Take your meditation deeper through real food
As a civilization we are becoming more and more detached from what we put into our bodies. With the convenience of food availability 24/7 we tend to eat whatever is in reach, with little regard for its nutritional content or lack thereof. We have access to unlimited “food like” products yet our bodies are starving because they are nutrient depleted. Nutrient depletion leads to system imbalances, which in some extreme cases can lead to death. What this imbalance certainly leads to is ultimately disease and in the short term hunger (never being full), weight gain and a clogged system.
Let’s not forget that on top of the lack of highly nutritious foods some of us are also taking Pharma medications that also contribute to nutrient depletion and worse.
You are probably wondering what does that have to do with my blog title? Your brain requires a lot of nutrients, healthy fats, and overall a healthy diet to function optimally. In order to be able to mediate and advance in your spiritual journey, your temple, your body needs to be able to support that kind of advancement. Think of having the right nutrition as building the foundation blocks for your spirituality.
High quality nutrient food like dark leafy greens, healthy fats like avocados, coconut fat, nuts, whole grains, legumes, have a higher vibration than factory meat, boxed pastas, premade frozen meals, artificial sugar foods. I believe that everything holds a vibration because everything is energy. Which one do you think has a higher vibration: whole food or a box of cookies?
I am aware that I predominately advocate for a plant based diet, but everyone’s body is different. Your ancestors’ history is different, where you grew up and what kind of diet you had is essential for some individuals on a biological level. So if you are one of those people, it’s ok to eat meat once in a while. Try to go from eating meat everyday to eating meat every other day and so on. Make sure the meat is organic and of the highest quality. Ideally you would know the farm your meat comes from, the conditions the animals live in and also how they are slaughtered.
I am not writing these blog posts to judge anyone. What works for me, may not work for you and vice versa and that is ok. The point of these blog entries is to bring in some new ideas, to maybe inspire you to try something new and elevate your well-being in the process.
Back to meditation and how to help your body support it. The first thing individuals that are new to meditation say is that it is challenging for them to focus or to sit still for long periods of time. Chances are that those individuals are consuming a lot of “food like” products, food that their bodies do not accept, which brings on a state of physiological stress that keeps the body confined to primal characteristics of the physical body and removes the chance and or ability to be still and experience meditation.
Our nervous system needs critical nutrients to run at its full capacity in order to remain balanced and centered. Otherwise we get stuck in the primal, reactive way of being and are unable to advance to higher levels of enlightenment.
The neocortex is where we go when we meditate. This is where we experience unconditional love, visualize our future, our goals, and connect with the collective consciousness. This is also where you will find the pineal gland or the famous Third Eye. Due to a suboptimal diet and environmental pollutants, the pineal gland rarely functions at its best and as a result we operate from the primal parts of the brain.
The primal parts of the brain consist of the reptilian brain and the limbic brain. The reptilian brain or the hind brain is responsible for telling you if you are hungry or scared and its only concern is to keep you alive. It regulates our body temperature, breathing, heart rate and fight/flight response. If this part of the brain is in the driving seat, we tend to gravitate towards past experiences that we associate with safety and survival, we avoid change and become self-absorbed.
The limbic brain is where instinct and emotion meet. Also a primal part of the brain, the limbic brain analyses and processes fear, feeding, fighting and sex.
The limbic brain becomes more active the more processed grains and sugar we consume. This part of the brain is where the obsession with sex, food, alcohol, TV aka programming, aggressive behaviors and emotional issues arise.
Now that we better understand our operating systems, how do we get to experience deep meditative states? We turn to the wisdom of our ancestors and remember what it means to connect with Source/ God/ The Higher Power before modern times.
Our ancestors considered food to be sacred and a gift from Mother Gaia, sacred energy if you will to help nourish our mind, body and soul. If we disregard this philosophy and continue to eat mindlessly we will have a hard time bridging the space between the limbic brain and the neocortex and we will be stuck living in lower levels of consciousness.
The neocortex needs Omega 3 fats found in seaweed, spirulina, flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, walnuts and so on, to operate at its best. The neocortex also needs healthy fats that can be assimilated by consuming coconut oil, avocados, sunflower seeds/ oil, nuts and cacao nibs.
Since the primary function of the neocortex is to serve as the seat of consciousness, motor commands, sensory perception, conscious thought, and spatial reasoning, stress is not something that it handles well. Like it was mentioned earlier, that is the job of the limbic brain. The only issue with that is that the limbic brain is not designed to handle all the modern day attention grabbing items that are constantly thrown at us when we open our phone, laptop, TV and so on. Thus the limbic brain cannot distinguish between being in imminent danger and the pint of ice cream that contains 100g of processed sugar.
In conclusion, if we give the neocortex the nutrients it requires and avoid nutritional stressors, the neocortex can keep the limbic brain in check and allow us to have deep meditative experiences in a much easier fashion.
If you want to experiment with your nutrition try the following for 10 days:
Eat whole food only.
Eat Omega 3 rich foods, like: seaweed, spirulina, flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, walnuts.
Eat healthy fats like coconut oil, avocados, sunflower seeds/ oil, nuts and cacao nibs.
Magnesium rich foods like green leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, raw cacao etc. Magnesium is absolutely essential for the nervous system.
Drink high quality water and lots of it. I highly recommend a water filter that filters out chlorine and fluoride. I’ve been using a ProPur filter for years and I couldn’t be happier.
Limit stimulants like caffeine and alcohol intake. Substitute a cup of coffee with green tea.
Limit dairy products.
Avoid synthetic foods such as additives, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, margarines, refined sugar and carbohydrates (white breads and pastas etc.) that are nothing more than empty calories, over-consumption of factory farmed animals and processed meats.
Fast or practice intermittent fasting.
Meditate often.
As I mentioned before, I am not writing these blog posts to judge anyone. What works for me, may not work for you and vice versa and that is ok. The point of these blog entries is to bring in some new ideas, remind you of something you forgot, and maybe to inspire you to try something new and elevate your well-being in the process. Happy experimenting!