yoga and coffee: to drink or not to drink?

[woosa]

Maheswari you're not so bad yourself .

Anyway, enough of the niceness - it's cramping my style, and I have tea to drink!

[maheswari]

where is the teapot Alice?

[cosmic]

Do what feels good or beneficial. Caffeine sensitivity is very individual. I don't like to drink coffee before physical activity, like asanas or hiking, because it makes me nauseous. I've had it before meditation with no problem. A few years ago, I would drink 2 triple-sized Monsters right before bed. If you're doing something excessive like that, daily meditation will even it out eventually.

Namaste

[DoctorWho]

I'm way big on the tea too! Probably 3 cups a day if not more. I try to make sure I wait an hour or more before going into meditation so as not be all 'hopped up'

I've often wondered how beneficial it would be to lessen the tea intake. But when I take an inventory of the crap I need to work on and renounce in this life... I realize tea is way low on the list.

As always, moderation is the key.

[HathaTeacher]

Hi GS,
The "drug kick" thing is one part of it. The other one is the rest ofthe drink.
Green tea is good for skeleton health, rich in antioxidants, and even marketed in "condensed" pills - but I usually make it very thin to dillute the caffeine.
I started yoga early in my life and got never into coffee drinking, but I've met quite a few people whose pain in joints stopped for good after they had simply quit coffee.

[robfrommi]

I've been a Coffee drinker for 20 years and over time I have grown to be more sensitive to it. When i was in my early 20's I could drink a pot easily, now I have a rough time drinking 2 cups of half caffeine. I know for me it is time to give up this attachment.

[Ruben]

Coffee and oxygen

Geetananda (disciple of Ram Gopal Muzumdar, "The Sleepless Saint" in Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi") used to drink coffee regularly. I studied with an early student of Geetananda who uses coffee before doing Pranayama. He, just like Geetananda, sleeps only 4 hours every day and is very energetic and productive, while also poised and balanced . I believe on top of his regular practices he does a short (10 mins or so, probably less) invigorating Pranayama session twice a day, after taking a cup of coffee to remain energetic and fresh throughout the day.

He explained coffee is not necessarily bad, depending on how it is used. If it is used to pep oneself up like people do in offices, it only drains more later. If it is used in combination with increased oxygen supply, it needs not be harmful at all and empowers the practice.

I do not remember the explanation he gave for the oxygen argument. In any case, he always emphasizes the importance of abundant oxygen for health.  Neither do I remember whether he mentioned which pranayama he performs. (I do not drink coffee myself, so I was not that curious on this topic. Sorry about that.)


If you are very eager to know more, I can try contacting him and let you know. Feel free to send me a personal message in case I do not come back to this topic.

quote:Originally posted by Godslave

I do spinal breathing followed by deep meditation daily. I also drink 1 cup of coffee most days. Is it better not to drink coffee? What about teas / caffeine?

I have the feeling that maybe I should stop drinking coffee and I'm trying to decide. I also sometimes drink green tea, oolong tea, and black tea which all have caffeine.

This may have been discussed before but I didn't see a search function for the forums.

Thanks in advance for any answers, hints, or comments

[tonightsthenight]

quote:Originally posted by HathaTeacher

Hi GS,
The other one is the rest ofthe drink.

I've done quite a lot of looking into the health effects of coffee, and almost all of what I've read indicates that researchers are very nearly certain that coffee is, in general, beneficial.

[robfrommi]

quote:Originally posted by robfrommi

I've been a Coffee drinker for 20 years and over time I have grown to be more sensitive to it. When i was in my early 20's I could drink a pot easily, now I have a rough time drinking 2 cups of half caffeine. I know for me it is time to give up this attachment.

Update to my progress. I failed miserably, I quit for a week though.

[FutureHumanDestiny]

what reason makes you consider removing coffee?

spiritually speaking, coffee is not itself intrinsically bad or good, however, the 'clinging' to it is very bad.  if your mind is constantly thinking of coffee, then that karma must be dissolved both by renunciation and by meditation.  if you're not addicted, then why quit?

[AYPforum]

Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement

[Kahlia]

Coffee

[JosephUK]

I must admit i've been drinking a lot of coffee lately. It seems to offer a more hazy ecstasy to the kundalini i am experiencing.

Its kind of like a flame which has less oxygen so it burns and moves slower.

i like that drunken state of kundalini/caffeine high. This is why i am trying to renounce and be a little more conservative. just practicing gentle mindfulness and bhakti yoga (which seems automatic now) and not getting caught up in the addiction to amrita which is causing chaos in my cluttered mind.

peace

joe

[dipen797]

I have been doing ayp practices for about 4 months and I have experienced a natural decrease in my intake of coffee. Before practices i use to drink 3 cups of coffee everyday now on most days I am down to 1 cup of coffee.
I think yoga practices will naturally decrease the need for external stimulation of our nervous system.

[Indigo]

I drink 1 to 2 cups of Colombian coffee daily and have been doing so for several years. Not that long ago I came across articles on the benefits of drinking one or two cups a day. Claims are coffee has anti-oxidant properties and may aid in warding off Alzheimer's disease. Over 2 cups is not recommended as it goes into caffeine overload may cause insomnia, nervousness, increased heart rate and or blood pressure.