Yoga is often associated with flexibility, postures, and fitness classes—but it’s so much more than that. As celebrated on International Day of Yoga, this ancient practice offers a complete system for living a more conscious, connected, and nourishing life.
In this extract of a rich and heart-opening podcast conversation, Sallyanne and her guest Malati Mehrish, Head of Yoga and Meditation at Ananda in the Himalayas, explored the deeper layers of yoga, its connection to mindful eating, and how it can radically improve our relationship with food, body, and self.
This post shares their insights and explores the full-body, mind, and soul benefits of yoga—revealing how it can help you feel better, eat better, and live better.
Image of Malati Mehrish provided by Ananda In The Himalayas
Yoga Is a Way of Life, Not Just a Workout
Yoga is traditionally a comprehensive lifestyle practice that includes ethics (yamas and niyamas), movement (asana), breath (pranayama), sense withdrawal (pratyahara), focus (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and transcendence (samadhi).
As Malati shared, yoga isn’t about perfecting a pose. It’s about becoming more attuned to your inner world and aligning your external life with inner peace. It’s about being authentic, grounded, and present. Postures are just one tool to help calm the mind and support the journey inward.
“Yoga gives you the tools to listen to your body and understand what it really needs.” — Malati
Yoga Reconnects You With Your Body’s Wisdom
Yoga awakens what Malati called “innate intelligence.” Just as plants, animals, and nature have never been to school yet follow instinctive behaviours, humans also have built-in wisdom—especially about food.
As Sallyanne reflected, many of us override our body’s needs due to cultural conditioning and stress. But when we tune into our bodies through yoga and mindfulness, we start to hear what we really need—be it rest, water, warmth, movement, or a specific food.
“Yoga effectively allows your innate intelligence to guide your eating choices.”
Yoga Enhances Mindful Eating
One of the most exciting overlaps between yoga and nutrition is mindful eating. Through regular yoga practice, we become more aware of how we feel before, during, and after eating. This leads to more intentional, satisfying, and nourishing food choices.
As Malati put it, “Your body starts guiding you—maybe a fruit if you’re low, or something grounding like yoghurt. It’s about being guided by how you feel.”
Sallyanne added that mindful eating supports digestion, increases satisfaction, and reduces stress-driven eating. Instead of eating out of habit or guilt, we return to food as a joyful act of nourishment.
“Food is worth stopping for and savouring.”
Yoga Supports Gut and Digestive Health
Modern science is catching up to what traditional systems like Ayurveda and Chinese medicine have known for centuries: gut health is central to overall health. Yoga and mindfulness positively influence digestion by calming the nervous system and encouraging presence while eating.
Sallyanne shared her excitement about research into the microbiome and how fermented foods like yoghurt and whole plant foods, long used in traditional Indian diets, contribute to gut health.
Malati emphasised that ghee—when used in moderation—nourishes the nervous system and is biochemically similar to the fat that surrounds nerve cells. Sallyanne also shared that science has much to reveal about the role of different dietary fats in health.
“All illness and health stem from the gut.”
Yoga Reduces Stress and Emotional Eating
A calmer mind leads to more balanced choices. Regular yoga practice lowers cortisol, the stress hormone that can fuel emotional and binge eating. As Sallyanne observed, many of her clients naturally eat less and feel more in control when they’re less stressed.
When we pause, breathe, and listen, we interrupt the automatic patterns of stress eating. Yoga teaches us to slow down, feel our feelings, and respond with compassion instead of reaching for food to cope.
“When we stress less, we eat less.”
Yoga Honors the Ritual of Eating
In our busy modern lives, eating has become a rushed, unconscious act. Yoga calls us to return to eating as a sacred, joyful ritual. In traditional yogic practices, you sit down to eat, give thanks, and savour your food without distraction.
Sallyanne reminded listeners that where our attention goes, our energy follows. If we eat with screens, stress, or distraction, we rob our bodies of full nourishment.
“If we really want to benefit from what we’re eating, we must eat without distraction.”
Even small practices like sitting down while drinking water, chewing slowly, or simply pausing before a meal can reconnect us with presence and pleasure.
Yoga Encourages Conscious Food Choices
Yoga invites you to look at food not only through the lens of nutrients but also from a place of energetic and emotional impact. Traditional yogic diets emphasise sattvic (pure and calming) foods like fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and dairy in its fermented forms.
This ties beautifully into mindful eating, which focuses on choosing food that supports how you want to feel—energised, grounded, nourished—not just what you think you “should” eat.
“Yoga is asking you to go back to your authentic source and see what you really feel like eating.” — Malati
Yoga Is About Joy, Not Perfection
Throughout the episode, both Sallyanne and Malati highlighted that yoga and mindful eating are not about rigid rules or perfection. They’re about presence, pleasure, and learning to live from a place of awareness and self-compassion.
Food becomes joyful again, not a battleground. The body becomes a trusted guide, not a project to fix. And each day becomes a new opportunity to practice living with intention.
“Eating should be a ritual of nourishing yourself—not a chore or something you ‘shovel in.’”
Final Reflections: Yoga and the Future of Health
This podcast episode beautifully illustrated that yoga is not just a wellness trend—it’s an ancient system deeply aligned with modern needs. In a world full of stress, confusion, and diet culture, yoga provides clarity, balance, and reconnection.
Whether you’re new to yoga or returning to the practice, remember:
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- Slow down.
- Tune in.
- Trust your body.
- Eat with joy.
- Move with love.
From the yoga mat to the kitchen table, yoga can be your lifelong companion in cultivating a healthier, more fulfilling relationship with yourself, your food, and your life.
Resources Mentioned
Ananda in the Himalayas: [Visit Website]
Bihar School of Yoga: [Visit Website]
Follow Ananda on Instagram
Want more?
Explore Sallyanne’s Eating for You podcast, blog, and resources to support your mindful eating and yoga journey.
Wishing you peace, nourishment, and joy on this International Day of Yoga and beyond. — Sallyanne