Give me One sip of orange juice, and I will find Nirvana (Ultimate Bliss) this very moment; said our Guru smilingly in one of our meditation classes. You’d think our spiritual teachers love to talk in hyperboles just to create that dramatic effect! But with regular practice of meditation, I slowly realized that if the experience of that perfect sense of happiness is not to be found here, and not to be found now; then it can never be found anywhere else, or any other time.
But how does one catch this elusive present moment where the bliss resides?
We all know by experience, our minds are always running ahead of us, driven by the pursuit to reach Somewhere, attain Something, or just lost in some reverie.
The Buddhist practice of Mindfulness teaches just this – how to be in the here and now. It is a meditative practice that uses body awareness and sensory experience to train the mind to receive this sense of connectedness and joy, moment by moment.
Even a simple act of eating can become a key to unlock the experience of this present moment. Along with being a spiritual practice of connecting the mind and the body, there is a growing body of evidence that mindful eating is also a technique that can relieve stress, alleviate high blood pressure and gastrointestinal problems; even recover from unhealthy eating habits and disorders like binge eating, overeating, and so on by giving access to the thoughts and feelings while one is eating.
We all know and often use the phrases like “trust your gut” when we have an intuitive feeling about something or someone, or “butterflies in the stomach” when we feel anxious. There is an intimate connection between our mind and the gut (also called the “second brain”). It is said that the brain takes 20 minutes to register satiety (fullness) from the time we start eating. Someone who eats too quickly has already overeaten before they got the “Stop” signal from the brain!
Not only quick eating, it is also suggested that distracted eating, i.e. eating while driving, reading, writing, watching TV, working on the computer or focusing on the cell phone; basically engaging in any kind of multi-tasking while eating; slows down digestion, just like it does when we are stressed! And incomplete digestion means incomplete nutrition.
Mindful eating can help us control all such eating behaviors which are causing harm and stress to our body as well as the mind. Here are a few tips to get you started with mindful eating –
- Start slow, maybe setting aside only one or two meals a week to eat slowly and attentively.
- Set aside a minimum of 20 minutes for the meal.
- To train your brain into focusing, try eating with your non-dominant hand.
- Eat silently, connecting to the surrounding, to your body, thoughts, feelings, and to the food itself.
- Be thoughtful of the journey the meal took before being served to you – produced by the sun’s rays, the farmer, then the grocer, the cook and then you!
“I moan with pleasure,
Did you just have a foodgasm?” he asks. wiping ricotta from his lips.
“Where have you been all my life?” I ask the beautiful panini!”
Stephanie Perkins, Anna and the French Kiss
Eating with attention, focusing on the sensory experience, can be an overwhelmingly rewarding experience just to focus on the colors, texture, taste, temperature of the food you are putting in your mouth.
The benefits of mindful eating are beyond physical and mental; it is an experience of connecting to the cosmos via the morsel in your mouth!
Next time when you sit for a meal remember to relate with your food like the way Kahlil Gibran does. He writes –
“And when you crush an apple with your teeth, say to it in your heart:
Your seeds shall live in my body,
And the buds of your tomorrow shall blossom in my heart,
And your fragrance shall be my breath,
And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons.”
– Kahlil Gibran