Pre Meal Warmup

This is a Pre Meal Warmup used to prepare to take a mindful meal. The meditation was originally created by Dr. Judson Brewer in his Eat Right Now program. It has been modified slightly here for use in MBSR courses. Bon appetit!

Transcript

Welcome to the pre-meal warm-up.

To begin,

Go ahead and get set up.

Bring all your food to the table and turn off any distractions you may have such as your television,

Your phone,

Or your computer.

You can pause the audio until you're ready.

If it feels right for you,

I invite you to begin with three slow,

Deep breaths,

Bringing your awareness to the physical sensations of breathing in the body.

Breathing in.

.

.

And a long,

Slow exhale.

.

.

And in.

.

.

And a long,

Slow exhale.

.

.

And last one in.

.

.

And a long,

Slow exhale.

.

.

Next,

If it feels right for you,

I invite you to check in with your body.

What does your body feel like right now?

In particular,

I invite you to ask how hungry am I right now?

On a scale of 0 to 10,

With 0 being not at all hungry and 10 being very,

Very hungry,

How hungry are you right now?

Next,

I invite you to bring your awareness to your food.

You might begin by looking at your food.

What does it look like?

Notice texture and color,

Light and shadow.

Now perhaps smell your food.

What aromas are present?

And do you notice any reactions your body has as you see and smell your food?

Perhaps increased salivating or an energetic leaning towards the food?

An increase in your sensation of hunger?

Anything at all.

And now,

When you're ready,

Go ahead and pick up your fork or spoon and prepare to take your first mindful bite.

Noticing what the food looks like,

What it smells like,

And what it tastes like as you place it in your mouth and begin to chew.

You may want to place your fork down in between bites and allow yourself to really pay close attention to the taste and feeling of food in your mouth.

And if it feels right for you,

You might remember these guidelines as you continue your meal,

Bringing awareness to the process of eating.

The sights,

Smells,

Flavors,

Textures,

And placing your fork down between each mouthful.

And after each few bites,

You might check in with your body again and ask,

How hungry am I right now?

Rating it on a scale from 0 to 10,

With 0 being not at all hungry and 10 being very hungry.

These simple guidelines can help you enjoy your meal and help you to make wise decisions about the process of eating.

Reviews

Thank you! A beautiful, simple and effective practice 🙏💛

Really helped me to slow my eating down and savour the food. I also connected more with feeling full. I find it very hard not to clear my plate!

I like this awareness of flavour, texture, and smell. Taste surprised me, because without thinking about the aspects of it I usually don't enjoy my first meal of the day and have to force myself to eat it, but I wonder if those senses needed to be awakened first. I hope this can make it easier in the long term!

Beautiful reminder, Thank you 🙏🏻💖✨😊

Love this. Thank you. Very important for all of us to do. Namaste 🙏