Yoga fosters an overall balance of the body and the mind. It is only once you find this equilibrium on the mat via physical yoga such as Hatha that this balance will spill into and influence your everyday life.
Yoga Master Katrina Repka suffered an unhealthy relationship with food before finding yoga. The former bulimic knows that most people’s relationship with food is complicated and that uncontrollable addictions and cravings are common.
“It’s about finding a balance, not about swinging between good and bad food days. Yoga brings the whole system into balance, and eventually your system will start to rewire itself and shift in the right direction,” says Repka, who practises yoga on a daily basis.
“Regular yoga will balance the endocrine and hormonal system and eventually, things such as your 3 p.m. chocolate bar craving will dissipate. All the glands balance out the thyroid and slowly weight balances out.”
One of the principles of yoga is that you must learn to love yourself and honour what you put into your body, according to Repka. ‘Svadhyaya’, the study of self, is key when learning to listen to what your body needs in terms of food,
Connecting with yourself will allow you to understand messages such as feeling full and help you change your behavioural pattern with the food you choose to eat.
“Once you cultivate this awareness of yourself through yoga, you begin to see what habits in your diet are harmful for your health,” says Repka. In essence, once you learn to let go and gain the upper hand over your appetite and cravings, the rest will follow.
According to Repka, our issue with food stems from living a fast-paced life, one that is depriving us from all culinary pleasures.
