Welcome to the mindful eating practice.
For this practice you'll need a small morsel of food,
A raisin,
Piece of chocolate,
Something else,
Anything of your choosing.
And just going ahead and placing this morsel in front of you.
And sitting in a comfortable and alert position with your eyes open.
Taking a few deep and slow breaths.
Joining the mind and body as you breathe and come into the present moment.
Feeling into the body,
Dropping your awareness into your physical being to notice what sensations are here.
Noticing what it feels like to be alive and present and sensing.
Letting the body be just as it is.
And also making note of what thoughts and emotions may be here now.
What thoughts are in the mind,
What emotions are in the body,
The heart.
And letting them just be.
When you're ready we'll shift into the mindful eating practice.
So for this practice I'd like for you to pretend that you are a baby or an alien from outer space who has never experienced this food before,
Never experienced this object.
Using all of your senses go into explore this object.
Your sense of touch,
Sight,
Smell,
Hearing,
Taste.
And so beginning now by lifting the object and placing it in your palm.
Maybe noticing the sensations in the muscles of the fingers,
The hand,
The arms as you lift the object and place it in your palm.
And noticing the weight of the object.
Is it heavy?
Is it light?
Does it feel cool or warm,
Smooth or rough?
Is there another particular texture felt against the palm?
Using your eyes to notice any colors,
Any patterns,
The shape of the object.
Noticing regions where the light reflects more or less off of the object.
Raising the object up to the ear noticing any sounds generated by the object.
Perhaps squishing or tapping the object,
Opening up to what sounds or lack of sounds may be here.
Bringing the object towards the nostrils noticing any scents,
Smells.
If you're noticing the mind wandering to thoughts or perhaps noticing judgments or an analyzing mind saying something like,
This is weird to be doing this or I've smelled this before.
Just noticing this very natural tendency and then letting go of thinking,
Coming back into the physical senses as you explore this object.
And bringing the object up towards the mouth now and very slowly placing it on your tongue without eating it just yet.
Exploring the sensations of the object against the tongue and teeth and gums.
Maybe noticing any bodily reactions like salivation or tummy growling.
And when you're ready biting into the object seeing how the object naturally falls to one side or the other of the mouth when you chew.
Noticing the bursts of flavors and tastes within the mouth.
Do they change,
Stay the same?
Opening up to the complexity of taste here.
And also noticing the texture of the object that may be changing as you chew.
And when you're ready now swallowing the object,
Tracking it all the way down the throat,
Down the esophagus and into the belly.
Can you feel the object in the belly?
And taking a moment here as we come to the end of this practice to thank yourself for practicing mindful eating.
