Why shouldn't we meditate after eating?

[Aletheia]

Generally after I eat my DT gets warm and it seems to me that would be a good time to meditate, but I remember reading that it shouldn't be done but I can't remember the reason why. What's the reason?

Edited April 26, 2017 by Aletheia

[Brian]

Because we might drown -- or was that swimming?

 

Neither is necessarily true...

[dwai]

Generally after I eat my DT gets warm and it seems to me that would be a good time to meditate, but I remember reading that it shouldn't be done but I can't remember the reason why. What's the reason?

Because when our stomach is full, it can induce sleep instead of meditation

Edited April 27, 2017 by dwai

[Brian]

Or it can cause distraction if we eat too many chili-dogs (for instance...)

[Aletheia]

Oh right is it something to do with serotonin and the vagus nerve do you think? The food needs to be absorbed first or something perhaps.

 

EDIT: Anyway, I know you guys know what the standard answer is to the question if there is one, or is there really no rule about this, or what?

 

Right I just saw dwai's answer.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Aletheia

[Aletheia]

And there's the blood too which probably helps with food absorption. I honestly thought there'd be a set answer to this, but maybe not.

[Kar3n]

I've only noticed that because it is quiet and I am still I can hear and feel the digestion process. It is a distraction, especially at the temple, in a room full of people.

[Aletheia]

For me it's the opposite of distraction because I can actually feel the warmth so I can concentrate there easily. Sometimes I've sat down to try and meditate and not really felt anything much other than a flicker of heat.

 

When I concentrate on the LDT now I can feel the 3rd eye too but I don't think it's open much really. But I did notice the saliva in my mouth now tastes different since I can feel the 3rd eye. It tastes really GOOD! So I think that's the ambrosia of the gods. Maybe that's free energy time reversal and if I learn how to meditate for long periods I can go without food and water. But, I haven't tried it and I haven't been taking this stuff seriously enough.

 

Drew deleted his blog too and I was thinking he might do that, that's kind of why I was saying I'm not a drew follower etc. I think it's more fun to be right about things and for everyone to think you're totally crazy rather than to be right and have people saying so. Anyway, he said he bought some land and a tent and was going to go and mediate!

 

 

 

Amrita or Amrit (Sanskrit: अमृत) is a Sanskrit word that literally means "that which is immortal", and is often referred to in texts as nectar. Corresponding to ambrosia, it has different significances in different Indian religions. Amrit is repeatedly referred to as the drink of the gods, which grants them immortality. Amrit features in the Samudra manthan, where the gods, because of a curse from the sage Durvasa, begin to lose their immortality. With the help of the asuras (demons), they churned the sea in order to find the nectar of immortality, amrit. After drinking it, the gods regained their immortality and defeated the demons.
In yogic philosophy (see yoga, Hindu philosophy) amrita is a fluid that can flow from the pituitary gland down the throat in deep states of meditation. It is considered quite a boon: some yogic texts say that one drop is enough to conquer death and achieve immortality. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amrita

 

So there you have it. It's official I'm an immortal now

Edited April 26, 2017 by Aletheia

[Brian]

A good friend of mine who rarely posts here any longer contacted me with what I think is some really worthwhile information related to this thread. I will post it verbatim:

 

