StarLightWalker – Personal and Spiritual Growth

Lense – Day 9: Mindful Eating

 Print This Post February 9, 2008 on 3:31 pm | In Mental, Physical, Spiritual | 1 Comment

I am back from India and still moving forward with my various commitments for Lense.

One of the greatest insights I’ve gleaned from this cleanse thus far is the power of mindfulness to transform a simple, everyday activity like eating into something sacred. One of the practices I have committed to during Lense is mindful eating, which involves praying and really feeling gratitude before I begin each meal, but just as importantly staying present and mindful throughout the meal. In simple terms this means putting my full focus and attention on what I am doing at the moment. As simple as this sounds, it is surprising how seldom we are truly conscious and present in what we are doing at the moment. Until I began working with the practice of mindfulness while eating it is fair to say that it was normal for me to eat on autopilot, barely conscious of what I was putting into my mouth. Probably the best description of my default eating mode up until I began this mindful eating practice is “squat and gobble.”

One of the biggest revelations about mindful eating is that it is virtually impossible to overeat when you are fully present and conscious during the meal. When you are fully present with the act of eating and the unique qualities of what you are eating, your eating tends to slow down so you can savor the taste, texture, and smell of your food. Indeed, simple foods that I was formerly barely conscious of as I shoved them down my throat have taken on a whole new dimension when I stop and take the time to really perceive them. This is especially true of fresh fruit, which has to be the most sensual food on the planet, with grapes as a particular standout. When truly savored, and single grape is a sensual miracle – an explosion of juicy delight sealed in a supple, yielding skin.

This aspect of slowing down seems to leave me satisfied with eating much smaller portions of food, and also seems to be biasing my eating preferences towards live foods. Even more important, however, is the fact that food has once again become a source of joy – not just fuel for my engine, but a special opportunity to connect with the world around me in a very intimate, and very sacred way.

Yum!