Salt on pizza

My daughter came home from school the other day and shared that one of her friends had to put salt on her pizza in order to enjoy it.  In fact, she shared that several of her friends shared that this was fairly common practice.  So what's the problem?  This is a indicator that someone is craving salt taste or yang in general and this craving is an indication that there is a significant out of balance condition.  The extreme taste of this combination gives a hit to the consumer that they then look for in the future in other foods as well.  Adding salt at the table is never a good idea.  Salt should always be cooked with the food so that it is buffered from direct contact with the tissues in the body.

Practices such as these should be sign posts of an underlying imbalance.

Imbalance such as is indicated here can lead to cravings for extreme yin substances as well.  These extreme yin substances include tobacco, alcohol, and, of course drugs.  

Extreme imbalance always calls for extreme satisfiers.

Once the state of imbalance reaches this point, it is difficult to reverse.  The key is to provide foods from the middle of the yin - yang spectrum which bring the subject back to balance.  Unfortunately these central foods do not provide the expected kick to the tastebuds that the subject has grown accustomed to so they are often rejected as not tasting good.  This becomes a vicious circle which can spiral out of control.

Inward and outward

My Guru, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, says that we do not really know which way is up or which way is down;  there is only inward and outward.  This is a perfect reflection of yin and yang where yang is the inward or contracting force and yin is the outward or expanding force.  So yang force manifests as substances which are contracted such as rock, metal, hard wood, dense foods like egg yolk, etc.  Yin force manifests as expanded or expanding elements such as air, water, alcohol, large plants, etc.  These two forces try to balance with each other in every manifestation.  Without this balance the cosmos would be chaos.

Hunger is not normal.

Last weekend I went skiing with some friends near Seattle.  We left the house at 10:30 am after a leisurely morning including a "good" breakfast.  I had eaten from the middle of the yin and yang continuum and my friends had not.  We arrived at the slopes around 11:45 and began skiing.  The slope we were skiing closed at 4:00 pm and we had decided to go home at that time.  The snow was great and we were having a great time.  At around 3:00 pm my friends were expressing that they were hungry.  I was feeling still very satisfied by my breakfast.  They wanted to take a break and get something to eat because our car was quite far away.  I proposed that since we had food in the car we could power on till 4:00 pm and then get to our car and eat.  This proposal was met with a chorus of "No way".  It was made clear to me that the consequences of waiting to eat would most definitely be significant.  So they took a break and had a "snack" in the lodge.

It occurred to me later that this scene appears perfectly normal to most people.  We have lived so long in an imbalanced state that the conditions that this imposes on us seem to be normal because everyone around us is experiencing the same issues.  We have fast food because people can not wait to eat.  They have to eat within  four hours of their last meal and often they have to have something in between at two hours.  This was one of the most amazing developments in my life when I started eating from the center.  As I became more balanced, I began to experience a satisfaction that enabled me to go without food for more extended periods of time.  I didn't have to eat.  There were no "consequences" if I missed a meal.

When the body becomes balanced, there is a feeling of satisfaction that becomes the foundation for all of your activity.  Your body can relax without worrying about where it will find its next satisfier.  There is no hunger.  Your blood sugar levels become stable with no highs or lows.  It is amazing how freeing this is.  It allows for so many things to happen in your life.  You can be generous because you have no wants.  You are more effective because your attention is not split.  You can focus on what you need to accomplish and get it done or you can sit in meditation without a care.  Your moods do not swing so you don't have to go off with bursts of temper or bouts of depression.  This is the normal way humans should be.  Satisfaction should be experienced by everyone.  It is my wish and blessing that it blossoms in your life.