EXPLORE MINDFUL EATING
EXPERIENCE IMPROVED DIGESTION
So often we eat mindlessly. We stuff food into our mouths while working on the computer, watching TV, or when we’re on the run. The true pleasure of eating and better digestion lies in slowing down and fully experiencing all of the elements of food.
Take some time to explore each of the following during your next meal and notice the difference. The main thing is to have fun, learn something, and understand yourself better! As always, it’s a practice! 🙂
SIGHT
Look at your food carefully without naming it. Can you see the water, the rain, and the sunlight within it that helped create the food? Appreciate what it took to get the food to where it is in this moment.
SMELL
Bring the food up to your nose. Without naming the scent, experience smelling the food.
PHYSIOLOGICAL REACTION
Now focus on what is going on in your mouth. Begin to notice that saliva is produced, even though you haven’t yet put the food in your mouth. Notice the mind/body phenomenon and how the senses respond to the anticipation of food being eaten. This is the response that lets your digestive system know that it’s about to get to work!
TOUCH
Now explore how the food feels. Without naming the sensation, just experience touching your food.
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MOTION AND MOVEMENT How is it that your hand knows how to move the food directly to the lips? As you bring the food up to your mouth, notice what happens next. The mouth receives the food. Nothing goes into the mouth without it being received. And who or what is doing the receiving? The tongue. Observe what the tongue does with it. How does it get the food between the teeth? It’s amazing that the tongue is so skilled, and that such a remarkable muscle can actually receive food and then know what to do with it every time.
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TASTE After becoming aware of the food in your mouth, start biting into it very slowly. Then begin to chew. Notice that the tongue decides which side of the mouth it’s going to chew on. Give all your attention to your mouth and take a few bites. Then stop to experience what’s happening. What is happening is invariably an explosion of taste. Express what’s going on. Be really specific. What is the experience? Is it sweet or sour or juicy? There are hundreds of words to describe the experience of tasting.
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TEXTURE As you continue to chew the tastes change, as does the consistency. At a certain point you will become aware of the texture of the food because the taste has mostly passed. If the texture causes aversion, you may want to swallow it, but try to keep it in your mouth.
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SWALLOW Don’t swallow it yet. Stay with the impatience and the inborn impulse to swallow. Do not swallow until you detect the impulse to do so. And then observe what is involved in getting the food over to the place where it’s going to be swallowed. When you detect the impulse to swallow, follow it down into the stomach, feel your whole body, and acknowledge that your body is now exactly one bite heavier. |
BREATH Next, pause for a moment or two, and see if you can taste your breath in a similar way. Bring the same quality of attention to the breath that you gave to seeing, feeling, smelling, and tasting the food. |
SILENCE Be silent. By this point, you understand something of what meditation is. It is doing what we do all the time, except we’re doing it with attention – directed, moment-to-moment, nonjudgmental attention. |
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