Maybe mostly a reaction to there being a yoga and marijuana thread but 
OK, I don’t want to offend anyone, I’m not out to start a harsh debate. I drink coffee and I’m not about to stop. I have no particular problems related to it and I truly enjoy the taste. I roast my own beans and all of this is sort of a hobby for me.
How do you think about yoga and coffee?
Enjoy your coffee as much as you like. No problem whatsoever.
As people progress on the path of yoga, they may become more sensitive to the effect of “food” on their body-mind. They may then go through a phase where their body calls for more purification. And respond to this by cutting out coffee, black tea, alcohol, meat, drugs and the like. But it is best that you allow this to be a totally natural development. It may or may not happen in due course. No need for self-denial or dogma. Make your own free choices based on what you feel is best for your body-mind.
It took me years to become a vegetarian. And I cut out coffee long before that because I noticed the effects it had on my body-mind. But I will still drink coffee once or twice a year without any guilt or any craving for it when I don’t. And I don’t mind other people drinking coffee. I usually serve herbal tea at the end of yoga class. But I have one class with rather senior students, two of whom I will serve coffee because they like it so much.
One of my teachers (who has received dharma transmission) does like a drink (in moderation). Both he and his students know that this is contrary to the fifth grave buddhist precept. But this doesn’t bother him, his teacher or his students. How could it possibly?
Well it’s not mentioned in the Sutras :):)(said in jest!).
I became a vegetarian long before I started drinking coffee. That’s kinda backwards, huh?
The thing with coffee was that I wasn’t interested in it until I got really great coffee in Italy and that changed my perception of it.
I am hooked on it now, I am aware of that. It does sometimes irritate me and I cut it down a bit then. Which will make me go through some withdrawal, for a few days. Going cold turkey is actually not pleasant at all, I’ve had to do that a few times when I had the flu only to realize afterwards that perhaps half of the pain I felt during the flu was related to not getting “my fix”.
However, that’s about the only problem I have with it. If it gave me any more problems perhaps I’d change my mind about it. OK, maybe it is reducing the time I sleep a little, hard to tell. Tea, black or green, gives me a heartburn if I keep drinking it day after day.
What’s the problem with coffee?
It has at least as many health benefits as negatives, and the negatives have reduced effect as you build up a resistance.
If it is an addiction then the addiction is undesirable but as anything can be addictive, labelling it as a negative of coffee seems excessive.
You can continue your coffee with yoga.
Hey, people on this forum are more cool with this than I would have expected
The addiction is a bit irritating, since the withdrawal symptoms are strong enough to ruin a couple of days for me but not a big problem since it’s easy enough to store really great coffee, especially if you do like me and buy the raw/green beans. You can then buy in bulk and store for at least 6 months but in many cases several years without losing any of the taste. Some even get better.
I think i might have read somewhere that Iyengar used to drink some before his v. early morning pranayama practice.
[QUOTE=Aaron;31271][B]What’s the problem with coffee?[/B]
It has at least as many health benefits as negatives, and the negatives have reduced effect as you build up a resistance.
If it is an addiction then the addiction is undesirable but as anything can be addictive, labelling it as a negative of coffee seems excessive.[/QUOTE]
I thought that the bad thing about coffee is that it is acidic. I have osteoporosis and my naturopath once recommended that I cut down/out my coffee intake as its not helping my bones much.
I beleive that mr Iyengar does indeed like his coffee
[QUOTE=Willem;31252]
As people progress on the path of yoga, they may become more sensitive to the effect of “food” on their body-mind. They may then go through a phase where their body calls for more purification. And respond to this by cutting out coffee, black tea, alcohol, meat, drugs and the like. But it is best that you allow this to be a totally natural development. It may or may not happen in due course. No need for self-denial or dogma.
I[/QUOTE]
Awesome! Nicely said!
Do not take neither of these… just cant any more:)
Good thread. I’m a regular coffee and tea drinker too, and don’t think it clashes with my yoga. But I know plenty of people who think otherwise (not just yogis).
The only thing that troubles me is the fairtrade aspect. There are more fairtrade products available all the time, but it’s still not that easy to find a cafe selling fairtrade lattes in the middle of the city. Same with chocolate.
I am predominantly Kapha, on recommendation of my Aurvedic doctor I have one cup in the mornings to help kick-start my sluggish metabolism. I love that cup and it is the only one for the day. The rest of the day I am on ginger and rooibos tea, love that as much.
[QUOTE=lakurumau;31308]Good thread. I’m a regular coffee and tea drinker too, and don’t think it clashes with my yoga. But I know plenty of people who think otherwise (not just yogis).
