Dining Mindfully

This dining meditation is intended to pace the practitioner through their mindful dining experience. Education and background on mindful eating is not neccessary, but it would most definitely add to the experience.

Transcript

Welcome to your dining meditation. At this time I invite you to get comfortable and grounded. Finding a gentle leveled posture in your seat with both feet planted on the floor. With your hands relaxed in your lap take a few grounding breaths. Inhaling through the nose and out through the mouth. Another slow sip of air in through the nose. Raising those shoulders to your ears and releasing as you exhale. One more breath in and sighing it out. Really feeling the bottom of that breath. Bring your awareness to your forehead for a brief body scan. Priming your awareness to be in tune with your senses. Feeling your forehead noticing if there's any tension in this space. Allowing it to feel heavy as you relax your brow. Moving your awareness down to your jaw. Creating space here by resting your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Relaxing your shoulders and your hands. Unknotting your torso allowing it to expand fully as you breathe. Settling into your hips and releasing that nearly undetectable tension in your thighs, Calves and feet. Resting here in gratitude for this beautiful meal in front of you. Giving thanks for the nourishment that you're about to take in. Direct your mind to observe the food. Notice the individual ingredients. Perhaps acknowledging the journey that each ingredient took to be on your plate today. The growth and the production of the food. The harvesting. The amount of human community involvement it took to receive all the parts that make up this dish. With your utensil gather a moderate portion. Before enjoying this first bite observe the portion closer. Notice the detail. Notice any fragrance reaching your sense of smell. Notice if the aroma peaks your desire to consume. Taking that first bite. Noticing the urge to swallow after a few chews. Mindfully resisting that urge. Continuing to chew thoroughly. Taking your time to recognize the flavors throughout. And when you feel ready inviting that first portion to make its way to fill you up. Allowing a pause before the next bite to notice if there's any sensations arising in the body. If tension is detected take in a nice slow sip of air in through the nose and out through the mouth. Relaxing the body. Releasing the tension before enjoying the next bite. With this next portion search for new flavors. Feel your body respond happily with relaxation as you recognize the flavors you enjoy. Notice the increased ease of slowing down with this portion. Mindfully chewing. Pausing briefly to tune in and relax tension before moving on to the next bite. Feel your intention of slowing down as you eat become easier. Allowing any sensation of peaceful being sweep through your experience. As you continue to enjoy the rest of your meal use these brief moments between bites to tune in tune your attention to your body. As you do you will notice your body communicate that it's becoming full. The impulse to overfill will be undetected and the body will alert you that it's received all it needs by feeling light comfortable and satisfied. Remembering to give thanks to your meal and to your body when you are finished. Enjoy.