How Mindfulness Brings Joy Back To Eating

Who says meditation is boring? How about we give you a meditation exercise in which all you have to do is to eat your favorite chocolate? Sounds bizarre, right? But if you’ve made your interiorities in such a way that everything you do becomes a meditative process - whether it’s an intense meditation session of 90 minutes or something as simple as eating a bar of chocolate, then your very nature becomes meditative on its own.

Don’t worry we are not trying to make you sit for a 90 minutes session. But how about the exercise of mindfully eating a bar of chocolate? Here’s how it’s done -

• Before eating the chocolate - Hold the wrapped chocolate in your hand and ask yourself how does that makes you feel. Is it a great feeling? You can hardly wait to open the wrapper and gulp it all down or you are patient with it? Concentrate on the colors and the design of the packaging. What’s written on the wrapper? Who’s made this chocolate? What kind of sound the wrapper is making?

• Open its packaging - Now, open the wrapper slowly and feel the physical sensations building up in your body. Some of you might even feel a surge of emotions as you mindfully open the pack of your chocolate. Look at the chocolate with your awareness focused on its color, texture, and aroma. How does it smell? Are any senses being triggered because of the aroma?

• Eating the chocolate - Put a small piece of chocolate in your mouth and before biting into it and gulping it down, just feel its presence there. Is it melting in your mouth? How’s it making you feel? Now slowly start eating the chocolate, one bite at a time. How’s the texture and consistency? What exactly is happening in your mouth and on your tongue as you’ve started to eat this chocolate? Now, swallow the chocolate while focusing on the sensations it’s creating. How does that make you feel? Has the chocolate changed something in you on an emotional level? How’s its after-taste? Are you craving for another piece now?

This simple exercise takes less than 5 minutes to complete but it shows you exactly how you need to be while you meditate. And not just while meditating! How aware and mindful you need to be in your daily life, doing important office work or mundane things like doing the dishes or walking your dog.