High quality standards: training courses are led by highly qualified professionals who practice and live what they teach. They offer much wisdom and practical knowledge.Trainings have re-started the lives of more than 18,000 satisfied graduates. All trainings come with a degree and certificate. Our trainings take place in cooperation with the Academy of Cultures in NRW. Most are recognized for legal educational leave.
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Themen





# Diet

“Yoga is not possible for a person who eats too much, nor for one who does not eat at all, nor for one who sleeps too much, nor for a person who is always wakeful.” - Bhagavad Gita, chapter 6, verse 16

## Table of contents

## Yogic diet

The yogic diet is a vegetarian one; it consists mainly of foods that help to calm your mind and sharpen your intellect. If you want to get the optimum benefit from your yoga practice, eat foods that soothe and nourish your body. A pure diet promotes your physical health and much more. It encourages you to be cheerful, serene and maintain your mental poise throughout the day. When you practice yoga, you are working on yourself on many levels.

Your yoga practice will be greatly enhanced by a simple nutritious vegetarian diet, occasional fasting and abstinence from negative habits such as smoking.

## General guideline for eating

- Try to chew each mouthful slowly and thoroughly, remembering that digestion begins in your mouth.
- Pay attention to eating and savour your food. Don’t eat while you are working at your computer, watching television or speaking on the phone.
- Try to cut down on snacking between meals.
- Don’t overload your stomach. The “ Hatha Yoga Pradipika”, an important ancient text, suggests that you fill your stomach only half-way with food, one quarter with liquid and leave the rest empty.
- Maintain a peaceful attitude during your meals. Don’t argue over the dinner table.
- Try to have some of your meals in silence.
- If you are planning to change your diet; do it gradually.
- Give thanks before you start to eat.
- Eat to live; don’t live to eat.

## The three ‘Gunas’ – the qualities of nature

Yoga philosophy identifies three qualities that are present in varying degrees in everything in the universe, including your physical body, mind and emotions.

“The foods that increase life, purity, strength, health, joy and cheerfulness, which are savoury and smell good, substantial and agreeable, are dear to the sattvic people”.- Bhagavad Gita, chapter 17, verse 8

Sattva is the quality of light, purity and knowledge. Enhance your yoga practice by making your diet as sattvic as possible by eating foods that are pure, wholesome, naturally delicious, without preservatives or artificial flavourings. A sattvic person is characterized by feelings of cheerfulness,  peace and contentment.

When you eat sattvic foods, you body tends to be in a healthier state and you mind is less stressed. This diet includes fresh and dried fruits, pure fruit juices, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, wholemeal bread, honey, fresh herbs and herbal teas, fresh vegetables and organic dairy products. A sattvic diet is easily digested and supplies you with the maximum amount of energy. It increases the vitality and endurance of your body. It will give you the strength to overcome fatigue, even when you need to do strenuous work.

If you are what you eat, your food preferences reflect your level of physical and mental purity. As you progress in your yoga practice, you will probably notice that your diet is changing and your cravings for negative foods lessening.

“The foods that are bitter, sour, salty, excessively hot, pungent, dry and burning are liked by the rajasic and are productive of pain, grief and disease”.- Bhagavad Gita, chapter 17, verse 9

English article

Rajas is the quality of passion, activity and non-stop motion. Rajasic foods cause your mind to be agitated. They over-stimulate your body, contributing to physical and mental stress. If you feel nervous and stressed out, try cutting down on rajasic foods.Rajasic foods include hot spicy foods, onions, garlic, refined sugar, soft drinks, chocolate, processed and refined foods, foods that are full of chemicals and preservatives, coffee and black tea.

Tamas is the quality of ignorance, darkness and inertia. It induces heaviness, lethargy and laziness. Tamasic foods are stale, fermented, burned, barbecued, overcooked or reheated too many times. They include meat, fish, eggs, drugs, alcohol and tobacco. A tamasic diet makes you feel dull, lacking in higher ideals and devoid of motivation. Overeating is tamasic. If you suffer from chronic ailments and depression, try reducing the tamasic foods you eat.

“The foods that are stale, tasteless, putrid, rotten and impure refuse, is the food liked by the tamasic people”.- Bhagavad Gita, chapter 17, verse 10

## Fasting

Fasting, voluntarily refraining from eating, can enhance the benefits of your yoga practice in many ways. It enables you to take advantage of nature’s great healing powers to restore health and vigour to your body and mind. Fasting gives your digestive system a rest, allowing your body to cleanse itself thoroughly. It removes waste matter, impurities that your body may have accumulated over many years.

