Begin Again

I read an article the other day on the late Vanda Scaravelli and her method of teaching yoga. Vanda was well-known for starting yoga in midlife, and being amazingly strong, capable and flexible well into her 80s. This article spoke about a phrase she used commonly: "Begin again" to help her students try to surrender anew into each pose, to not be attached to their experience in the pose last time.

I think this phrase can be applied to so many other aspects of our lives, and I believe it's relevant to our relationship with food too. How many times have we felt we were on a downhill slope with our diet, and that it was all "going to pot"? That we had somehow ruined things by not eating healthy. We all have days where we eat what's too rich, too heavy, just too too much. Yet every next meal is a new start, a new chance to begin again and do what's right for our bodies.

I love the hopefulness of that phrase 'begin again'. It encourages a letting go of what came before, underlines the importance of this moment, and suggests an optimism about what is to come. Start fresh, make this time count, try now.

If we can remember these two words each time we sit down to eat, we can put aside feelings of guilt or remorse and focus on what we're going to give our body for fuel right now. It doesn't matter what we ate (or didn't eat) for breakfast, the point is that each new meal gives us a chance to reach our optimal health. Each time we eat, it's an opportunity to take in the vital nutrients our bodies need to perform well for us all day long. And with each meal, our journey to optimal health can begin again.