Hey Brian, someone asked in TB about why one should not meditate after eating. If one practise a high level system it won't affect the high level part of the system but other parts as the body. If one practise very intense and the Energy receives increase in Power then the digestion is slowed to a certain degree, and well bad digested food will turn bad for the body. Another thing is after one eats food one also need to raise thats food vibration - exception it was blessed and raised in vibration. It is also to be remembered that the human system has a very complicated energy build which run Qi in different nuances, alone the TCM about Food Qi and Air Qi alone tells that for every activity one is burning primordial resources, a reason for the death of the Qigong Masters is overuse of Wai Qi (The reason why it is demanded to practise 3 hours a day, daily part to build it and part to let the light compensate it). Now imagine you need the transformation process for digestion and for Qi work at the same time ( low level Qi is actually always cultivated at the same time, the reason is... we have a physical body) and use extra amount of ressouces (you know that car driving high speed eats lots of fuel, well my co worker told it today and syncron with this ). This is a rule for secret sects why it is that teachers have only few disciples and even if they have a whole sect the generation is only teach the next like 2nd teach 3rd but 1st will ignore 3rd. Teaching, demonstration, healing cost a part of Qi and certain schools and levels doesn't do it because what they cultivate is different and cause different powers and strength. Because of that we respect the other schools because the effort to produce their flavour of Qi might really be an true effort. For rules one just follow the tradition of the school the practise is transfered to the student, since it is no generalisation, like thunder and wind doesnt care Longmen Pai. Wang Liping can use thunder to increase his cultvition and Wind is used in a the Eight Immortal Sword Style Baolin Wu is to enhance attack power- while other would lose it since the cultivate a sort that is slowly amassing on the cultivator and such people also have the rule of not bathing after practise. I hope you are well Brian!

 

[Aletheia]

Thanks, Brian. I know it's not worth saying it again but I really need to get my act together because I'm all over the place with this stuff atm. I wish there were a school I could just pick up and follow along that way things would be much easier and I don't want to sound like I'm complaining either because I know no one really gets a free ride with this kind of thing. So there you go!

[Aetherous]

Meditation interferes with digestion, making it bad for health...and digestion interferes with meditation, making it bad for spiritual development. To keep them separate is good for health and spiritual development.

[sillybearhappyhoneyeater]

It actually makes a difference what kind of meditation you are doing.

If you are going to be sitting for a long period of time, eating first is a poor idea because it is better to move around a bit and not be sedentary after eating, this helps you digest the food better.   Wang Chongyang said that if you sit for too long, blood will accumulate in the lower abdomen and cause your circulation to become sluggish, and I expect that eating exasperates that a bit too.

If you are doing some sort of moving meditation like qi gong or taijiquan, doing it after you eat is not a problem.  

If you take meditation very seriously, you can meditate while you go for a walk after eating, that way you can digest the food and move around while still focusing on calming and quieting your mind.

It is always a good idea to calm your mind at all times, not just when you are seated, especially if your practice internal elixir, because you can lose the Qi you accumulate if you let your mind leave the meditative state for long periods of time.

[Aletheia]

The other day when I went out I purposely concentrated on the DT for the whole journey which lasted about 50 minutes and consisted of walking and sitting on a train and I could feel qi and warmth the whole time. Not really hot or anything like that but I was doing the right breathing and focus etc.

 

It's only really been the past week when things have started to go downhill with diet and focus etc. Last night when I posted I'd eaten a mars bar lol.

[Kar3n]

OK, this is going to be off topic from the OP, but...

 

A Mars bar? 

 

I have not seen one of those in ages!

I am slightly envious.

[Brian]

OK, this is going to be off topic from the OP, but...

 

A Mars bar?

 

I have not seen one of those in ages!

I am slightly envious.

He's a Brit so his "Mars Bar" is very similar to our "Milky Way..."

[Aletheia]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_(chocolate_bar)#United_States

 

Well I live in England and in any case I'd don't buy that kind of stuff. I'm staying at my mum's place atm and she buys all kinds of crap!

[Papayapple]

If meditating after eating is bad then studying or working mentally must also be bad?! Some people even need to do hard physical work after lunch break...
My point is meditation should probably be the  best thing to do after eating, second perhaps to walking or lying down for 10 minutes.

So for those who disagree: how long do you wait after eating? Do you wait longer if you eat heavier? Surely you don't have to have an empty stomach to meditate don't you?

[dawei]

If meditating after eating is bad then studying or working mentally must also be bad?! Some people even need to do hard physical work after lunch break...

My point is meditation should probably be the  best thing to do after eating, second perhaps to walking or lying down for 10 minutes.

 

So for those who disagree: how long do you wait after eating? Do you wait longer if you eat heavier? Surely you don't have to have an empty stomach to meditate don't you?

 

I helped a friend move the last few days and was asked in the midst of the exhaustive chore whether we should stop to eat.  I said, Stopping to eat is stopping the chore; who can work after eating ! 

