Don't Think You're Overeating? Think Again
If I asked you to tell me about what you ingest, what would you say?
Would you share what you ate for breakfast, lunch or dinner?
Would you ask what I mean by my question? Or wonder why I’m asking such a silly question to begin with?
You’ve, no doubt, heard the expression: “You are what you eat.” But I would suggest that we are much more than the food we eat. In order to prove my point, I’d like to first take apart the idea of eating.
Every day, all day long you carry on. You engage in a variety of operations each designed to create a particular effect or have a desired impact. Here are a couple of examples: 1. You eat because: you’re hungry, you’re emotional, you’re distracted, it’s time to eat, others around you are eating, or you see something that sparks your appetite. 2. You exercise because: you want to feel better, you want to burn calories, you want to gain strength, you like to sweat, you need to expend pent up energy. Let’s call every one of these a gestion.
Gestion is the operation. It’s the act of carrying on and engaging in an operation of some sort designed to create an effect or result.
‘Ingestion’ is simply the act of putting or taking something in to a particular operation. In*gestion.
You likely think of how and what you ingest as all about food, but the actual reality is quite different than that. The Vedic system offers us perspective and a much needed key to greater understanding of this vital act of ingestion in which we engage all day long consciously and unconsciously.
Before we get into that Vedic perspective, let’s cover one more thing… that is the process. In order to experience the desired intention of our gestions, something else must occur.
Let’s take the case of exercise for the purpose of expending pent up energy. If that goal is to be achieved, there must be digestion. Di*gestion is essentially a conversion. We must convert that static, pent-up energy (through a mechanical or chemical gestion) into kinetic energy or the energy of movement. In other words, we must digest inertia by putting it through a process that allows what is static to become dynamic. In this way, we allow the flow of our energy to become free and we begin to feel relieved of any sense of build up that has occurred in our system.
This sequence of gestion, ingestion, and digestion happens not only with food, but with every single operation that we engage in.
From the Vedic perspective, and as a Yoga Therapist, this is something I might consider in many variations and permutations when I’m attempting to help a client find their way to a healthier life.
Looking deeper, our modern life functions in a state where gestion is constantly happening. Operations are habitually going on around us and within us. And we are eternally ingesting as we interact with the world around us. We must then process or digest if we are to keep things flowing and not feeling stuck.
It’s the same in the body. If we only ingest and don’t digest, we will become stuck and constipated so we must apply some operation that will help us to convert that food into it’s constituent nutrient parts and then excrete the waste.
This may seem elementary to you, so why is it important? It’s important because there are many ways that we ingest. We ingest with our eyes. We know from science that our eyes are like two little cameras taking almost constant pictures of what is going on in the world around us.
It’s fair to say that, as long as our eyes are open we are ingesting. We take in information through our eyes when we open our eyes in the morning after a night’s sleep. We take in information when we walk out the door to get in our car. We take in information when we sit in the driver’s seat and buckle up, preparing to drive.
And when the eyes are closed, notice the many other ways that information is taken in: the ears; the nose; the gut; in fact you ingest with all of your senses.
Mostly, the vast majority of the information being ingested is UNCONSCIOUS, that is to say you are not practically and precisely aware of it. That would be impossible. The conscious mind can’t hold that much information. But hopefully, when you do that last gestion I mentioned of getting in your car, you are more conscious than unconscious.
We can go through the whole operation for the ears, the nose, the entire body through the medium of the skin and even more through that sixth sense of perception which, for some, is not so well-developed.
If you really stop and consider all of these constant and ongoing gestions, ingestions, and digestions, you will realize just how ON our nervous systems are, constantly involved in one process or another. It’s no wonder that a practice of meditation is supportive of a healthy brain, body and life.
Consider the relationship you have with your mobile phone. Once upon a time a mobile phone was a kooky, awkward device reserved for only the wealthy or privileged to have installed in their cars. Remember those old television series from the 70’s showing this imaginary device of the future? Even in the 90’s when mobile phones became “flip” and available to the masses, a phone was still a phone. Multi-tasking was still, well, within the bounds of reasonable by today’s standards.
Today’s mobile phone is so much more and so much more demanding as well. And our nervous systems are being trained by the pattern of checking the phone for new texts, new emails, new posts, new reels… It’s not impossible to avoid this hallmark behavior of the present and the future. And I’m not suggesting that you do, though I can report through personal experience that avoiding the invasion of the technology snatchers does create some inconvenient impediments to the relative ease of our modern day lives. What I am saying is that, if you have ever experienced the feeling where you can’t stop yourself from the habitual checking, then you are stuck in a state of ingestion that you can’t digest. This is a red flag! It’s time to give your nervous system a break, before your nervous system breaks. (By the way, if you are interested in seeing the history of the mobile phone, here is a link to a cool chronology along with relevant articles.)
The Vedic system recognizes this need to take care with appropriate and balanced inputs, outputs and rest periods. The Vedic system recognizes us as whole beings that are, not only what we eat, we are what we see, what we listen to, what we smell, what we do and even where we do it. We absorb through all of our senses and, if we don’t provide our mind/body systems with adequate ways to digest all that we have ingested, we will overload and, perhaps even “break”. It’s likely that you know that feeling, even if only since entering the current pandemic times.
To remedy this, a good energetic hygiene protocol is necessary, if you are to find yourself more IN balance than OUT of balance. It’s not only about what you feed your stomach, but also what you feed your eyes, your ears, your skin, your nose,… because ultimately it’s about what you feed your system and that includes your brain.
Are you finding yourself stuck in the act of over ingesting that isn’t allowing you to get calm? Do you find yourself feeling out of balance, but nothing seems to be relieving your unrest? Is it all impacting your sleep? Your relationships? Your happiness? Have you tried on your own, but without success?
If you want some support, I would love to help you get a balanced energetic hygiene plan that works for you. As our galactic state feels more and more revved up, you may find that you can’t achieve that steadiness you crave, but fear not! Little changes can make big improvements. Send me a message or drop me a line. It would be my pleasure to assist you in digesting life with ease.
