A life in balance: Sattvic food and the art of living foundation

Abstract

Many modern forms of yoga can be located in the holistic milieu. Discourses of health and wellbeing for mind, body and soul are central in the holistic milieu. Ideas about food and diet are frequently significant aspects of this therapeutic discourse. This paper focuses on ideas about food and diet in the Art of Living Foundation (AOL), a modern transnational yoga movement. AOL legitimises its beliefs about food through an appeal to concepts found in traditional texts on yoga and ayurveda. �� In particular, the concept of sattva, which can be translated as balance or harmony���both significant tropes in the holistic milieu���is central to discourses about food choices in AOL and other writers in the holistic milieu