Food for Non-thought: The Evolving Role of Diet in Yoga Texts

As anyone who practices yoga regularly knows, what we eat affects not only our ability to twist, but also our capacity to concentrate and still our minds. Food is an essential link between microcosm and macrocosm. In the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, the two gods are designated as food and breath, while the epic Mahābhārata considers right control of food as part of its eightfold path. While the Yogasūtra makes no mention of food, specific dietary recommendations become a more prominent feature in the haṭhayoga texts, beginning around the thirteenth century. In this talk, I hope to add nuance to the discussion of a yogic diet and determine guiding principles that may still be applicable for yogis today, through a historical examination of the evolving role of food in yoga texts.

The fifteenth-century Haṭhapradīpikā gives potentially surprising dietary advice, including cautioning against food that is bitter, sour, spicy, salty, hot, or reheated, or eating too many vegetables. And while modern yogis often advocate veganism, the Haṭhapradīpikā also says the yogi should eat food that is “nourishing, very sweet, oily, from a cow, supporting the constituent elements, desired by the mind, and suitable,” suggesting that the best food for yoga practice might be something like payasam, the Indian version of rice pudding. Some haṭhayoga texts include moderate diet as a restraint or observance and many of the newly included postures show a focus on digestive health. For example, one who does mayūrāsana, peacock pose, can supposedly eat poison. Although dietary rules have been adapted over time, perhaps the Bhagavadgītā's counsel that “yoga is not for one who eats too much, nor for one who doesn't eat at all” offers a middle path that still rings true.