Aware Consuming: The Raisin Exercise and Guided Meditation

Have you ever ever discovered your self reaching for a bag of chips or a sweet bar with out even realizing it? Or possibly you’ve eaten a whole meal whereas distracted by your telephone or tv? Right here’s a aware consuming guided meditation.

It occurs to us all! One technique to follow aware consuming is thru the “raisin” exercise, a aware consuming guided meditation that may provide help to grow to be extra aware of your consuming habits.

Do not forget that meals is a lot extra than simply the bodily nourishment for our our bodies, it’s additionally about enjoyment, connection, custom, social expertise, cultural expertise, inventive expression, and pleasure! It’s regular for us to expertise consuming alongside feelings or distraction. 

Aware Consuming: The Raisin Exercise and Guided Meditation

Many people wrestle with senseless consuming or consuming with out being totally conscious of what we’re placing in our our bodies. However there’s a answer: aware consuming. By training mindfulness whereas consuming, we are able to study to savor and luxuriate in our meals extra totally, construct a extra balanced and peaceable relationship with meals, and even enhance our total well being. 

This train is a unbelievable technique to follow aware consuming and it may be executed with any meals!

I realized this follow from my latest coaching in MBSR (mindfulness-based stress discount). The raisin exercise is a standard mindfulness train used within the context of aware consuming. Whereas it’s not totally clear who first developed this exercise, it’s typically attributed to Jon Kabat-Zinn, a professor of medication and the founding father of the Mindfulness-Based mostly Stress Discount program on the College of Massachusetts Medical Faculty. Kabat-Zinn is well known as one of many pioneers of contemporary mindfulness follow and has contributed considerably to its integration into mainstream drugs and psychology.

What Is The Raisin Exercise?

The raisin exercise is a guided meditation that includes utilizing your entire senses to mindfully eat a single raisin. This train is designed that can assist you decelerate, take note of your meals, and savor each chew.

Once more, in the event you don’t get pleasure from raisins or don’t have them available, use any meals you want and have.

Right here’s learn how to do the raisin aware consuming meditation: 

1. Begin by discovering a cushty and quiet place to take a seat. You probably have a particular or devoted meditation area in your house, use this area. Be sure you received’t be disturbed for the following 10-Quarter-hour.
2. Take just a few deep breaths and focus your consideration in your physique. Really feel your toes on the bottom and your again towards the chair. Enable your self to chill out and let go of any rigidity.
3. Take a raisin and maintain it within the palm of your hand. Look at the raisin along with your eyes, listening to its form, shade, and texture. Discover any ridges or wrinkles on the floor.
4. Carry the raisin as much as your nostril and take a deep breath. Discover any scent or aroma that the raisin provides off.
5. Slowly place the raisin in your mouth, however don’t chew it but. Discover the feeling of the raisin in your tongue and the within of your mouth. Enable it to take a seat in your mouth for just a few seconds.
6. Start to chew the raisin slowly and mindfully, listening to the feeling of every chew. Discover the feel and taste of the raisin.
7. Swallow the raisin and spot the feeling of it happening your throat.
8. Take a second to replicate in your expertise. How did it really feel to eat the raisin mindfully? Did you discover any new sensations or flavors that you simply wouldn’t have seen in any other case?

The raisin exercise is a strong instrument for training aware consuming. By bringing your full consideration to the act of consuming, you’ll be able to domesticate a deeper appreciation on your meals and develop a more healthy relationship with it.

Why Follow Aware Consuming?

There are lots of advantages to training aware consuming. For one, it may well provide help to grow to be extra conscious of your starvation and fullness cues, permitting you to higher regulate your meals consumption and preserve your distinctive balanced weight.

Aware consuming also can provide help to get pleasure from your meals extra totally and cut back emotions of guilt or disgrace round consuming. Moreover, training aware consuming may help you grow to be extra conscious of your emotional triggers round meals and develop more healthy coping mechanisms.

Ideas for Training Aware Consuming

Along with the raisin exercise, there are a lot of different methods to follow aware consuming. Listed here are just a few tricks to get began:

1. Eat with out distractions: Keep away from consuming whereas watching TV, utilizing your telephone, or working at your pc. As a substitute, focus your entire consideration in your meals.
2. Decelerate: Take your time whereas consuming, and chew every chew completely. This can provide help to savor the flavors and textures of your meals.
3. Take note of your physique: Verify in along with your physique earlier than, throughout, and after consuming. Discover how these sensations really feel in your physique with no judgment and lots of self-compassion.