The only thing that troubles me is the fairtrade aspect. There are more fairtrade products available all the time, but it’s still not that easy to find a cafe selling fairtrade lattes in the middle of the city. Same with chocolate.[/QUOTE]
I buy most of my raw beans from a local importer in Stockholm. They keep pretty good track of the people they buy from. Much of what they sell comes from small farms, a lot of it is organically grown and the workers get payed. Most of their customers care a lot about this, not just because it’s the right thing to do but also becasue it affects the quality of the coffee.
I can share my position, from the perspective of the yoga I teach relative to nutrition for the human body.
As always, my overall position is “if it works for you then that is what really matters”.
That having been said…
Coffee is not food. Caffeine, which is in coffee is a medicinal. That is how it was used by indigenous people (as I understand it and have read about it). It was used to remain awake for day-long ceremonies until it was taken from the indigenous to the “modern world”.
One can determine the nature of coffee in their living by removing it from their intake list. When the body reaction is worse (when stopping) than it was before consumption that is indicative of addiction. The withdrawals from caffeine are important feedback from the body and they are important to pay attention to (awareness) in order to understand what the body is communicating through them.
Coffee is profoundly helpful when used as an enema, otherwise it is not useful. The benefits alluded to elsewhere here, which were not outlined, are likely acquirable elsewhere (through sound nutrition). Coffee leaches minerals from the body and it is a diuretic therefore it inhibits hydration - one of the three foundational components of health. Additionally, it forces the adrenal glands to overwork and in our society the adrenals are already overworked. In this way ongoing consumption leads to malfunction of the adrenals and disharmony in the nervous system.
So for me there’s no caffeine intake other than an occasional green tea.
[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;31331]Coffee is profoundly helpful when used as an enema, otherwise it is not useful.[/QUOTE]
I find the thought of using fine Yirgacheffe or Kona up my a** deeply disturbing…
Otherwise, I think you are correct. This is simply an addiction I’m not yet ready to give up.
from my perspective,
we live in a world were we have many things in our environment that are “bad” for us. many chemicles, like bleach, pollutants from cars, radiowaves from satalites and cellphones, etc… Yet somehow the human body is able to tollerate these things and many people are happy and healthy. Science from a thousand years ago may not have thought it possible for us to survive what we live in now, yet we do. So is coffee good or bad for us?
whatever way it be, for me to worry too much about it would probably be worse the the actual effects. In the past I had done that with diet, exercise, etc…
Personally I dont drink much caffeine, however, when I do I drink extra water because supposedly according to some science caffeeine dehydrates the body, so i drink water to help minimilize the effects. When I drink alchahol I do the same for supposedly similar scientific reasons as well. Am I the perfect model of yoga, nope. Maybe one day I will be a better one though, time will tell.
Best to all
brother Neil
A lot of the “science” regarding coffee is actually incorrect, but frequently repeated and so reinforced.
Various studies have shown that coffee can be beneficial to health and indeed preventative regarding certain cancers. Recently the supposed diuretic qualities of tea were completely disproved and it was found to be just as hydrating as water alone. A study of army recruits showed similar results with coffee.
Live life with courage and freedom, not fear!
And this is the beauty of life, each person gets to choose what they eat, how they live and accept the results of those choices in their own living - presuming said choice does not infringe on or harm others in the process.
@ Terje: yes, VERY deep.
@ justwannabe: Exactly the point Neil. Because we have elected to create a world with pathogens and toxins and have permitted them into our air, food, and water supply, this makes our choices profoundly more critical - unless we’re just throwing in the towel. And by throwing in the towel I mean a position of “hey everything is poison, let’s just eat and drink malathion”.
I would beg to differ on your position of “many people are happy and healthy”. Many people appear to be overworked, stressed out and ill, not to mention lost. But this may be subjective.
@ lakurumau: Courage and freedom spawn from discernment on the path of yoga. Discernment grows from self-awareness, not from fear. I personally do not make dietary decisions from a fear-based paradigm so on that I suppose we agree.
IA, Hey brother
I agree that our environment may be taxing on us physically and I hope that my post did not come out as “do what you want”. Personally I cannnot stand the smell of bleach or many household cleaners, perfumes, etc… I do use soaps, shampoos, etc… that are more Eco and person friendly to my body.
My main point was worrying too much about the effects of things, like coffee, may be a limitiing beilief and cause undue mental stress. I am not saying to go drink a gallon of espresso, more along the lines of the middle ground approach.
personally I would rather smell pollen from flowers then exhaust from a car.