Less Is More...REALLY!

The saying "Less is more" means that when something is understated or done in a low-key manner it is much more effective. Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, furniture designer and architect, is often associated with the phrase and a proponent of simplicity and clarity leading to good design. Let's first get out of the way when less is definitely NOT more....like love, kindness and gratitude.
Seven years ago I was just about half way into a month long yoga teacher training. Breakfast, lunch and dinner consisted of a wonderful buffet line of healthy food options. I was practicing yoga about 5 hours a day and participating in experiential workshops the rest of the day. So why was I feeling bloated and most certainly not healthy? Not to mention, my physical body was saying "stop working me so hard"! I made an appointment with a wonderful body healer and his words to me were "Stop eating so much". What? Don't I have to eat three meals a day? "Try this", he said, "Instead of a tray, two plates, and fork, knife and spoon, just take a small bowl and one utensil". So I believe I put people in front of me that I'm meant to learn from and I took his advice. And yes, you guessed it, it worked. I felt 100% better in no time. My first experience with "less is more". The less I ate, the more my body could use its energy to help me get through this very long month of yoga and learning. I not only ate less, I ate slower, allowing my body to digest, assimilate and eliminate to its optimum efficiency.
I'll explain why this works. Eating less allows your body to spend less energy digesting food and more energy healing. It's what your body wants to do...HEAL ITSELF! Taking this one step further, digesting cooked food demands much more energy than the digestion of raw food. Raw foods contain enzymes which aid in digestion, giving the body's own enzymes a better chance to regulate the body's metabolic processes. Cooked foods deplete these enzymes, making digestion more difficult, which could lead to toxic build up in the body, obesity and chronic disease. Raw food is not only good for physical body healing, but also for emotional body healing. Having that extra energy gave me time and clarity to hear my own voice. It wasn't always a kind voice, that voice inside my head. But at least now I could hear it and do something about it.
I'm a very bland raw foodist. Simple and less is what's best and what works for me. I do eat some cooked food, but I don't need or want as much as I used to. And when I start to feel bad, physically or emotionally, the first thing I look at is what I'm eating.
Another lesson I learned at my month long training was the one of silence. An extreme example in "less is more." At anytime you could choose to spend the day in silence. There's not enough space here to explain to you what happens when you do not speak.
I use "less is more" often during the course of my day. I ask you to try it too the next time you are having a "discussion" with a loved one or with yourself.
Donna Bergonzi-Boyle