The Joys of Cooking

A passion that I have just recently discovered within myself is cooking. I love it because I love the process of cooking, and I love the outcome of cooking. When I cook it is as if time doesn't matter anymore. Like Yoga, it teaches me patience. In cooking, there is also Yoga. When we cook, we shouldn't rush, just like in Hatha Yoga. If we rush, we make mistakes in cooking. The same applies to Hatha Yoga, if we rush in or out of a pose, we can hurt ourselves. Cooking is like another form of Yoga, it is calming and warming to the heart. If we think of cooking in a Yogic way, we can all learn from our actions. As a friend of mine said when she was teaching me how to make indian curry, if we add too much water to the curry it will alter the taste. We should add our ingrediants one bit at a time. Just like in Yoga. When we are practicing difficult Asanas, we should not just jump into the pose. We need to practice the starters one bit at a time until we are fully prepared for the final step. If we are not careful, we can cause ourselves injury (Not the Yoga instructer who told us to slowly come in and out of a pose carefully). When I cook it gives me time to be in the moment. I am fully in the present moment, enjoying the smells and sounds of my creations. Food always tastes better when we make it ourselves, we know what we put in it, we love the outcome because it was our effort. A few days ago my younger sister and I made two delicious peach pies. It took us about three and a half hours to finish making them, but the effort was worth it because afterwards we were able to eat it and everyone who ate it loved it. it always makes me happy to see people eating and enjoying my food. One day I made a sweet corn and onion soup. It was absolutely delicious. Everyone loved it, and seeing everyone enjoying my food brought me so much joy. Cooking is a wonderful process from the beggining of the prearation to when the bowls and plates are empty. If I can see Yoga in cooking, I think it is a sign that Yoga is in everything we do in life. I just have to search for it.