From ancient Greek: gaster = belly and sophia = wisdom.
Gastrosophy is about the feelings in our gut, in all their manifestations: the stomach growls with hunger, feelings of love go through the stomach, we make gut decisions and modern neuroscientific research is coming to recognize the connections between the brain and internal organs, which are referred to as our second brain.
We are what we eat.
L. Feuerbach
Our voice and our breathing reside in a body that not only depends on the exchange of O2 and CO2, but also on another aspect of our lives: our food.
Whether solid or liquid, fortunately we can now make a conscious choice about whether we “eat to live or live to eat”, to paraphrase Molière’s Avare.
Having lived in countries where Mediterranean cuisine is at the forefront and shared the joy of eating for over 30 years, I personally lean towards living to eat. I have come to realize that our physical and vocal well-being not only depends on material factors such as the quality and sustainability of our food and drink and the air we breathe, but also on non-material factors.
But first of all, I learned that people today drink too little, and then often the wrong things, resulting in a terrible deficit for our mucous membranes, respiratory tract, intervertebral discs, detoxification mechanisms and much more.
Things don’t get much better when it comes to food, because everything fresh and wholesome takes time and work to prepare, and these days we are so busy doing other things.
But why not turn a daily necessity into a celebration of the senses and our natural disposition towards conviviality? Leave everyday life behind, slow down, sit and celebrate the joy of healthy cooking and delicious food in a simple and positive way.
States of tension or well-being directly affect our metabolism, and stress hormones that are released during eating can bring the digestion of fat to a virtual standstill.
In eating, as in breathing, there is a de facto physical incorporation that moves from the outside in. We interact with our environment through our skin and our senses. A physical contact takes place, but this is extremely subtle in the case of our interaction with air.
Be it a special dish, an unforgettable wine, a beautifully pitched top note or the incomparable feeling in the air after a thunderstorm, the vibrant experience of happiness represents the expression of a dialogic response relationship with the world, what Rosa called an experience of constitutive resonance.
Since our body is an instrument when it comes to breathing, speaking or singing, these subjects also find their way into my training, helping to make us fitter and happier all round.
To prevent a misunderstanding here, I will emphasize that healthy nutrition and a positive lifestyle do not mean doing without, as the olive oil-based, vegetable and fish-rich Mediterranean cuisine with its delicious temptations proves.
Of course, attention will also be paid to the foods, drinks or spices that positively influence our breathing and vocal apparatus.
Based on my years of experience as an international touring opera singer, topics such as mucous membrane care (what type of inhalation exercises to perform, which lozenges and nasal sprays to use), avoiding colds, stimulating the immune system, taking nutritional supplements (the most important ones of which are vitamins and minerals), thermal opportunities (saunas or steam baths, balneotherapy, etc.), problems relating to gastric acid reflux, occlusion of the teeth and many more. All of these are suggestions and assistance that I would be happy to give you on your journey. I would like to improve your entire attitude towards life, your life balance, your lightness of being.
“Mens sana in corpore sanum”