Basics: Mindful Eating

Discover the practice of mindful eating to bring more awareness, enjoyment and gratitude to your meal. Savouring the sensual experience of our meal, we learn to be present for one of the most simple joys of life... and maybe

Transcript

Eating Meditation So to begin just take a moment to look at your meal.

Notice the different colours,

The textures,

Perhaps the way the light and shadows land on the food that you're looking at.

Perhaps we can smell some of the aromas of our food.

We might notice our mouth begin to water.

We can think about where our food has come from.

Recognising all the different ingredients in our meal,

Where they've come from.

All the different hands that have brought the food to our plate.

From the farmers that grew the food,

The drivers who've transported it,

The different people who've sold the ingredients and the food to us.

Perhaps to think about the person who prepared this meal,

Maybe it was us.

Recognising that all those people have contributed to our wellbeing in some way even if they didn't intend to.

In addition the sun,

The rain,

The earth,

Helped this food grow.

The whole world is supporting us in this one small meal.

To practise mindful eating we can slowly take a first bite and really take time to savour the different flavours of the food.

Notice the texture in our mouth.

Perhaps take slightly longer to really chew the food.

To enjoy each flavour,

Each moment.

Allowing ourselves to savour this simple pleasure of life.

Eating.

Something we so often rush through.

Skip over.

We're often distracted or talking.

But we have the time now to really be fully present for our meal.

To eat it with mindfulness and gratitude.

So I'll read a short contemplation before you begin your meal.

And I'd really recommend that you take at least 5 or 10 minutes of this meal to eat quietly,

Perhaps undistractedly.

Taking this time to be present for yourself and this precious gift.

This food is a gift of the earth,

The sky,

Numerous living beings and much hard and loving work.

May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude.

May we recognise and transform unskilful habits and learn to eat in a way that contributes to our health.

May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings,

Stops contributing to climate change and heals and preserves our precious planet.

We accept this food so that we may nurture our community and nourish our ideal of serving all living beings.

So may you enjoy your meal.

Thank you.

Reviews

A lot of really good reminders and values packed into a short meditation in preparation for a mindful eating experience. Thank you so much for this.

So lovely, thank you 🙏🏽

SO much gratitude and love your way.
I’ve spent so long trying to find a pre-meal meditation talk that articulated what I felt I should hear in order to begin to cultivate and practice a sense of continuous connection, awareness, and deep gratitude for food. In just four minutes, you spoke a volume. Not a word was wasted, thank you. Well done. I’ll be listening before every dinner meal- and I know I’ll slowly start to carry it with me in heart throughout all of my interactions with food and meals. As you so beautifully put it, it’s as if the whole world has given us the gift of this nourishment. ♥️
May you be well!

Beautiful practice. I especially resonated with the contemplation blessing at the end. Many thanks. Namaste. 🌻💖🕊