Mindful Eating With Your Senses

Here I offer a short talk on our relationship with food and the practice of mindful eating, particularly in relation to engaging all of our senses while eating. Slow down and enjoy! No food needed for this talk, just settle in and listen.

Music Credit: Halcyon Daydream (Theta Drone L108Hz R113Hz) by Ookean (Royalte Free)

Transcript

Welcome!

I just wanted to touch base with a brief recording for you today.

I know that some people prefer to listen in and have a bit of a guide when they're learning a new skill,

So for those of you who are interested,

I'm just here to offer you a little bit of direction for the week.

Before we get started,

I just want to take a minute to mention that when we practice mindful eating,

We want to pay kind attention to ourselves wherever we're at.

If we haven't practiced mindful eating in months or years or ever before,

That's okay.

We're here today and that's all that matters.

If you've been practicing sporadically or regularly,

That's great too.

Each of us is here in this moment taking care of ourselves and getting to know ourselves a little bit better.

We all need more of that in our lives.

If you're anything like me,

You may have a harsh critical voice inside of your head,

Especially when it comes to food and eating.

In my experience,

I found one of the best things about mindful eating is that we can learn to let go of those critical,

Judgmental,

And hurtful messages that we've been carrying around for many years.

These are messages we've received from society,

Advertising,

Media,

Maybe from family members,

And even from ourselves.

We didn't know any better,

So we thought that we could criticize and shame ourselves into eating healthy,

Being smaller,

Losing weight,

Or dieting.

And maybe we thought that when we did all those things,

We would finally be worthy of love and care.

We're here to learn that we're already worthy of love and care regardless of what we eat,

How we eat,

What shape or size we are,

How often or even if we move our bodies,

Or any other factor.

We're just worthy because we're human beings,

And that makes us worthy of love.

We're worthy of our own love.

So wherever you're at on your journey,

And wherever you're at today in this moment,

See if you can offer yourself a little bit of kindness,

A little bit of compassion,

Or a little bit of love.

And as you go about your day,

Try to remember how worthy you are.

All right,

Now we're ready to talk about this week's focused intention for mindful eating.

And what we're going to be looking at this week and trying to focus our attention on would be our sensory experiences.

From the first signs of hunger or thirst to when we start preparing a meal during the course of eating and right through clearing the table and washing the dishes,

We experience a variety of sensory input.

We're already engaging all of our senses,

And in our busy lives,

We might not even notice that all of these senses are being called on.

Taking the time to pay attention and notice these sensations helps bring us into the present moment and slow us down.

I find this really allows me to enjoy and savor my meal and to naturally pay attention to my body's signals of hunger and fullness.

So this week,

We're going to consider how we might intentionally focus on our different senses by paying attention to our five basic senses.

Touch,

Sight,

Hearing,

Smell,

And taste.

You might notice your sense of touch as you pull open the cabinet door and retrieve a smooth porcelain plate for your meal.

Perhaps you're sensing the texture of strawberries and the feel of cool water washing over your hands as you rinse them in the sink.

Or maybe you're feeling heat from the stove as you stir a pot of your favorite soup.

Your sense of touch may be most prominent as you sit for your meal and feel the weight of your body connecting to the chair beneath you.

For your next meal,

Just try to pay attention to the different sensations of touch.

And remember,

It's perfectly okay if you forget to do this during your meal.

Whatever time you remember is a great time for you to revisit the meal in your mind and to try to recall these different sensations.

It's just as meaningful to do it later as it is to do it in that moment.

And as I've learned through many mindfulness teachings,

The real strength in mindfulness comes from that moment of awakening when you realize that your mind got away.

And as soon as you realize that and you draw your attention back,

That's where we strengthen that mindfulness muscle.

So even though you may forget during the meal,

When you remember later and you pay attention to it later,

That's just as beneficial for you.

And you'll see over time that's going to help you remember to be mindful during the actual meal.

But please try to remember,

Be gentle with yourself because we've been probably eating mindlessly for most of our lives.

So it's going to take time to learn this new skill of paying attention to what we eat.

So just remember to be kind and compassionate and patient with yourself.

Next,

Let's talk about the sense of sight.

Even though we eat with our mouths and hands,

For those of us with vision,

We use our sense of sight a great deal when we're preparing food and eating it.

We use our sense of sight to choose a banana that's just the right shade of yellow or perhaps a little green.

Maybe you use your vision to balance a variety of colors on your plate or perhaps you enjoy setting the table with a pretty placemat,

Some flowers,

A candle or your other favorite centerpiece.

These are all different ways that we use our vision to enhance our meal.

What sights can you slow down and attend to during your next meal?

Let's talk about sound.

We may not think that the sense of sound has much to do with eating mindfully,

But it can.

Did anyone grow up with a dinner bell?

At my house,

This was the sound that let us know it was time to come in from playing outside and wash our hands for dinner.

Perhaps you're tuned into the sound of the silverware drawer opening and the forks clinking together.

Maybe you hear plates being set out on the counter or table or it could be the sound of chopping vegetables or boiling water.

Perhaps it's the sound of a loved one asking you what's for dinner.

Have you ever noticed the crunch of an apple or crispy potato chips when you take that first bite?

What sounds can you tune into during your next meal or snack?

When it comes to eating,

I think the senses of smell and taste are the ones that we normally associate with mealtime.

So I'm going to let you explore those on your own.

I imagine that just slowing down and taking the time to attend to the different sensations we experience will be quite beneficial to you and to your mindful eating practice.

You may even find that as you engage more of your senses,

You find more to be grateful for.

Reviews

Very insightful, thank you for reminding us to be mindful when eating.

Not what I expected, and better than I imagined! Much more inspiring to hear about the many pleasures of eating than to be instructed how to eat a raisin. This meditation encouraged me to experience the joys of eating in the context of life—enhancing the perception of both!
Thank you!
Donna

I loved that this meditation walked me through one area of mindful eating that of the 5 senses. By the examples provided it brought my awareness to just how much we experience around eating some good and some not so good. I enjoyed listening and will definetly be checking out more from this teacher on Mindful Eating.