Eating Peace: Meal Meditation

Eating Peace seems impossible for many of us who have suffered from compulsive thinking, compulsive getting and doing, compulsive imagining we have to know what's right and what's wrong when it comes to eating, our bodies, and the food. Prepare your meal, then press play. Enjoy a meal of eating peace. Listen, and eat. Take in life.

Transcript

Welcome to eating peace.

This moment of peaceful relationship to food and eating begins now.

Imagine that you have arrived at your destination if you think you have one when it comes to food,

Body,

Weight,

And how you are in relationship to eating.

You've arrived.

Your goal has been achieved.

You have completed every part of this educational course.

You have understood the eating peace process for whatever that means to you.

And you have really felt a sense of peaceful improvement.

Right now,

That's happening.

You have enough happiness.

You have enough peace.

Your body is comfortable.

You're not interested in overeating or binging.

You don't have to do things that you don't want to do.

You don't have to go through torturous exercise routines.

You enjoy yourself with activities that bring you pleasure.

There is delicious food everywhere for your taking and you leave it when you don't need it.

The moments for eating come and go.

We are about to share a moment when it's time to eat.

You totally enjoy yourself whether it's time to eat,

In the middle of the meal,

In the middle of the meal,

At the end of the meal,

Or in between eating sessions.

You enjoy your body in this moment.

You love your body when you're getting dressed,

When you got dressed today,

And when you get undressed,

When you glimpse at yourself in the mirror.

You want to smile.

So sense yourself there and don't worry if you think this hasn't been your experience.

Just take a picture of it.

Use your imagination as if you have arrived.

You are the lead in this movie and you are in the place where you made it.

Take in everything you can about your situation here.

Notice how you feel,

The expression on your face,

The sense of being in this moment in the presence of your meal,

Food that is sitting before you.

Just notice no mistakes have been made up to this point so far.

Here you are,

The star of the show,

The one who's simply sitting in eating peace,

Having a life you want with food and eating and your body.

All that's required is a sense of openness to eating.

So for the very,

Very first part of this meal,

Which is a self-care event,

A self-care event has come along again as a part of your day,

As a part of your life,

To pause and care.

And as a first course,

Either lean over or pick up your plate or bowl and draw in a big beautiful breath smelling all the parts of your meal that are in this bowl.

Move around on the plate that you're holding.

If you even have food right in the palm of your hand like an apple or something you don't need a plate with,

Just smell it.

Take in that scent of this beautiful offering.

That's part of the world,

Part of your reality.

Notice the texture or the sensation or the temperature of this food and set your plate down in front of you again.

Now take a very deep breath,

Taking in breath first as a part of this self-care event,

A meal.

And now,

As you're eating,

You're going to notice a little bit of a change in the taste of the food.

And as a first course,

Take a deep breath,

Take a deep breath,

Take a deep breath,

Take a deep breath,

Take a deep breath.

Just notice the sensations in your body and the beautiful food that you're in the presence of.

And now notice where you are on the scale of zero to ten.

If zero was totally and completely empty,

Extremely hungry,

Maybe almost beyond those sensations that you have normally in the stomach or it's growling and grinding,

Maybe you've even moved past that kind of sensation.

That would be a zero.

And a ten would be absolutely uncomfortably stuffed.

As much food as can possibly fit into your body at once.

Very uncomfortable.

We're bringing that scale down to a sensation somewhere between a three and a seven,

Finding the balanced zones.

But just notice what number you're at right now before you even begin eating as you've smelled this beautiful food and notice the temperature and the sensation.

Just let yourself know what the number is.

Maybe you're very hungry and you're always down to a two or a one and a half.

Maybe you're at a three,

Which would be very caring for yourself.

And there are no mistakes.

So if you're someplace different,

Don't worry.

All is well.

Simply noticing the sensation that you have in the middle of your body where this number lies.

In the middle of your body where this number lies.

And now pick up your fork or your spoon if you're using a utensil,

Chopsticks,

And take a bite.

As your tongue and your mouth meet this food,

What do you notice?

Be very present to this flavor and this taste.

You are taking something from the outside of your body and joining with it.

You are putting it in your mouth.

You are taking it from the world and bringing it to become one with your own body.

This strange thing called eating.

You're chewing it up and grinding it.

If that's required,

Just notice how much chewing is needed.

Let it be slow.

There's no emergency.

You will have enough.

You will not stop until you're satisfied.

You can trust yourself.

As you swallow your food,

Notice the sensation that still lingers in your mouth.

What does it feel like on your tongue?

What does it feel like on your teeth and your gums?

Notice what the sensation has been like as you have chewed and swallowed.

This thing called swallowing has happened and moved food from your mouth down some kind of inner tube amongst heat and warmth and aliveness and everything that's needed or created to make it so that this food,

Through a motion that you have no real power over except for swallowing,

But it's running itself,

Has brought the food into your body,

Into your stomach.

Just feel what that's like now even as you're done swallowing.

At any time during this self-care event,

Please feel free to take a sip of water wherever you're drinking that's accompanying you during this event.

And now when you're ready,

Take your second bite.

Again,

Notice the texture,

The temperature.

Where does the food need to go in your mouth in order to be chewed up small enough so that it begins to be able to descend into your body and join with your body?

You're becoming one with apparently whatever is outside of you.

This body is becoming one with it,

Gaining energy,

Receiving,

Taking joyfully.

So now when you're ready,

A third bite.

Allow it to be slow.

You can smell it again if that's appealing.

You're just letting it be slow.

There's no rush and there's no rules.

Just relax,

Relax your body.

This bite as you chew,

Notice your shoulders and your neck and your arms.

Let them relax if they're tense in any way.

