How do you combine mindfulness and a familiar activity like eating?
How does it change this experience?
How does it look like?
How does it feel?
So these are some points that we will explore in today's video.
Hi, my name is Olivier and I am a mindfulness meditation teacher.
I help busy professionals to reduce their stress but also cultivate mental well-being
by sharing the tools of mindfulness and meditation.
I help my customers finding more peace, more joy and happiness in their day to day life,
so if those tools interest you, consider subscribing to my channel and make sure to hit the bell
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Eating is one of the things that a lot of us enjoy.
When we think of something that brings us joy, we often think about having a good meal
with some friends.
But when we eat, we often do it while doing something else at the same time.
I remember this one evening, I gathered with my friends to watch a Game of Thrones episode.
My friends cooked a delicious meal.
It looked incredible and of course, we started the meal when we played the episode.
But I remember in the middle of eating this delicious meal prepared by my friends, that
I could not fully appreciate the taste and the effort that went into it, because half
of my attention or more was actually focused on the TV show.
Has it ever happened to you to be excited about a meal but actually not remembering
how it tasted like because you were distracted by a the movie or maybe the discussion you
had you had with somebody well?
In this video I am going to show you how to apply mindfulness to your experience of eating
and how in so many ways, it will enhance it.
The main idea behind mindful eating or eating meditation is to be fully present for the
food that is in front of you.
If you are not present for it, how can you fully enjoy.
If your mind is locked onto the movie that you're watching or absorbed into a conversation
with somebody, how can you bring your full attention to the taste and really enjoy to
the maximum the taste of the food that you're eating?
So the first step to mindful eating is to remove all distractions, whether it is a TV
show or music and so forth.
It may sound a little bit difficult at the beginning, it may sound weird because we want
to combine pleasures together.
Usually, we feel like it enhances our experience but actually, to really enjoy our food, we
have to be fully concentrated on it.
The second step is to simply take a pause before you eat.
Take a moment to reconnect with your senses and enjoy the view of the food and how it
smells like.
So the third step is to simply eat your food mindfully and what I mean by that is, as you
are chewing on your food, bring your full attention to the texture, the taste and concentrate
on as long as possible on the taste of your food.
This is how you will maximize your experience.
This is how you will enjoy as much as possible the taste of the food.
At some point, you will probably think about something else, maybe your project that you're
working on but every time that you notice your mind drifting away, bring your mind back
to the food that you are chewing, instead of chewing and ruminating on your project,
bringing attention to your meal to the food that you're eating.
One tip that I've found useful to it slowly is that after each bite, I put my silverware
down.
And when I practice this, I notice that I had the habit energy of eating of as soon
as I had the food in my mouth, I was preparing the next bite.
I was not taking the time to fully enjoy what I had in my mouth.
So that is also helpful, to chew longer and make our digestion easier.
Mindful eating should be an enjoyable experience.
A lot of time, we have the habit energy of eating very fast but here, by taking one bite
at a time, we bring a full attention to the food that we are chewing, we can practice
relaxation.
We can really take the time to enjoy each bite and eat slowly.
We often have the habit energy of eating too fast and by eating too fast, we often eat
too much.
So practicing mindful eating is a way to eat a little bit less and feel more comfortable
and at ease after the end of our meal.
But there is a way to actually enjoy eating beyond the satisfaction of our taste buds.
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh recites five sentences before he enjoyes his meal.
Those five sentences are intended to remind us of different aspects beyond just the food.
Those five sentences are called the five contemplation and they remind us to be grateful, to eat
with mindfulness, to eat with compassion and to nourish our intention in life.
The five contemplations are: This food is a gift of the earth the sky numerous living
beings and much heart and loving work.
May we eat with gratitude and mindfulness so as to be worthy to receive this food.
May we recognize and transform unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed and
learn to eat with moderation.
May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of
living beings, stop contributing to climate change and heals and preserves our precious
planet.
We accept this food so that we may nurture our Brotherhood and Sisterhood, build our
Sangha and nourish our ideal of serving all living beings.
Before, when I ate, I simply ate for the pleasure of eating.
But now, I can enjoy my meal in many other different ways.
With those five contemplations, it reminds me to become more appreciative, to become
more grateful about the food that I have in front of me.
It reminds me to be compassionate in the way that I live.
I can look into my food and see whether it caused any harm or sufferings to any other
living beings and if I can reduce that by the way that I eat.
It reminds me that the food choices that I make has an impact on the environment and
can I choose a way of eating that lessen this impact?
The last contemplation also helps me to water the seed of intention, this intention of serving
other living beings and with concentration, when I remind myself of this intention, it
adds even more pleasure to the food that I eat.
Mindfulness allows us to enjoy our meals, you know, by bringing more attention, bringing
more awareness to our senses but it also helps us to enjoy our meals in a different way,
in a spiritual way, by watering the seeds of compassion, of gratitude, of serving other
living beings.
Mindful eating is very easy to integrate in your day to day life, so let me know how that
goes for you.
I really hope that you give this a try.
If you are interested in listening to my guided meditation, you can download them for free
by going to my website at peaceful-breathing.com/meditations.
And by subscribing to my newsletter, you will receive a link to download them.
So as always, thank you so much for watching and I will see you soon.