Of Food and Feelings on a Next Level Basis.

As we explore in more depth the annamayakosha, we begin to recognize the sensation of hunger and thirst striking more meaning in this dense, tissue-ridden body of experiences. The annamaya contains way more than just food and water, tissues and blood and organs. It contains an entire system of the way the body processes that edible information. What are you telling your body as you choose to down that cheesecake? What does your body say back to you as it translates the cheesecake's message? How does the body disseminate that information? It sounds funny when it is said in this manner, but when it really starts to count, is how the message plays out over time.

Here are a few ways to think more deeply about the annamayakosha and how food informs us of our current state. How many times in the past month have you thought of meditating on that sandwich and bag of potato chips you ate, that you felt "badly" about for the past month?

• sthula (Physical) — In which taste and weight of food is realized.

• sukshma (Subtle) — In which properties and impact of food are felt.

• kaaran (Causal) — In which samskaras of food are preserved. Roots of many physical deformities lie in annamaya kosha.

Sthula is the physical sensation of eating the food: the smell, the taste, the mouth feel, the sensual experience of eating the food. How empty you are before, and how satisfied you are after, is the sthula.

Sukshma (subtle) How filling is it? Was it what my heart desired? Was it everything I hoped it would be? Did it do the job? Did it satisfy all of the emotional lacking that I was going through? Did it ring true to what life has taught me about eating this? How is my pocketbook affected? how is my internal environment affected? How is my external environment affected? What will my friends think about what I just ate? How did it impact my family and friends' and society's view of me? How did eating this affect the society at large? Is it GMO? Organic? Free range? Right for my body and blood type or diet regimen? Did it make me fatter or skinnier? Who's watching? Did I eat the right thing for them so that they will either be proud of me or learn from me? Did their decisions on who I am impact my plate?

Kaaran (causal) Am I really making this choice to eat this or is this the choice of my friends/family/environment/generation/genetics? How am I traumatized or triggered by my food choices? What damage has my food already played a part in creating for me? What part can I play in destroying all the reasons why the food is or is not part of my waking reality?

More on this later. Please send me your thoughts and impressions when you are ready to digest this material, pun intended, and we can dialogue about how this relates to your innermost needs and how food can play a role in creating more stagnation or more freedom.

Blessings,

Connie

So your soul walks into this contract...

...and doesn't bother to let on that it has a plan, until you decide to answer the small, nagging itch, the gentle whisper urging you to listen, the increasingly turbulent winds pushing you closer to your goal. 

So what is it when a person feels out of place, or that very strange events are happening around every choice they make? What about those moments when one realizes that a way of living takes precedence over all else, and suddenly takes over? What noise can't be dulled? What thoughts won't die, and become an indelible part of the psyche? Or how about when there is this dream that frequently recurs, even though other choices have been its exact opposite?

The soul makes this agreement before earth school begins. It wants you to remember who you are. It tries to hint at who you are, your whole life, until you listen. Some say it is God's plan. Some say it is Divine design. Caroline Myss coins it a sacred contract. Some call it the infinite abundance of the Universe. Access Consciousness method simply calls it, choice. 

When we come to this moment of realization that the very thing we are is the thing we always have been, and that there is no progress without struggle, we then understand what we have been, and were always, meant to be.

Stay in Your Lane.

I was sitting here, reflecting on my week of healthy living, and I can tell you of all my joys and miseries of the week, as this was a full one. One of the lessons I gleaned from being so aware in the last few days, was about how essential oils build the metabolic fuel, how invaluable citrus oils seem to be in my life, how program consistency always improves my game, supplements help to also enhance my performance, my body's natural potential for excellence, and how doing what comes intuitively, is still working for me. 

Sometimes asking too many questions drives me into a flurry of other people's way of doing things, which isn't always best for me. So I have to listen to the voices inside my head, and if they tell me to listen to someone else, I will. That still, small inner voice says and holds all keys to my success in this world.

So should I go out and do what others are doing? Should I pick up the latest fad? Am I doing what works for me? Then I should stick to that.