### Some reasons to fast

- When you fast, you don’t have to spend time and energy to prepare and eat food. You are more free to focus on aspects of your yoga practice, such as pranayama, asanas and meditation
- All spiritual traditions recommend fasting, often as a means of strengthening meditation
- Even a one day fast leaves your mind and body feeling lighter
- Fasting is a way to make your mind stronger and increase your will-power. Just as you strengthen your muscles by giving them work to do, you can also strengthen your mind by asking it to do something that is a bit difficult – like not eating
- Fasting can assist you in developing concentration and mental strength
- Fasting enables you to more easily absorb higher energy vibrations and be more fully conscious.
- Your whole system is cleansed and given an overhaul. During a fast, all of your energy that normally goes towards digesting your food is available for the repair and healing of your body.

### When to fast

Pick a time when you don’t have to work, when you can be as quiet as possible, perhaps on the weekend.

Try fasting one day a week to maintain your good health and mental resolve. After a one day fast your can return to a normal diet the next day.

Two to three day fasts are recommended several times a year, especially at the change of seasons. Fasting gives your body a spring cleaning.

Longer fasts of a week or more can give you great spiritual strength. After the third day, your hunger will disappear. If you would like to try a longer fast, it is advisable to have expert guidance.

### How to fast

Fasting means abstinence from food, both liquid and solid. Water is not a food; it does not stimulate your appetite and does not need to be digested. Drink plenty of water while you are fasting; it helps to cleanse your system.

Many people prefer a juice fast, but be aware that juice stimulates your digestion and you may actually feel more hungry. But it also stimulates the cleansing, so you may find a juice fast more beneficial. Try to take only fresh juices – either fruits or vegetables. Dilute the juice with water. Do not eat solid food or fleshy fruits, such as bananas.

- While fasting, do not think about food and don’t talk about diets. Use your time for quiet activity. Rest as much as possible. Try to have your focus inward.
- If possible, be alone or with other people who are also fasting.
- Drink as much pure water as possible to flush out your system.
- Practice yoga asanas and pranayama while fasting; this enables you to eliminate toxins more quickly.
- Keep your body warm. Bathe frequently to relax your muscles and to assist the cleansing process.
- If you experience a headache or nausea, drink hot water with a little lemon juice.
- Avoid tea and coffee. Herbal teas, especially peppermint, are helpful.

DO NOT: attempt to fast if you are pregnant, if you have had an eating disorder, or if you suffer from anaemia. It is a good idea to consult your doctor or health care professional if you have any doubts.

### Breaking your fast

How you break your fast is perhaps the most important part of your fast. Although you may develop food cravings, be careful to resist impulses to indulge. Instead, return to eating slowly. Avoid heavy foods, such as proteins and carbohydrates, immediately after fasting.

On the first day, eat only raw or stewed fruits. They digest easily and help to gently restart the peristaltic action in your digestive system.

Day 2: eat one meal that consists of a raw vegetable salad. This will act as a broom to help eliminate toxins that may have accumulated in your intestines.

Day 3: in addition to the fruits, raw vegetables, include lightly steamed vegetables in your diet on the third day. Do not add salt or other seasonings to your food; enjoy their natural flavours.

Day 4: add grains. Now that you have returned to a balanced diet, try to refrain from (or at least limit) unhealthy items such as sweets, coffee, tea, alcohol, and meat.

Your attitude towards diet and the food that you feed yourself have strong influences on you physically as well as emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. Healthy eating gives rise to peaceful thoughts. Your actions reflect these qualities.

## Recipes

## Chai

Chai recipe

### Ingredients (per cup)

- Small piece of fresh ginger, washed and peeled
- 100 ml water
- 100 ml milk – instead of cow’s milk, you can use soy, almond or coconut milk
- 1-2 tsp coconut sugar – or organic jaggery
- 1 tsp loose tea – instead of black tea, you can use roobos or tulsi
- 3 cm cinnamon stick, broken
- Pinch nutmeg
- 1 pod green cardamom

### Method

- Grate or chop the ginger. Place it into a small pot, along with the water, milk, sugar, tea, cinnamon and nutmeg. Remove and crush the seeds from the cardamom pod – add them to the mixture as well.
- Place the pot on a medium heat. As the mixture boils; remove it from the heat and stir. Place it back on the heat and repeat this boiling and stirring 3 times.
- Remove the pot from the heat, cover and allow the mixture to stand for 3-5 minutes.
- Strain the tea into a cup – and enjoy!

Variation: if you like your tea more or less milkey, you can adjust the proportion of water and milk.

Note: tea-spice mixture is re-usable, however, you may want to add a bit more tea in subsequent usages.