Let your back and where you're seated,

Your legs,

Your hips relax.

As you chew and bring in this energy that you've chosen out of all the infinite possibilities to choose,

Let your feet relax in whatever position they're in.

If you like,

You can close your eyes for a moment.

And if you like,

You can keep them closed or you can open your eyes and notice the room,

Notice the space,

Notice the air in the room,

Parts of the room that have nothing in it.

You're taking in air,

Things you can't see.

Now check back in with the middle of your body and your torso.

In that center area,

You can see where you are in the scale of zero to ten.

If zero is extremely empty and ten is stuffed full.

Notice what that feels like.

And now take another bite.

Maybe there's sound in your environment of life living itself around you.

Maybe it's very,

Very quiet.

You can just hear the tones that are part of this recording.

Maybe it's very still where you are.

You could be sharing a meal with others.

Or all by yourself.

But only you can feel the sensation inside this body.

That's your job.

And when you're ready,

Take another bite.

You may be eating the same item that you've been eating so far.

And you also might notice that something moved you to another different kind of food on your plate or in a different bowl or something else nearby.

Allow yourself to enjoy the variety or the simplicity if there's just one thing that you're eating.

Notice what this bite is like.

Is there anything different from the first bite?

From the first bite?

And relax.

And notice where you are on the scale of zero to ten.

Just being very aware,

Bringing all your attention to the center of your body.

Something about the middle energy of this body.

Recognizing food is being taken in.

Feeling the sensation of food joining with your body on the inside.

You can't see it.

You can't smell it anymore.

It's all based on feeling,

Sensation.

Notice where you are in that scale now.

Zero being completely empty and ten being stuffed full.

Notice if you have any worries or any concerns about the pace of eating.

Notice if you fear not getting enough or having too many leftovers or what others may have on their plates.

Just simply notice.

No judgment.

No good or bad about it.

And when you're ready,

Take another bite.

And relax as you're tasting this part of the food,

Of the meal,

Of this self-care event.

Relax your body,

Allowing everything to be as it is.

Eating peace.

Taking peace right into yourself,

Noticing it's already here.

The eating is natural and peaceful.

A time to join with reality,

The world,

The universe,

Sharing.

Taking in,

Receiving.

And now you can pause the recording and just see what it's like for you to maintain a sense of slowness and relaxation.

And after every bite,

Noticing where you are on the scale of zero to ten.

If zero is extremely empty and ten is stuffed full,

How much closer have you come to somewhere in the middle?

Knowing we want to stop at a seven,

Maybe even a little bit under a seven.

It all depends on what feels right for you.

Satisfied seven.

So you can pause the recording and look around the room.

And close your eyes and relax.

It's okay if your mind has pictures and images and it drifts around the place.

Just still noticing here you are here,

Eating peace in this self-care event.

And then when you arrive at a seven,

Unpause the recording and we'll continue.

So now you've arrived at the end of this particular self-care event.

What kind,

Beautiful,

Sweet experience.

Noticing all the sensations and the different kinds of tastes,

Smells,

Contacts you've had with food.

Maybe it's very simple.

Maybe you've tried several different things.

Noticing what pleases you and maybe something surprised you.

It doesn't please you as much as you thought.

Noticing what it's like to eat with no rules that something is bad or wrong.

We're just simply aware of what we're taking in.

Seeing what it feels like as we live our day and we can easily notice maybe there's some things we no longer wish to eat.

They either don't taste very good in the moment or they don't feel good as the body moves that food into itself.

And it becomes a part of the body.

Make a note of it.

It is obviously not required.

That food is not necessary and any food can be eliminated at any time for the pleasure of it.

And any food can be added for the curiosity and pleasure of that.

So notice how much food you have left on your plate.

And just see if you have any stressful thoughts about this self-care event.

You can write them down right now.

You can go get your notebook and a pencil and just watch what comes to mind about this meal.

Simply noticing.

We're just taking in data.

We're seeing what it feels like.

And then we're moving to the next thing.

This self-care event is over for now.

Now that we're satisfied.

And the body will be using this fuel and this energy and it will appear again.

Nothing sad or wrong or disappointing with the meal being over.

It's just a pause in the process of life.

And hunger will occur to us again.

Maybe even in only a few hours.

And we're going to pause again for another event down the road.

So you can package up some of that food.

If it's the kind of food that can go into a storage container and be put in your refrigerator.

You can choose to compost it or throw away parts.

Again,

Nothing wrong.

There's nothing you should do.

There's nothing you shouldn't do in order to be right or wrong.

You're getting to experiment and letting go of all rules.

So as you clean up your meal,

Breathe deeply.

Relax your body.

Save the food or move it on to the next container.

Maybe look like your garbage can and like wherever it goes next.

Feeding worms,

Turning into the dirt.

Who knows?

Any place is okay with whatever happens.

Gratitude for this beautiful self-care event and for this food.

For all the people who were responsible or involved for helping it come to my table.

And I look forward to the next self-care event and have lots of life to live in between.

Blessings.

Reviews

Not until I had a meal with Grace I understood that I’m 237 lbs while I always anticipate a shortage of food. A disruption to the supply of food. The ability to digest in peace.
I’m just trying to see if I could eat at least one meal a day with this guidance and see if my weight can change just from that.
I added some Tibetan Bell background, deep resonance - very beautiful. Thank you very much! (A former Zen monk who ate oryoki for every meal, and still lost weight then - not sure how)

Awesome I like that a lot made me take my time and I went from a three to a seven and was completely satisfied

Thank you! I am learning that chewing my food thoroughly,
makes eating much more enjoyable. 😊

I would like to have a shorter quicker version, do you have one?.