Last night, Lalena and I hosted a mindfulness dinner. This is a situation where attendees eat in noble silence, paying strict attention to the action, or life, of eating, tasting, smelling, feeling, seeing or thinking about the food and whatever might arise while eating. The silence and attention paid to the act of eating enhances everything about the meal that it often is a transformative experience to novices. "Noble silence" means no communication with others: no touching, meeting eyes, speaking or any other attempt to meet souls with another. One seeks to cultivate a bubble of quiet attention around oneself. This action frees up energy to focus inward on one's own experience.
We had 10 participants in last night's dinner. The food we chose needed to be good warm or cool. Mindful dinners often take a while to finish. We placed the food on a low table in the living-room and sat in a loose circle. One by one, we filled a plate and sat back down. When everyone had gotten food, I gave some instruction about mindful eating and we began. The meal lasted about 40 minutes. Afterward, we shared what our experience was. Five participants admitted that it was the first time they had truly tasted the food they ate. We often are so busy in our minds that we consider eating to be one of those tasks that we can put on automatic pilot.When we slow down and focus our full attention on what we are doing, it is like focusing the sunlight through a magnifying glass. Eating is one of those areas in our lives where this phenomenon is most evident.
No comments:
Post a Comment