. The little Yoga that I’ve done so far has mostly been for the purpose of stretching out my muscles. But yoga is so much more than just that, and I’d like to get as much out of it as I can.

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“Yoga” means “to yoke”, or to join together, in Sanskrit. This pretty sums up all of my reasons for doing yoga. I’ve felt really off balance for the past few years, and I want to get back to that point of feeling at peace with myself. I was never really happy in high school, and then when I went to university I started exploring many different sides of myself and different lifestyles and I wasn’t able to settle comfortably into any of those “identities”. That’s when my ED swept in and muddled things even further. I’d like to spend some time now to find my “real” self and become more connected with that person. And hopefully through doing that, I’ll be able to crawl myself out of this bubble of isolation that has been surrounding me and become more connected to the world around me.

The type of yoga that has become famous as a Western practice is Hatha Yoga, which is the physical aspect of yoga. There are also other paths of yoga, and I’d like to try to explore all of these paths to get the most well-rounded yoga education. These are my specific goals as I begin my practice (my goals don't strictly follow the standard interpretations of these paths):

Hatha Yoga (the physical path): to practice yoga twice a week and to sign up for some classes
Raja Yoga (the path of meditation): to work on quieting my mind and stop constantly thinking about my mental to-do list and food obessions; to go out into nature to meditate
Karma Yoga (the path of action): to sign up for a volunteer opportunity that I’m passionate about; to be an active player in my own life
Jnana Yoga (the path of knowledge): to constantly expand my horizons by learning both inside and outside the classroom; to learn through getting out there and experiencing life
Bhakti Yoga (the path of devotion and love): to love with an open heart and no expectations; to show my love and appreciation for my friends/family more often

I believe that a nourished body is an important prerequisite for a nourished mind. I feel the most nourished when my diet consists mostly of real, whole foods with lots of fruits and veggies, plant based proteins, and whole grains. However I place a strong emphasis on the "mostly" because I don't want to place any restrictions on my food. Instead I'm going to focus on moderation and balance.

Balanced eats = balanced body = balanced mind

Breakfast bowls with fruit, yogurt and grains give me energy to start my day


Salads make me feel clean and pure. This one has orange-sesame marinated tempeh with romaine, avocado, carrots, cucumber, red pepper, pineapple, sunflower seeds, and dried cranberries


Fish is filling but light, so that I don't feel bloated and weighed down. This was a recipe from Fitness magazine for Grilled Halibut with Puttanesca Salsa and Parmesan Orzo


Do you practice yoga? Do you incorporate some of the other paths of yoga into your practice? What do you get out of it?