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I'm a vegetarian and I've recently read that if you do yoga you shouldn't eat onions or garlic? What is this all about? Can anyone advise me (please don't say it is true!!) Namaste

I think they are meant to fire up the passions and therefore take one away from an equanimous state (?) I remember reading something similar about Buddhist diet.

I remember having a conversation with a cook in an yogic ashram about this topic and he said that they do use onion and garlic in their cooking. Only about three people (out of 60 or so) had a special requirement not to eat onion and garlic, as a personal choice.
So if you like it, I don't see any reason for cutting if from your diet. (I like it too )

In Ayurvedic medical science, onions and garlic plus chives, shallots, leeks (all from the Allium family) are rajasic and tamasic foods – that is foods in the modes of passion and ignorance (respectively). These two modes are avoided by yogis and renounced souls as unsuitable for offering to the Deity. Spiritual seekers eat only sattvic foods – foods in the mode of goodness.

Some Allium foods, like garlic, are beneficial for health, but all alliums are nevertheless avoided by spiritual seekers because they stimulate the central nervous system, can act as a natural aphrodisiac, and disturb meditation. Strict Buddhists also do not eat Alliums for the same reasons.

In the Tao of ancient Buddhism each of the Allium vegetables is said to have a detrimental effect on one of the five organs - liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, and heart and to contain enzymes which cause "reactions of repulsive breath, extra-foul odour from perspiration and bowel movements, and lead to lewd indulgences, enhance agitations, anxieties and aggressiveness…"

Mahayana Buddha forbade his disciples to take the five pungent roots (garlic, three kinds of onions, leeks) because they cause irritability when raw and, again, act as an aphrodisiac when cooked. And the breath from eating them drives away the good spirits who come to protect the yogi or devotee when reading sacred texts.

Of course there is no right or wrong; it's about what I know is good for me and for where I am on my journey. We need to consult an Ayurvedic or natural health practitioner before making any radical changes to our eating practices, because our lifestyle dictates our nutritional requirements.

Cool post Shanti - I'm lovin' it!