Mindful Eating
Life is busy - we know we need to be more mindful. Being mindful with food is a great way to relax.
I was in my daughters school this week for a day, running sessions on mindfulness around food. It has been a great exercise for myself as well as for the kids (who were amazingly responsive to the exercise).
I opened with the Raisin Meditation, it’s short, sweet, and fulfilling. Here it is for you to have a try, you just need a raisin, or any piece of fruit will be ok.
The Raisin Meditation (it can really be any simple item of food, but a raisin is a good one!)
LOOK - simply look at the raisin in the palm of your hand, quietly thinking about its colours, shape, patterns, size.
TOUCH - feel the raisin in your fingers, what does it feel like, the ridges and the bumps.
HEAR - bring the raisin to your ear, give it a squish and squeeze, what sounds can you hear.
SMELL - bring it to your nose, what does the smell remind you of? what does it make your mouth water?
TOUCH - place the raisin on your tongue and feel the texture of it, is it different to how it felt when it was in your hand?
TASTE - take a bite, and think of the flavours, and how it changes and develops, does the flavour stay or disappear once it has been swallowed?
THINK - Think about the journey of the raisin, what was it before it was a raisin and how did it get here.
Embrace how something so small can hit all of our senses and be something quite big. How do you feel after doing this exercise?
Think about what foods you would like to try this experiment on, and maybe next time you sit to eat you could try some of the foods like this…
Enjoy and have fun with this exercise!
Cooking is also a wonderful way to be mindful, some of my most popular cooking classes have huge elements of being mindful - be it making sushi, getting creative with fresh pasta or rolling out and filling dumplings. Check out my list of classes for more information.
