Spiritual Nutrition

Spiritual Nutrition
Gabriel Cousens, M.D.
North Atlantic Books
ISBN: 1-55643-499-5
Non-Fiction, Spirituality, Nutrition
Reviewed by Dr. Tami Brady

Becoming a vegetarian, eating certain foods, or fasting is not going to lead you instantly to enlightenment. Awakening the Kundalini, reaching enlightenment, examining ones spirituality are paths that can take lifetimes worth of work or can spontaneously occur through grace. With that said, there are certain things that you can do that can facilitate the process.
Spiritual Nutrition sets out six foundations that help purify the system and ease the natural progress of one’s spirituality: nutrition, building prana (life force), service, spiritual guidance, silence, and Kundalini Awakening. Although each of our journeys are unique, the majority of seekers do some work in each of these areas throughout their lives. As expected the choices in each of these categories are quite varied. For instance, spiritual guidance can be received through reading scripture, through the assistance of a mentor, by experiencing sacred music, or by communing with nature. Likewise, silence can be attained through meditation, prayer, mantra, or chanting. The possibilities are virtually endless.
To most people on a spiritual path finding the appropriate way to express these different parts of the self seems pretty simple in theory if not in practice. Of the six foundations, nutrition is probably the most difficult to comprehend. Fully understanding how different foods interact with your body, learning how much food your body requires, and discovering ways to reduce the toxins that you take in is quite an overwhelming prospect. For this reason, Spiritual Nutrition goes into a good deal of detail for this category. The purpose isn’t really to subscribe to one particular diet set out by the author. Instead, the author seeks to educate the reader and give him or her a place to start his or her own explorations. I appreciate that.