 

FWIW, I don't meditate nor see the need to. But focus can cause energy to follow and if your body is trying to do its natural thing, then I might think that meditating focused energy to the same area is combative, as Brain said: Sink or swim reaction. 

 

Here is the issue.  If you sometimes meditate and sometimes don't, then there is a 'on' and 'off' state.   If you are always in a meditative state, then the entire thread is moot.  So, from my vantage point, should we stop what you are doing to then go into another state?  Shouldn't our goal be a continuous state of [Fill in the blank].   

 

Maybe I can call it the continuous state but are we saying folks are not trying to get to that point of continuous meditation or residing of presence?  Is this a question about how to be 'off' or 'on' a meditative state ?  

 

When you're not meditating, what is that state?  I guess I could ask, when meditating, what is that state?  And then, why are there two different states? 

[silent thunder]

I was told to avoid qi gong after eating... by a teacher I highly respect and whose advice I've followed to discover that my entire being is far healthier now than it was some twenty years ago...

 

that said:

 

My job is very demanding physically and mentally, great attention to detail is required to craft what we make.  Acute mindfulness is a must as we are around large equipment and dangerous tools constantly... and qi gong is working its way into every movement of the lifting and pushing aspects of my job.  So I engage in all of these almost every day I work, right after lunch.

 

I have noticed that I am eating less and eating different types of things which makes life much more effective and pleasant.  But this is one area where what my most treasured and honored teachers have told me, that doesn't appear to stack up to my experience. 

[C T]

eating can (should) be a form of meditation, yes? 

 

In all things cultivate mindfulness. With this, very little will go wrong, and niggling doubts about what is right to do, or wrong not to do, or right not to do, or wrong to do... these will not even arise. With mindfulness comes gentleness and composure - these 2 qualities combined, trust in oneself develops unhindered, so no matter if one meditates or not, equilibrium is maintained effortlessly. At that level of awareness, meditating and not meditating is harmonised. One who resides in a harmonious disposition tends to conduct body, speech and mind in the direction of moderation. Shoulds and shouldn'ts, at this juncture, become useless words. 

Edited April 28, 2017 by C T

[Spotless]

It is just a general "rule" and should be examined just as you are examining it here.

 

Heavy meals with lots of meat can have a very real energetic drag on meditation but an hour or two later they generally pose no problem.

 

Certain white and beige foods and pasta can create real HI/Low factors and so eating things like this can very much effect your time sitting or standing.

 

Obviously if you have a glass of wine with your meal the effects will take some time to wear off.

 

If you happen to eat something that gives you gas that can be uncomfortable and definitely not enjoyable for others if you happen to be at a group session.

 

Overall - eating a big meal and then sitting will color your meditation with the digestion of energies you have taken in. Obviously some energies are cleaner than others, but in general the idea overall is to allow an hour or so for the energetic coloring of the dinner to ease off a bite prior to meditation.

[Brian]

It is probably worth asking whether the meditator is blessing his or her food prior to eating it.

[Kar3n]

I've never given much thought to eating meditation as a practice, though it is important to me to give thanks for the food I eat.

 

 

Eating meditation is among the simplest, and most profound, of mindfulness practices.

...

Very simple practice -- not much Kabbalah, not many moving parts; just waking up to the body, to fulfill the injunction of v'achalta, v'savata, u'verachta (you will eat, you'll be satisfied, and you'll bless) with the same intensity our ancestors might have had. I like to think of it as the prerequisite for authentic blessing.

http://www.metatronics.net/eat/

[cold]

I have found that eating with intention, gratitude and awareness goes a long way...

A friend is a priest has been his entire adult life 60 plus years.

He silently prays over his meals, which are scant by anyone's standards.

 

The exception is Sunday when he will enjoy the occasional donut or sweet.

Returning on foot from the closest grocery store in inner city Washington D C  (3 miles each way) he was robbed of his groceries and what little cash he had. He wasn't hurt and they didn't take his glasses two things he was very grateful for...

[Fa Xin]

I always try to cultivate an attitude of happiness and being grateful while eating.

 

I've noticed this can make digestion happen a lot easier and more thorough.