Hi,
This is Orla,
And in this practice we're going to explore chocolate meditation.
Mindfulness can be mindfulness of anything.
It can be mindfulness of brushing our teeth,
Enjoying our coffee,
Sitting on a meditation cushion and following our breath.
So mindfulness is really to do with the attention and energy that we bring to this moment.
So enjoying chocolate can also be a form of mindfulness practice.
With mindfulness we always start with the body.
So let's take a moment to let our body feel at ease.
So just allowing yourself to sit really comfortably.
We can allow our attention to rest on our in-breath and out-breath.
Just sensing these soft waves of our breath coming and going.
And then we can pick up the bar of chocolate and begin to notice what our body is aware of.
Our hands registering the weight of the bar of chocolate.
Is it heavy?
Is it light?
Our skin is touching the paper,
Maybe the foil wrapping.
Our ears might be aware of the crinkly sound that the foil makes.
Noticing how we're feeling with this chocolate.
We might be feeling curious or impatient,
Maybe excited to taste it.
And we just notice there's no special way for us to feel.
So we're really looking.
Like explorers noticing what emotions and thoughts are there.
And then we break off a piece of chocolate and hold it between our finger pads.
And you might notice what your fingers are able to feel.
They can press the chocolate to see is it firm,
Is it soft.
As though we'd never experienced chocolate before.
So we bring a really fresh mind to this experience.
You can sense the weight of it as you're holding it.
Is it heavy?
Is it light?
Is it dry?
Is it wet?
And you might notice the different colors of the chocolate.
Whether it's smooth on top and then has a different texture where it's been broken off.
You can smell the chocolate to see if it has any scent.
And if there is a scent that's pleasurable,
Really let yourself savor that.
Just sensing the deliciousness of the scent of chocolate.
And explore to see if your body has any response to the scent of chocolate.
You might notice that your mouth has made a very strong scent.
You might notice that your mouth has made some saliva because it's ready to eat.
Or your mind might have produced the thought,
Eat the chocolate already.
So we're just noticing how we respond to the scent of chocolate.
And then we'll place the piece of chocolate on our tongue.
And we aim to let it melt in its own perfect time.
So this is often not a common way for us to eat our chocolate.
We often chew it quickly to get to the flavor as quickly as possible.
But with this practice we'll allow the heat of our mouth to build.
And then the chocolate will melt in its own perfect time.
So all we have to do is receive the flavor of melting chocolate.
And we aim to rest in that experience just as it is.
And your mind might come up with some thoughts about this,
Like I'd much rather be chewing.
Your tongue might try and help by moving the chocolate around,
Pushing it against the roof of your mouth so that it might melt more quickly.
And when we notice,
Simply see is it possible to let yourself rest.
For your body to be at ease and allow the chocolate to melt in its own perfect time.
So we unclip our thinking,
Our kind of automatic behavior,
And come back to the experience.
Is it possible to rest your attention completely on melting chocolate?
And very naturally a sense of joy might come up.
That freedom of having nothing to do except to savor melting chocolate.
Just for a moment we rest in total freedom,
Receiving this lovely unfolding melting sensation.
And you might notice how far back in your mouth or throat you can be aware of the taste of chocolate.
So where does the taste of chocolate end?
Going back through your mouth,
Down your throat,
Just finding where the taste of chocolate isn't anymore.
Allowing yourself to be open and curious about this.
And when your chocolate has melted,
You can see what is post chocolate life like for you.
So what's it like after chocolate?
You might be enjoying the aftertaste of chocolate,
You might have kind of an echo of the chocolatey taste still in your mouth.
You might be desiring more chocolate,
Feeling eager again to eat more.
You might be feeling satisfied and content.
You might be bored or happy or restless or really relaxed.
So we simply notice what we feel.
And the real art of mindfulness is drawing our body and our mind together in the present moment and allowing ourselves to rest our attention in a way that can bring us ease and can open our kind awareness.
So I hope you've enjoyed chocolate meditation together and I hope for all of us that it helps us to come off autopilot some of the time when we eat.
So that we can truly appreciate,
Really savour the pleasure of enjoying a square of chocolate.
Thank you.
