“Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.” ~Buddha
Every day, eating is an essential part of our lives. It sustains us, nourishes us, and helps us to function. It connects us with the earth, other people, and cultural practices.
For many people, however, eating has become very removed from this. We may have acquired certain rules, expectations, ideas, and judgments about food that influence our experience of eating, such as needing to finish everything on your plate, ideas of wastefulness, craving healthy or unhealthy foods, and so on. We are also in an age of instant and processed food, over scheduling and general distraction, so it can be easy to eat without thinking, eat on autopilot —–, making rushed or poor food choices, grabbing something on the go, eating while not even hungry, or eating while multitasking. Maybe whether we eat is influenced be a need for comfort or because we feel lonely or angry.
How can we get back to the joy of eating for nourishment, health, and wellbeing?
I believe the answer is Mindfulness. Mindfulness has its roots in Buddhist teachings. Mindfulness is deliberately paying attention, non judgmentally, in the moment. Mindfulness is being aware of your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations in the present moment.
When we bring the Mindfulness concept to eating, we become aware of the positive care-taking qualities of food. We have a sense of gratitude and appreciation. We bring awareness to the selection of what food we wish to consume, noticing where it has come from, connecting with ourselves with an awareness of why we are eating, what does our body needs in this moment? We also begin to pay attention to our preparation of food, the sensations involved, the textures, the smells, the tastes, the actions, and the pleasures we experience. We also bring awareness to the physical sensations of hunger.
Some people have a complicated relationship with food and Mindfulness can help by allowing them to recognize reactions, habitual thinking, self talk, and actions. A Mindfulness practice can help you free yourself from this.
Mindful eating is not a diet, or about giving things up. It’s about conscious eating, awareness in making choices, eating slowly, and relishing each mouthful. Noticing how the food makes you feel. When you sit to eat that is all you are doing, this singular thing. Not also flipping through your phone, watching telly, chatting etc. Just eating.
How can we get into the habit of Mindful eating?
1. First, slow down. When preparing food do so mindfully. Or at least small amounts of time mindfully. For example ‘I’m going to cut this vegetable mindfully’. Acknowledge the vegetable, where it has come from, what it needed to grow, then notice the sensations you experience, the temperature, physicality of chopping, the sounds, the colors. Enjoy it!
2. When you have a meal, create a space to eat that meal, think about the table, the setting, the plate you are using. This might mean setting the table in a nice way, or it might just mean arranging your food in a particular way on a paper plate. By making a meal somewhat special it may help you to focus on the experience of eating.
3. Breathe. Some nice slow breaths. Pause. Bring yourself right into the moment you are in by connecting your mind and body.
4. Give thanks, whether it is a feast, an apple, or a packet of sweets. Have gratitude for the food you have. Reflect on where it has come from, the elements involved in the making of it, and how it has come to be in front of you.
5. When you are ready to eat, observe. Look at the food, contemplate the colors, the textures, the shapes, temperature, and the smell. Look at how the meal is presented to you.
6. Notice your thoughts and feelings as you prepare to eat. Pay attention to the process of loading your fork, lifting the food to your mouth, tasting, chewing, swallowing. Maybe you close your eyes. Savor the flavors, respond with your senses.
7. Keep your attention upon the activity of eating, mouthful by mouthful. Notice the sensation of pleasure, hunger, dissatisfaction, and contentment without judgment. Just notice. Notice how they change as you complete your meal. Notice at what point you know you are finished.
8. When you have finished, take a breath, acknowledge how you feel, and then let go of the meal.
Brogan G.
Urban Zen Integrative Therapist, Meditation Teacher, Reiki Master, and Yoga Instructor
Brogan’s contemplative care approach includes meditation, restorative yoga, breath awareness, essential oils, Reiki, and fine arts. In her integrative treatments, she may focus on one modality or combine them to restore balance to mind and body. Brogan responds to each individual’s needs and constitutions, and teaches her clients skills they can use independently at home to maintain the balance they’ve achieved in the studio.
Brogan works with children and adults, individually and through workshops. She specializes in anxiety, insomnia, pain, and stress relief. She often works with both parent and child, separately and together. Recently, she developed an integrative therapy program at a public school to address anxieties facing children and their teachers. She has also worked at LICH Hospital teaching meditation, Roosevelt Hospital as an artist-in-residence, and Beth Israel Hospital as an Urban Zen therapist. She continues to collaborate with the non-profit organization The Creative Center, bringing creative arts to people with cancer and chronic illness.
Brogan is a Reiki master and has been a practitioner for over 7 years, having trained at Mahamudra Buddhist Centre in New Zealand and with renowned Japanese healer Mika Ichihara in New York. She has a Usui-shiki Ryoho Reiki Certificate, a Healing Practitioner Certificate, and Reiki Master Qualification. Brogan has been practicing meditation for 15 years (including study with Mika Ichihara), and has taught meditation and body/breath awareness for 5 years. Yoga is something she has practiced for the majority of her life, and continues to study at Prajna Yoga with philosopher and author Tias Little (himself greatly influenced by B. K. S. Iyengar and K. Pattabhi Jois). Brogan teaches using a therapeutic and restorative approach, and has also trained specifically as a children’s yoga teacher at Bija Yoga. She is a certified Urban Zen integrative therapist trained by Rodney Yee, Colleen Saidman, Richard Rosen, and Mary Taylor. Her degree in fine art from Wimbledon College of Art in London has led to a continually-evolving art practice, and to her teaching art in tandem with meditation.