To start eating awareness meditation,
You might want to find yourself a raisin or a box of raisins.
I happen to have a box of raisins here and so my meditation can start with simply feeling the box,
Perhaps shaking the box of raisins.
The sound of raisins is not something we usually pay attention to,
So that can be the very beginning of your meditation.
Taking a moment to figure out how you're going to get the raisin out of the box or whatever container your raisins are in.
And as you look into the container,
Figure out which raisin you're going to take.
Noting what's going on as you make your decision around raisin eating.
Is part of mindfulness.
Once you know why you're choosing the raisin you're choosing,
Maybe it's bigger,
Maybe it's smaller,
Pull it out.
Perhaps put the entire package away and tune into this one raisin in front of you.
Starting by sight awareness.
What is it that you see when you look at this raisin in your hand?
There might be matte areas,
There might be shiny areas,
You can rotate the raisin around.
And at this point it might be helpful to release the idea of raisin.
You know raisin is the noun,
Raisin is what it's called.
Is there a way to engage with this object as if you were pre-verbal?
As if you had never seen it before?
And really see it in a new way without language,
Without a word that describes it.
And once you've experienced the sight version of doing that,
Perhaps bringing the raisin to your ear and squeezing it.
Is there a little sound?
Maybe,
Maybe not.
And then bringing it to the nose.
A sniff or two.
What is the smell of this object,
Whether you're calling it raisin or not?
Are there any memory associations?
And then popping the object in your mouth,
But not chewing and not swallowing.
Simply exploring with your tongue.
When you were doing sight awareness you saw the peaks and the valleys in the raisin object.
And now using your tongue or the inside of your mouth,
Exploring this object.
What can you do to be directly aware,
To be intimate and friendly with this object,
Using it as the focus of your mindful awareness?
And then maybe one slow bite and another.
And seeing how that changes the object in your mouth.
And as you continue with the chewing of the raisin,
Noticing changes in taste,
Changes in texture.
Noticing if the mouth automatically moves the raisin from one side to the other.
And then mindfully working towards swallowing this object.
And seeing if you can have a sense of awareness that you are one raisin heavier.
Taking a moment to simply feel,
Taste any after effects of the eating.
And then choosing whether you'd like to eat mindfully and continue the practice on your own,
Or if you are finished with your mindful eating for now.
