For this practice you will need just a handful of raisins and if you don't have raisins or can't eat raisins for whatever reason you can use a handful of nuts or chocolate just something small any item of food really that you can hold and place in your hand will work so if you need to go get that just pause the recording for now and Go grab that and then come back.
Eating is something that we do every day and it's often one of those activities that we rarely pay much attention to.
Something that we often pair with another routine of the day or activity.
Watching TV,
Driving.
Talking.
Working.
And so we rarely experience the act of eating fully with all of our senses.
And so this practice is meant to give you that experience of what it's like to eat.
A small piece of food.
With all your senses.
And it may help to imagine that you are an alien,
An extraterrestrial being from another planet,
And you've come down to Earth,
And you've come across this piece of food,
This raisin,
And this is the first time that you've experienced this object.
And so bringing this mindset to this object We'll explore the raisin.
From this perspective.
And if we're thinking about this from a mindfulness-based perspective,
We're bringing these attitudes of a beginner's mind,
Of curiosity,
Willingness to see something for the first time,
Even if it's something that we've seen 1000 times.
Settle in now.
Take a few breaths.
We're not trying to change anything.
Just arriving here in this moment.
And so perhaps sensing our feet on the ground or our seat on our cushion.
Maybe feeling our back against our chair.
Noticing the rise and the fall.
Of the chest or the belly.
Wherever you feel the breath in your body,
Maybe at the nostril.
Starting with our sense of sight.
Letting our vision land on this raisin.
And I'll describe.
This experience from the perspective of using a raisin,
But you can insert a description if you're using nuts or chocolate or whatever it is.
Just allowing your vision to alight on this raisin,
Noticing perhaps how the light falls on the raisin.
The shading.
The ridges.
The shape.
The color.
If you have more than one perhaps noticing the differences in the sizes of each one,
The variety.
The lack of uniformity.
Can you see ridges?
Can you see?
Specks of white.
Crystallized sugar.
Or their flecks of gold.
Perhaps your raisin is golden.
Not all raisins are black.
We'll transition now to the sense of touch.
Bringing the raisin between your fingers.
You can decide if you want to actually pick it up.
Or if you simply want to.
Bring your fingers to it,
Rolling it,
Touching it.
If you have it between your fingers,
Perhaps squeezing it,
Noticing its softness.
Or its toughness,
Its give.
Resistance.
Is it sticky?
Doesn't leave a residue.
Maybe you roll it around in the palm of your hand.
And now moving on to the sense of smell.
Just bringing the raisin up to your nose.
Noticing if there's any smell at all.
Floral,
Sweet.
Faint,
Strong.
You may notice from time to time.
Judgment or thought about whether this is interesting or silly or boring.
Reminding oneself of that.
Attitude of willingness.
Curiosity.
A beginner's mind.
Whenever those thoughts come up.
And then moving on to that sense of sound.
Does this raisin make any sound?
I'm holding it up to our ear.
Rolling it around,
See if there's any sound emanating from this raisin.
We may also notice if anything is happening internally for us as we go through this exercise.
Are we salivating?
Is our stomach rumbling or growling?
Are we anticipating,
Tasting it as we go through this exercise?
Moving on to the sense of taste.
So taking your time now,
Placing the raisin in the mouth.
And before we simply chew the raisin and swallow.
We place the raisin in the mouth allowing that sense of touch again on the tongue,
On the teeth,
The top of the mouth.
Noticing the taste on the tongue.
And now deciding when we want to break the skin of the raisin with our teeth.
Doing so consciously aware.
Consciously chewing.
Consciously swallowing.
Paying attention to the change in the taste.
As the raisin moves to the back of the mouth.
As it moves down the throat,
Does it leave an aftertaste?
And noticing any merges afterwards to move on to the next raisin or the next nut.
Just noticing our tendency to move on from our experience.
Once you've completed this exercise of eating the raisin.
Reflecting on what it was like to bring all your senses to this simple act.
Of eating.
Perhaps setting an intention to practice this mindfulness.
With your next meal or your next snack.
If not for the full meal,
Maybe for the first few bites.
Let's see what this does with your experience,
Your sense of satisfaction.
Your sense of presence.
It's something that we do.
Every day.
Take a moment to come out of this practice.
If you have more raisins,
Nuts,
Chocolates in front of you,
You can decide if you want to continue this practice with your remaining food.
Or end here.
Take care.