## Learn more about diet in one of our seminars

## Conditions of participation

In keeping with our holistic approach, all trainings include at least 1 yoga class daily plus morning and evening meditation with kirtan singing. This is in addition to the training-specific content in lectures and workshops. We see them as an integral part of the training.

This combination of theory and practice, training of body, mind and heart, has proven particularly effective and successful:

- Easy learning through organic combination of theory and practice
- You get the necessary energy to actively put into practice what you have learned and the incentive to pass on your knowledge.
- Over 18,000 satisfied graduates: proven, successful concept with a good reputation
- High quality standards: authentic trainers who live and practice what they teach
- All training come with a certificate and diploma of professional associations - Most training courses are recognized for educational leave.
- Inexpensive inclusive prices
- Integration thorough assistance
- Lived health and ecology: smoke-free and alcohol free environment; healthy organic vegetarian food (in Bad Meinberg our kitchen is certified organic); photovoltaic and biogas electricity.

All together this lends a special character of the training, one which encourages personal practice and self-experience in addition to the pure transfer of knowledge. Even after the most intensive training you feel regenerated and full of energy, an attitude that lasts even when you return home.

Condition: Primary and Further Education

During all our trainings there’s a complete absence of alcohol, smoking, drugs, meat, fish and eggs.

Participation in the daily program is required for the final certificate, including morning and evening meditation, kirtan singing, yoga classes and 45 minutes of karma yoga. Also, the passing of the final exam is a pre-requisite for the certificate.

Failure to comply with the terms and conditions will result in the participant being excluded from the course. In this case, or in case of a premature termination of the course, there is no right to a refund.

Please note that there are legal requirements for the practice of medicine. Trainings do not entitle you to practice medicine in Germany and most other countries. If you do not have a license to practice medicine, you can use the contents of the training courses in wellness areas or in the form of group offers, in which no diagnoses are made or specific complaints are treated.

Arrival / departure, course start

- Arrival: from 1pm
- Check in: from 3pm
- It is possibile to take part in our free arrival yoga classes at 4:30 pm (Yoga teacher training 4pm)
- 6:00 pm Dinner: Large wholefood buffet
- 8pm actual seminar start with meditation, kirtan singing (Yoga teacher training 7pm)
- Departure on the last day from about 12pm.
- In our trainings it is not possible to arrive later, leave earlier or miss a day.

6-7:00am

Pranayama (mandatory for particioants of 9day advanced trainings; optional for all others)

7-8.05am Satsang: silent meditation, kirtan singing, inspiring reading8.05pm-11amWorkshop/yoga class11amBrunch, followed by 45 min karma yoga- and then free time2/2:30-6pmLecture, workshop/teaching techniques, followed by yoga class6pm Dinner, free time8-9pmSatsang: meditation, kirtan singing9-10pmLecture, workshop, study time

The daily routine follows our sucess proven Yoga Vidya seminar concept. Depending on the training, there are minor deviations. The workshops, lectures, meditations and yoga classes are largely tailored to the respective training topic.

Seminars finish on the last day after the brunch or at 12.30; on weekends at 2pm.

Free day

In the case of trainings that last longer than 7 days, there will be no classes one afternoon each week. In longer training one day per week from 9am to 8pm is free of lessons. Only morning and evening meditation (compulsory participation) and the pranayama from 6:00 to 7:00 (voluntary) take place on these days.

Karma Yoga

Selfless service is an integral part of the training; this includes about 45 minutes daily in various in-house jobs. As ‘karma yoga’, this service is seen as an important aspect of personality and spiritual development. At the same time, it helps keep seminar prices down. It is also an opportunity for the participants to feel at home and to get more familiar with each other and the staff at Yoga Vidya. Accommodation

There are single, double or dormitory rooms available. For details see the description of the individual houses in Bad Meinberg, Westerwald and North Sea.

Meals

There’s two wholesome lacto-vegetarian meals daily: Brunch (breakfast and lunch together) is at 11.00 and dinner at 18.00 o’clock. With food from certified organic farms, all meals are prepared with love. Our main center in Bad Meinberg is also home to Europe's largest certified organic kitchen. If requests are made at least one week in advance, we can usually take care of special requests. Prices

All at the seminars and trainings prices are flat rate prices. They include the entire seminar / training / wellness program, including 2x daily meditation, kirtan singing and short presentation, 2-3 lectures / workshops, 1-2 yoga classes, as well as accommodation in the selected room category and vegetarian food.

