I'd like to tell you about the first time I was silent for 10 days, but first an analogy.

Let's say you’re sitting at a stoplight and the guy in the next lane has a '65 Mustang. You're in a Toyota Camry.

The Camry is about as loud as my external PC hard drive while that old Ford is revved up and rattling out explosive, metal belches.

Now forget the car and think about two people standing at that same stoplight: Michael Moore and Lance Armstrong.

Lance's internal engine is screaming. Michael's eyes are half open.

This is metabolism: how fast your body is moving energy, processing food, regenerating. To some extent, it's genetic, but you can also control it.

Here's how: eat smaller meals, more often, your metabolism spikes instantly. Skip breakfast, eat a granola bar for lunch and then spend two hours at the buffet at 8 p.m. after work and your metabolism drops down so low a stick of gum will cause you to gain weight.

But that's not the WHOLE story. High metabolism is NOT always a good thing. Let me explain...

When I was 22, I signed up for my first 10-day meditation retreat. Two weeks before start date, I canceled. Dropped out. I've never dropped out of anything in my life, but that course scared me stupid.

A year later, the sky had fallen in more ways than one, and even though I was still scared, I also knew that I needed to get my life together. Someone I loved told me something I'll never forget:

"If you can't sit still, alone in a room, you'll never get anywhere in life."

I couldn't sit still, and she was right. So I joined the course.

During these meditation courses, they feed you at 6 a.m. and at noon.  At 5 p.m. they serve apples and tea (for the newbies), but if you eat at that time, it's implied that you're not up for the challenge.

So I gave it my best.

I just ate at 6 a.m. and at noon, just veggie food. And I sat on my arse all day long and tried to be OK with myself in a cold room in New Jersey with a bunch of strangers, not knowing even one of their names.

I forgot my razor. I couldn't talk or go to the store, so I grew a beard.

Stupid me, I forgot to bring a jacket, and it was a damn cold 2 weeks in May. But I couldn't talk. So I just put on all my clothes and shivered and sat there and tried to be OK at this weird children's camp-turned-meditation center cut off from the world.

And here's where the metabolism thing comes in.

Naturally, I run hot (my internal engine). I can break a sweat playing with snow. But there, at the retreat, eating so little, so rarely, my body and mind slowed WAY down.

I remember walking in the grassy field during a break and noticing each step, one at a time (admittedly, I was a bit loopy).

Within days, my metabolism had dropped so low it was 10x easier for me to turn my focus inside. It was 10x easier for me to sit still and observe my breath.

And for the first time in years, I saw that I had the potential to sit still in an empty room and be happy with myself. On top of that, with my metabolism slow as a slug, I dropped 10 pounds in 10 days. Go figure.

So what does this mean for you? It just puts metabolism in perspective. When I'm teaching a lot, when I'm hiking or exercising heavily, I want my metabolism cranked up and stomach empty.

So I eat light meals, often.

When I want to sit still, to focus, to find my center, I eat 2 healthy meals and a fruit/veg snack, always having my last meal a minimum of 5 hours before bed and my big meal around midday.

Here's the takeaway: High metabolism doesn't necessarily mean you'll be thin OR healthy, and likewise, slow metabolism doesn't mean you'll be fat.

Need more physical energy? Eat less, more often. Need more mental focus? Eat more, less often, and try to eat nothing but water-based foods after 5 p.m.

Let me know how it goes.

Stay bendy,

Lucas

YOGABODY NATURALS

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