“Wow….that has to be the best raisin I’ve ever tasted”, I told my Mindfulness Teacher after experiencing the “raisin meditation” for the first time.
“I’m going to stop and buy some raisins on my way home…” Richard said after taking part in the meditation during one of the first 8 week programmes I ran a couple of years ago.
The lowly raisin – essentially a dried grape – more often used as an ingredient in fruit cakes and the like, can be transformed into almost a gourmet meal if eaten slowly…mindfully.
The whole idea of this simple “eating meditation” is to show us how much we “miss out on” when we do things without awareness. During the meditation we’re encouraged to examine our raisin, to hold it, squeeze it, investigate what it looks like, before putting it into our mouths and really savouring the experience of eating it.
One Minute of Mindfulness
Before reading on, try this simple exercise:
Find yourself a quiet place, get comfortable and set a timer for one minute. During that minute, count your breaths…you may find it easier to count on the “out” breath. When the minute comes to an end, ask yourself:
- How many breaths did I take?
- Did I manage to keep count during the whole minute?
- Did I lose count at any point and have to start again?
- How long was it before other thoughts encroached on my counting?
- What were those thoughts?
No matter what we’re doing, our mind just keeps rolling on in the background. Many of these thoughts remain “under the radar”, but every now and again one will pop up and grab our attention…it may be a thought about something that’s happened or something that may happen in the future…whatever it is, we are taken away from what’s happening NOW.
The Mind Never Stops
Let’s go back to eating…imagine this scenario…
You put the kettle on to make tea or coffee at breakfast time. Your thoughts go to a conversation you had with a friend the night before….it makes you smile.
As you get milk from the fridge, you start to think about a meeting you have to attend later that morning. This triggers a thought about the last meeting you took part in. Your boss seemed particularly awkward and quizzed you about the project you’ve been given responsibility for. You felt pressured….frustrated…you start to feel a knot in your stomach…
As you make your drink, your mobile rings. It’s a colleague asking if you can give them a lift into work. You say “yes” automatically and make arrangements to pick them up As you put the phone down you remember that you’ve promised to take your daughter into school as she has some project work that will be difficult for her to carry on the bus…
As you pour your favourite cereal into a bowl, you call your colleague back feeling guilty to have to let them down…that feeling in the pit of your stomach gets worse…
You put bread into the toaster and sit down to eat your cereal looking forward to a few moments of “me time”. You start scrolling through your social media, pausing briefly on the odd post…”Fancy saying…wearing…eating that…!” You realise you’ve spilt some milk down the front of your clothes…”S**t,” you shout and rush upstairs to get changed….
Meanwhile, there’s smoke coming from the toaster and the alarm starts bleeping…..
You quickly sort things out…throw the soggy mess that’s now your breakfast and the burnt toast into the bin, collect your things and leave the house without breakfast. And worse….without your daughter!
Perhaps this situation is a little exaggerated – maybe it isn’t but it shows how even the simple act of eating breakfast can be hijacked by our thoughts (and our interpretation of them) and situations that happen around us.
While we’re eating, or carrying out any other activity, the cogs within our mind are constantly turning…moving from one thing to the next, to the next. It may be thinking about the day ahead and working through our “to do” list, it may be reflecting on some of the things that have happened – either good or not so good. As Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of the originators of mindfulness as we know it today, once said “We only have moments to live – anything else is remembering or imagining”.
Automatic Behaviours
Not only can our thinking seem out of control at times but there are also perhaps instances when our behaviour can become “automatic”.
- Just saying “yes” to a request for a quiet life or pleasing others without any thought about how it might affect us.
- When visiting family, perhaps we just go “through the motions” and leave without any real sense of connection being made.
- Constantly wondering (and worrying) if you’ve closed that window or turned that iron off because you were too busy thinking about other things.
- Getting defensive or perhaps giving others the “silent treatment” when we feel criticised or undermined in some way.
- Judging others when they hold different opinions to us…almost “writing them off” when they don’t “tow our particular line”.
Starting to practise mindfulness can help us to become more aware of our thoughts and the way that we behave at times. As we become more aware we become more able to make choices about which thoughts we give our valuable time to and also about which actions best serve us. So how can we start…?
Learning Mindfulness
The 8 week “Mindfulness Now” programme teaches a combination of formal meditations such as “awareness of breath”, “body scan”, “mindful movement” but also encourages informal practices. These include brushing our teeth or taking a shower. In carrying out these daily activities in a mindful way, we are consciously training ourselves to cultivate “present moment awareness”. By really immersing ourselves in what could be described as “mundane activities” we start to experience them more fully….the feel of warm water cascading over our bodies….the smell of the shower gel or shampoo….we feel the cool of the bathroom air as we climb out of the shower….the minty, fresh taste of the toothpaste…the feel of the brush as it moves around our mouth…. Next time you do either of these activities, why not engage as many of your senses as you can…what can you feel…see…hear…taste….smell…who knows, it may transform the time you spend in the bathroom!
Another good starting point, mentioned earlier, is taking our time and eating more mindfully. By doing this, we’ll definitely start to experience the texture, the taste and the aroma of our food and there may be other benefits too:
- It’s said that digestion starts in the mouth, chewing our food well rather than just gulping it down, will aid the digestive process.
- Perhaps by eating more slowly, it will help us to recognise when we’re full….and stop.
- We’ll become more appreciative of our food, more aware of what’s involved in the process it goes through to arrive on our plate. That includes the love and care taken in its preparation.
- Perhaps we’ll become more aware of the nourishment our food gives us which will, in turn, lead us to making better food choices.
- As a result of this new found awareness, we’ll become a little more grateful for what we have.
So, a bit of a challenge. In the coming week, why not eat one meal mindfully each day? It doesn’t really matter which meal you choose, but put that book down, switch your phone off and commit to giving your full attention to eating and really enjoying your food once each day.
I mentioned earlier the “Raisin Meditation”. There is a different version that uses chocolate and there are a couple of ways you might like to try it for yourself…
Free Mindfulness Taster Sessions in Stourbridge
Throughout Autumn, I’m running some free Mindfulness “taster” sessions. They’ll be held in the Harlestones Room (H1 and H2 on the map) at the Ruskin Glass Centre, Wollaston Road, Amblecote, Stourbridge, West Midlands, DY8 4HF – see maps below.
The dates are as follows:
Thursday, September 15th, 7.00 – 7.45 pm
Saturday, September 24th, 10.30 – 11.15 am
Thursday, October 13th, 7.00 – 7.45 pm
Saturday, November 5th, 10.30 – 11.15 am
If you’d like to find out a little bit more about the origins and benefits of mindfulness and experience the “chocolate meditation” (chocolate provided!) why not come along and join in? To book a place, use the contact form.
Latest Podcast – Take a break…stress less
For those of you who live outside of my area or are just unable to attend – you can experience the Chocolate Meditation by listening to my podcast. Follow the link or search for “The Mindful Alchemy Podcast with Nick Reeves” on Spotify and Apple. Just choose a brand or type of chocolate that you’ve never tried before or one that you haven’t eaten for a while and tune in
Enjoy!