Terms of payment / refund:

- Deposit for weekends is € 25; week-long seminars € 100; multi-week courses € 250.
- The balance of payment is due 2 weeks before the seminar begins or 8 days before when paying by direct debit.
- If you book within 2 weeks of the start of the seminar; you must pay in full upon registration.
- We can guarantee your reservation and room request only if your payment is made within these parameters.
- If you cancel less than 2 weeks before the start of the seminar, 50% of the seminar fee will be retained ( or you can choose to receive a voucher for the total amount, which may be applied to the same or another course at a later date).
- 25% discount for young people up to the age of 25 at the campsite / dormitory in Bad Meinberg and Westerwald - at Haus Nordsee, this is applicable only in the low season.

Be aware that some trainings have special conditions for participation and/or cancellation.Some trainings consist of 2 or more parts, but must be enrolled as a whole. In these training, registration in only one part is not possible. No refunds can be given after the beginning of the first training section. This does not apply to training courses with flexibility in choosing modules, as each component represents a self-contained unit.

We reserve the right to cancel seminars 4 days in advance due to insufficient number of participants. Of course you can switch to another seminar or get your money back. If the seminar leader falls ill at short notice, we reserve the right to appoint a substitute seminar leader and will strive to find one who is equally qualified. If you do not wish to attend the seminar with the substitute seminar leader, you can switch to another seminar or request a refund. No reimbursement of travel costs will be made.

At the North Sea 1 € daily tourist tax is added (payable on arrival).You get a spa card, with many advantages: entrance to the beach baths, free parking (except Friesentherme), a discount of 25% in the sauna and other perks.

Educational leave / education checks and educational bonus vouchers

For all yoga teacher trainings, especially the block trainings, you can apply for funding and possibly get part of the training fee reimbursed. For more information about state subsidies click here.

Please bring:

Bed linen (rentable for 5 €), towels (rentable for 2 €), alarm clock, slippers, writing paper, pens and folders. Optional: meditation blanket and cushions (available for free in the yoga rooms or can be purchased in our boutique). In case you wear glasses, please bring a hard glasses case, in which you can store your glasses during yoga classes.

For Ayurveda training please bring: thermos flask, sufficient laundry soap (because a lot of oil is used), wool hat / headgear (for certain applications), 3 large bath towels, bathrobe and 1 set of bedding (no fitted sheets).

Abbreviations:

SL Seminar leader

MR Multi-bedded room

DR Two-bedded room

SR Single-bedded room

D Dormitory

T Tent

C Camper van

BM Bad Meinberg

WW or W - Westerwald

Yoga Vidya is a non-profit association and Europe's leading provider of education and training in yoga, meditation, Ayurveda, massage, holistic health and spirituality.

## Why Yoga Vidya?

Our courses and trainings are open to everyone who’s interested in learning about yoga, meditation, and holistic and alternative methods for consultation and treatment in any related field.

Even if you don’t want to use this knowledge professionally, but want to go learn about alternative health and lifestyles for your personal growth, our courses are perfectly suited to you. Yoga Vidya offers a wide range of trainings with a holistic approach.

Our courses are characterized by an organic combination of theory and practice. In our energetically charged and protected atmosphere, away from everyday life, learning takes place on many levels.

The Yoga Vidya schedule integrates yoga, meditation, lectures and kirtan singing. You get the necessary energy to put what you have learned into practice – and the strength to share your knowledge as a teacher.

Acquire knowledge, improve expertise and recharge your energy: thanks to specific training content and the basic spiritual practices of yoga, you will feel recharged. Often you’ll be more refreshed than after an ordinary vacation!

Success-proven concept with a good reputation: for more than 25 years, Yoga Vidya has been Europe's leading yoga instructor institution and has brought forth yoga teachers with its proven system. This concept has been successfully transferred to other training courses.

High quality standards: training courses are led by highly qualified professionals who practice and live what they teach. They offer much wisdom and practical knowledge.Trainings have re-started the lives of more than 18,000 satisfied graduates. All trainings come with a degree and certificate. Our trainings take place in cooperation with the Academy of Cultures in NRW. Most are recognized for legal educational leave.

Inexpensive inclusive prices: as a non-profit organization, we can provide high quality at uniquely low prices. Participants in trainings are asked to contribute 45 minutes of their time daily. This helps to keep prices down and encourages a more inclusive atmosphere among staff and seminar participants.

Healthy Living and Ecology: Yoga Vidya is a smoke-free and alcohol-free environment. Photovoltaic power and heat generation are from a neighboring biogas plant. We serve only healthy organic vegetarian and vegan whole foods; our kitchen in Bad Meinberg is Germany's largest certified organic kitchen!

We look forward to seeing you!

Your Yoga Vidya Team

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