Welcome to a mindful eating experience.
A meditative eating experience,
If you will.
Please feel free to pause this as you go grab something to eat.
With the meditation,
I recommend something small.
And when you're ready,
Just come back.
Welcome.
And let's get settled for our mindful meditation eating experience.
I recommend you find an area that is distraction-free,
Ideally at your kitchen table,
Seated and ready.
Many of the components you will learn in this eating meditation you can utilize with further future eating experiences.
Let's begin by first closing our eyes and bringing some homeostasis to the body,
Especially if you deal with any food anxiety.
Allow yourself to settle into your chair,
Close your eyes,
And let's come into the body.
Feel the body sitting in the chair.
Feel the chair underneath you.
Notice the areas of the body that it is making contact with.
Your back,
Your bottom,
Maybe parts of your legs.
Maybe you can feel your feet on the floor.
Let's slow our breathing down.
You don't have to move to deep breaths.
Just slow the cycle down.
We're going to do a little bit of box breathing or four-square breathing,
Which means we'll take four breaths in and hold for four,
Release for four,
Hold for four,
And we're going to do that a couple times.
And I will count you through it.
Prepare the body as we inhale.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And hold.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Release.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And hold.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Allow your body to relax.
Take a moment before we go into the next cycle.
And inhale.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And exhale.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And hold.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Very good.
You're welcome to pause and repeat that more cycles if you would like.
Go ahead and open your eyes.
And let's engage in some gratitude,
Taking a moment to feel thankful for the food in front of you,
The food in your house,
The food that you have accessible to you.
Taking some gratitude for it in a way that makes sense for you and aligns with your spiritual beliefs.
Now,
Let's take a moment and check in on our emotions.
What are you feeling right now?
What is present within you?
If you can,
At least name one emotion,
If not more,
And I'm going to pause and allow you a moment to do so.
Very good.
Now,
Let's check in on the physical body.
How is your physical body feeling?
Maybe considering energy levels,
Any soreness,
Aches,
Pains,
Any areas of tightness.
Maybe it's feeling relaxed,
Rested,
Energetic.
Take a moment and reflect on your physical being and tap into your introspective awareness.
I'm going to pause and let you do that.
Wonderful,
Wonderful.
Now,
Let's take a moment and describe the food in front of us.
Think about,
Now this is a more simpler food presentation,
But think about the colors,
The shapes,
The texture,
The aroma.
Take a moment and describe your food,
Whether it be in your mind or out loud.
Again,
I will pause.
Now that we have done some breathing,
Practiced some gratitude,
Described,
Checked in on our physical and emotional well-being,
Let's take a moment and rate our hunger level.
You may do this quantitatively or qualitatively.
Quantitative,
You may have a 1 to 10 scale of hunger to full.
You may have a 1 to 10 scale of just hunger,
Whatever makes sense to you.
You may offer a qualitative description by describing your hunger.
And this is an excellent moment to check in on your stomach and your throat.
I'm going to pause again and allow you to tap into your hunger ratings and awareness.
Now that we feel aware of our hunger meter,
Let's begin eating the part we're all waiting for.
I want you to take one small bite.
And if you will,
Hold it in your mouth for a moment.
Savor the flavor.
Maybe even describe the flavor in your mind.
Consider if it feels satisfying.
After you've held that bite in your mouth for a moment,
Chew slowly.
Stay present.
Stay here with yourself and the food.
Whenever you're ready,
You may take another bite and continue to repeat this process.
Now everybody's bringing something different to this meditation.
Maybe you have something that only requires one or two bites.
Maybe it takes more.
Maybe you want to practice this with a larger meal,
And you're welcome to do so.
You may pause this at any time to continue the experience and to finish eating your item.
Again,
Taking your time.
Taking a glance at it before it goes in your mouth.
Holding it there for a moment.
Noticing the flavors and the texture.
Chewing slowly before swallowing.
If you would like to continue or need to continue eating,
Please go ahead and pause at this moment.
As the meditation will continue.
If you are at the end of your food,
Let's take a moment and evaluate full levels.
Again,
You can use the same scale,
1 to 10,
Hunger to full.
10 being the absolute fullest you've ever been.
1 being starving.
Maybe you would prefer to put just full on a scale by itself.
Maybe you would prefer to describe it again.
Whatever makes sense to you.
You may even want to check in on if that eating experience felt satisfying for you.
Now,
Because we chose to do this with a small item today,
Again,
Maybe you want to repeat it with something larger,
And you're welcome to,
And I certainly encourage you.
If you do so,
You may want to pause in the middle and evaluate hunger and full more often as you go to accommodate for a larger meal.
You may take these components forward with other eating experiences.
You may even try this with your non-dominant hand.
Let's close this by just shutting our eyes just for a moment and taking a nice,
Slow breath in at the pace that you would like,
And slowly release it.
I hope you enjoyed,
And I thank you for being here.
