Savoring Food & Drink - Holiday Edition

Hey there everybody,

This is Kristen from Teaching Balance and I am here with you with this week's mindfulness meditation practice.

We are in the month of slowing down and savoring the month of the holidays and I thought that for this week our theme and our invitation that since we're talking about savoring it would make a lot of sense to talk about savoring your food.

Now I think we may have talked about this in the past but nonetheless it's a perfectly appropriate time to do this because of course not only is it winter where we tend to I think eat things that have a little bit more heft,

There's a little bit more specialness,

Oftentimes we have more treats that are very specific to this time of year and it just feels like a good opportunity.

So let me give you a little bit of context regarding mindfulness and eating and food.

So whenever if you've ever,

I know many of you have had the opportunity to go to some kind of a mindfulness workshop or even a retreat and it's pretty standard operating procedure to at some point,

Usually rather early in that experience for people to explore mindful eating.

And then the classic example is the mindful eating of one raisin and you really get into noticing all the sensory input around it like you know what is it,

You feel it in your hand,

You smell it,

You even kind of like squeeze it near your ear and see if it has a sound of course putting in your mouth and you know really before you chew or anything noticing any flavor that's noticeable and etc etc.

So you get the idea.

Typically it's raisin,

Sometimes people do it with other foods but the point is that by having someone prompt you to really slow down and really savor and experience your food in this more deeply mindful way,

It's quite astonishing how much there is to notice and discern about that experience.

Now some people find,

To go back to the raisin,

That it removes any pleasure,

You know it just sort of like dries the whole,

You know it just takes away all the pleasure of the eating.

But in most cases,

Particularly when we go beyond just a single raisin,

It tends to have a quality of enhancing the experience.

So there's that piece of mindful eating.

There are whole programs about mindful eating to really tune into your body and listen to your body's signals when it comes to,

You know,

When you can stop eating etc etc.

Now that is not,

I'm not really going down that road although that's entirely an interesting path to follow and I'm sure you could find things online regarding that if that's interesting to you.

But I'm much more interested in the idea of mindful eating and savoring to increase our pleasure and our quality of satisfaction with all the food and drink that we consume.

So it's just something I'm very very passionate about food,

I'm passionate about dining and cooking although my husband does more of the cooking than I do.

But the point being that I just think it's just such a,

Not only are you nourishing your body and taking care of yourself when you consume food and drink but also of course you're,

This is one of our most common forms of having pleasure and so really allowing yourself to notice the subtleties of whatever you consume.

Now I mean I could expand on this in so many ways.

Basically here's what I would say,

It might strike you at a moment that to go back to last week this idea of savoring the ordinary where really I tend to talk about coffee a lot but it is just about that first sip of your morning coffee or tea or whatever you have in the morning and it can be also you know when you're feeling particularly hungry that first bite of whatever you eat,

The snack or the meal or whatever.

And also even you know your more formal meals like dinner for example where you really allow yourself like we do for example in workshops and retreats one of the invitations often offered there is to put your utensil down after each bite.

So let's say you're having you know some pasta and you you know take a bite and you're chewing it and you set the fork down and you just allow yourself to focus on,

I'm getting hungry,

On the experience and the flavor and the texture and all of those things.

So just a fun thing to play with.

If nothing else you might find that some of those very special treats around the holiday season will be something you can appreciate and delight in even more than you already do.

And perhaps it might also bring an extra quality of richness to even the ordinary things that you consume from day to day.

So with that in mind is the best way to allow ourselves to be more mindful in our everyday lives like when we're eating and drinking.

Let's cultivate that mindful awareness and strengthen it by doing our practice together.

So I'm setting the timer for 10 minutes.

I know you guys know the drill.

Deeper slower longer breaths.

Eyes closed or gaze downward.

Sitting in a way that is relaxed but also upright and aware.

Much slumped over.

And allowing yourself to drop into your body even more.

It may even be helpful to think of it as settling into your body even more.

Particularly below the head since we tend to occupy that space with a little more frequency most of the time.

Feeling the perimeter of the body.

Feeling the weight where it makes contact with the seat or cushion beneath you.

Feeling the air on your skin.

It's rather cool today and in the house.

So the air that's not covered up in snuggly clothes definitely feels a little more chill than usual at least for me.

Noticing any internal sensations that might be easy to notice.

Could be muscular.

Associated with the joints or even the internal organs.

I'm not telling yourself the story about why things may feel a certain way or why they may not.

In the past you've heard me talk about observing your experience during meditation like a very objective scientist making notes on a clipboard,

Observing from moment to moment with a little bit of professional distance.

I've been talking a lot about physical sensation but if you want to rest your attention elsewhere that's of course fine too.

Continue with that settling,

That deepening of your presence and also allowing yourself just to relax,

Put down all the burdens of thinking,

Planning,

Assessing,

Adjusting,

Fixing.

We're going to set that down for a little while and instead enjoy this opportunity to just rest,

Rest in acceptance of this moment,

Objective awareness,

Non-judgmental acceptance,

And just being.

Let's sit together for a while and I'll check back in a bit.

Okay,

Bye.

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And then you just bring your attention back.

Earlier we talked about setting down the burdens of fixing,

Planning,

Assessing,

Doing.

So in the same way if it's interesting to you,

You can set down the thought too.

You can hold it,

Notice it.

And then metaphorically set it down.

You can always pick it up later.

So you can set it up later.

And then you can set it up later.

And then you can set it up later.

And then you can set it up later.

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All right.

That's our ten minutes.

So the invitation for this week.

Do a little mindful eating and drinking.

Slowing down and savoring whatever you decide to enjoy for breakfast,

Lunch,

Or dinner or anything in between.

Yeah,

That's pretty much it.

So I think this is the week before Christmas,

Right?

Happy holidays,

Whether you celebrate or not.

And warm wishes for a fantastic gathering,

Fantastic food,

If you will be gathering and eating.

And of course,

As always,

Thank you so much for taking this time for yourself and for allowing me to accompany you on this journey.

And I will see you next week.

Take care.

Bye.