Food

In Deuteronomy 14, we're invited to pay attention to what nourishes us—not only what we eat, but how we eat. This meditation follows the journey of a meal from earth, rain, sunlight, fields, orchards, rivers, and hands, through harvest, transport, preparation, and finally to your table. As you reflect on the web of life behind each bite, you'll consider the choices that shape your food and the gratitude that can transform an ordinary meal into a sacred act. Then you'll turn inward, noticing how food becomes energy, strength, healing, and possibility within your own body. Whether you're eating breakfast or reflecting after dinner, this practice cultivates awareness, gratitude, and a deeper relationship with the nourishment that sustains your life.

Transcript

Let's begin with the bell. Beginning by settling down. Just taking some time to relax. Meditation isn't obscure or esoteric. Or weird. Or maybe it's weird, But it doesn't need to be complicated. It can just be enjoying quiet, Enjoying being with yourself. Getting still. Connecting with what brings you joy. Giving back to yourself for a brief amount of time. Recharging. You could spend this whole time daydreaming and it would still serve you. You could spend this whole time anxiously ruminating. I don't know if that would be as good. But you could. There's really no pressure to do anything in a meditation. It's just to give yourself time and space. So start by removing expectations of proper meditation or what you're going to get out of this. Just let it be what it is today, Right now. And it will serve you however you do it. Close your eyes when you're ready. Sit down heavy, Just collapse into your chair or couch or bed. Really give up. Quit on the world for a few minutes. Let things be things and demands be demands and right now it's just you and time. Little Sabbath. Arrested. Maybe you start by going into heaviness, Feeling gravity on the mass of your body. The volume of it. The space in which you dwell, And everything else is just a nest. This is you. Your body. Your primary home. Taking some time to enjoy it and be grateful for what it can do for you. Strong and capable. Sometimes weary or sick or achy, That's good too. All part of the system. All a piece of getting to exist. And when your mind wanders, Because minds wander, That's the nature of brain while it is alive. Notice my voice as a cue to return or listen to the world around and inside you. Or breathe deeply and exhale slowly. All good cues to return to this moment, And then this moment. And then you get distracted and you come back. And that's sort of the game you're playing. Meditation can be playful. And can certainly be fun. Just inhaling deeply, Using that breath to expand your chest and direct air and oxygen into sore places. Exhaling slowly as a way to slow yourself and mind down. And to enjoy each moment of the experience. This is nice. And this moment is nice. And this is precious. This meditation will invite us to think about the things we eat, And maybe more broadly, The things we consume. In our relationship to the broader world through our mouths and the other ways we consume. Breathing into the idea first. Becoming open to this meditation. On eating and consuming. Take deep breaths in, Slow breaths out. Maybe you exhale with a yawn or the word cella. The ancient biblical breathing word. Sela. . . It's so nice to be with yourself. Out there in the distant world, Maybe as close as some chickens in your yard, Maybe as far as a farm states away. Or a field of berries in Kenya. There are produce, The gifts of the earth, Its growth and its animals that you will one day consume. They're growing. Being fed by sun and other parts of the food chain. Hopefully healthy. And as happy as they can be. Growing and becoming a resource for your body. Perhaps with the distances involved, You cannot see or hear the things you will eat and consume right now. Just acknowledge that they are there. And feel gratitude that there is enough, That you will be fed, That you will have enough. That we can be sated by the world as it is. With its grasses and fields and farms and produce and animals. There will be for us. There will be enough for you. Breathing in deeply, Out slowly a few more times. Stretching as you need to. Yawning or exhaling with the word. Sela. . . All good. You get distracted, You come back, Use my voice, Use your ears and listen to the world around you or the sounds and motions inside you. Breath can be a nice cue to remind you to return. Slowly. . . Let's explore the experience of eating. Preparing the food that we've purchased or grown. Setting the food out. Taking plates of food or eating by hand in a communal meal. Gathering together with loved ones or sitting quietly by self. Seeing the food and the meal, Smelling it. Taking time to praise it literally or figuratively. Feeling grateful. That you have a meal and a place to eat it. Even if that place is just standing at your desk. You have what you need. And take it in. You taste it, You chew it, You do the work. And you also appreciate it. So good. So nurturing what you eat and drink, What you consume. It gives you what you need. Yummy. Or sometimes bland. That's okay too. Imagine the taste, Or maybe you're doing this meditation while eating. So savor. Savor the whole experience of eating. Take time to enjoy. To bless and be present or mindful. Food and drink came from somewhere, Near or far. Work was done. Sacrifices were made to give you this. Acknowledge all that went into it. As you look and smell and cut and chew and swallow. The grand process. Of food coming forth from the earth. Take some deep breaths as you experience that. In deeply, Out slowly. Explore the body and its experience of food and consumption. From smell to taste to chewing to swallowing. Through your digestive tract. It goes down and is processed to be absorbed and extracted. Maybe if you have a sense of the anatomy, You can even trace it. From throat to belly and around and around all the tubes. Maybe you can feel it digesting even now, A little rumble or tightening or changing in your stomach. Yum yum. Food that gives you energy and nutrition. Opacity. To build or heal muscle, To maintain your organs, To have clear thought. Energy to move, To act, To work, To love. Starting from the earth, Through the plate, To the mouth, And now inside you processed and delivered. Feel that richness all the way to your toes. Strength and vigor. That are coming to you. What you eat. Maybe you feel your stomach rumbling. You notice the actual physicality of it all. Maybe not. It's just a mind's eye image. They get in with gratitude and respect. And one day, Hopefully in the distant future, You will return to the Earth. And your nutrition will return. And you will feed future generations. Your gift. To give back for. An existence. Where you were fed. Breathe into the whole cycle and process. Amazing. Awesome. Keep breathing.