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Monday, November 14, 2011

Ripe Fruit



Thanksgiving is around the corner - it's easy to lose mindfulness of the food that passes your lips in the midst of celebration, family, and delectable delights! The Slow Food Movement, which started in Italy advocates restoring sensuous pleasure and quality ingredients to cooking and dining.

This meditation from Madonna Gauding's, The Meditation Bible, will help you be more mindful of your senses as you cook and eat. A piece of ripe, organic fruit, unspoiled by chemicals, waxes or sprays, is a delight to the nose, the eye and the tongue.
Eating it slowly and mindfully will increase your pleasure and serve as a  reminder to pay more attention to your senses in all areas of your life.

The Meditation

1) Go to a farmers' market, if possible, and select a ripe, organically grown piece of fruit. It could be a plum, an apple, pear or kiwi. Choose whatever makes your mouth water in anticipation.

2) Take a seat at your table placing your piece of fruit on a beautiful plate.

3) When is the last time you regarded your food as a piece of art? Do it now. Look at your fruit and notice its color, shape and texture. What makes it what it is? The tiny seeds on a strawberry's surface, the brown furry skin of a kiwi, depth of purple on a plum's skin. Pick it up and examine it. Put it to your nose and inhale its heady fragrance.

4) Now close your eyes and slowly take your first bite. Let the taste of the fruit explode in your mouth. Chew it very slowly, savoring the flesh and juices. Continue eating the fruit in this manner.

5) When you have eaten the entire fruit, notice any aftertaste. Sit quietly and express gratitude for such a lovely, sensuous experience.

It's amazing how conditioned we are to eat without really tasting. Usually the first bite or two we pay attention, but then we get involved in conversation or multi-tasking and our we are distracted from what is going on in our mouths.

Can you imagine at Thanksgiving dinner if you told everyone to stop talking for 5 minutes and completely immerse themselves in the sensations of the food? I'm smiling just thinking about it...   :-)






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