{"id":619,"date":"2012-06-21T02:48:46","date_gmt":"2012-06-21T02:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mindfulvoyagecounseling.net\/?p=619"},"modified":"2012-07-16T01:40:56","modified_gmt":"2012-07-16T01:40:56","slug":"mindful-eating-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mindfulvoyagecounseling.net\/?p=619","title":{"rendered":"Mindful Eating Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

For various reasons many people eat on the run or try to multitask during a meal with activities such as reading, working, texting, thinking, or talking…etc.\u00a0 The simple joy of tasting the food often gets lost in external or internal\u00a0 preoccupation.\u00a0 This lack of awareness may lead to overeating, indigestion, and lack of appreciation for the experience of nourishing your body.\u00a0 To bring yourself back to the awareness of eating, I want to share the following exercise which has been taught in many mindfulness workshops and practices.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do we eat mindfully?\u00a0 It is best to start with a small item of food that you like to eat such as a raisin, a piece of nut, a small fruit…etc.\u00a0 Begin by holding the food in your hand and feeling the texture around it.\u00a0 Notice the color, light reflections, shadows, size, and shape of the food.\u00a0 Explore it as if this is the first time you have ever held this food.\u00a0 See if you can discover something new about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next, bring the food to your nose and smell it.\u00a0 Breathe in the fragrance of the food and notice how you feel.\u00a0 Do you feel comforted, excited, relaxed? What thoughts do you have?\u00a0 Slowly put the food in your mouth and without chewing, notice the sensations as it lands on your tongue.\u00a0 Can you feel your mouth salivating? What comes to mind?\u00a0 As you begin to chew it slowly, notice the burst of flavors and how your body is responding to them.\u00a0 What other thoughts do you experience?<\/span><\/p>\n

When you are ready, you can swallow and see if you can feel the food going down your throat.\u00a0 How did that feel?\u00a0 Take some time to reflect upon the whole process and write down any new or old sensations, thoughts, feelings, and ideas. This practice will help remind you of the feelings you experienced.\u00a0 You can also do this with your first bite of food at each meal as a regular practice to remind yourself to slow down, be present and enjoy the process.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For various reasons many people eat on the run or try to multitask during a meal with activities such as reading, working, texting, thinking, or talking…etc.\u00a0 The simple joy of tasting the food often gets lost in external or internal\u00a0 preoccupation.\u00a0 This lack of awareness may lead to overeating, indigestion, and lack of appreciation for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n