Conscious 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 conscious consuming guided meditation.

It occurs to us all! One method to observe conscious consuming is thru the “raisin” exercise, a conscious consuming guided meditation that may enable you change into extra conscious 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, artistic expression, and pleasure! It’s regular for us to expertise consuming alongside feelings or distraction. 

Conscious Consuming: The Raisin Exercise and Guided Meditation

Many people wrestle with senseless consuming or consuming with out being absolutely conscious of what we’re placing in our our bodies. However there’s a answer: conscious consuming. By practising mindfulness whereas consuming, we will be taught to savor and luxuriate in our meals extra absolutely, construct a extra balanced and peaceable relationship with meals, and even enhance our general well being. 

This train is a implausible method to observe conscious consuming and it may be completed with any meals!

I discovered this observe from my latest coaching in MBSR (mindfulness-based stress discount). The raisin exercise is a typical mindfulness train used within the context of conscious consuming. Whereas it’s not solely clear who first developed this exercise, it’s usually attributed to Jon Kabat-Zinn, a professor of medication and the founding father of the Mindfulness-Primarily based Stress Discount program on the College of Massachusetts Medical Faculty. Kabat-Zinn is well known as one of many pioneers of contemporary mindfulness observe 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 entails utilizing your whole 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, for those who don’t take pleasure in raisins or don’t have them available, use any meals you want and have.

Right here’s how you can do the raisin conscious consuming meditation: 

1. Begin by discovering a cushty and quiet place to take a seat. When you’ve got a particular or devoted meditation area in your house, use this area. Be sure you gained’t be disturbed for the following 10-Quarter-hour.
2. Take a number of deep breaths and focus your consideration in your physique. Really feel your ft on the bottom and your again towards the chair. Permit your self to calm down and let go of any rigidity.
3. Take a raisin and maintain it within the palm of your hand. Study the raisin together with your eyes, being attentive to its form, coloration, and texture. Discover any ridges or wrinkles on the floor.
4. Convey the raisin as much as your nostril and take a deep breath. Discover any scent or aroma that the raisin offers 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. Permit it to take a seat in your mouth for a number of seconds.
6. Start to chew the raisin slowly and mindfully, being attentive to the feeling of every chew. Discover the feel and taste of the raisin.
7. Swallow the raisin and see 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 observed in any other case?

The raisin exercise is a strong instrument for practising conscious consuming. By bringing your full consideration to the act of consuming, you may domesticate a deeper appreciation in your meals and develop a more healthy relationship with it.

Why Apply Conscious Consuming?

There are various advantages to practising conscious consuming. For one, it might enable you change into extra conscious of your starvation and fullness cues, permitting you to higher regulate your meals consumption and preserve your distinctive balanced weight.

Conscious consuming also can enable you take pleasure in your meals extra absolutely and scale back emotions of guilt or disgrace round consuming. Moreover, practising conscious consuming may help you change into extra conscious of your emotional triggers round meals and develop more healthy coping mechanisms.

Suggestions for Practising Conscious Consuming

Along with the raisin exercise, there are a lot of different methods to observe conscious consuming. Listed below are a number of tricks to get began:

1. Eat with out distractions: Keep away from consuming whereas watching TV, utilizing your telephone, or working at your laptop. As an alternative, focus your whole consideration in your meals.
2. Decelerate: Take your time whereas consuming, and chew every chew totally. It will enable you savor the flavors and textures of your meals.
3. Take note of your physique: Verify in together with your physique earlier than, throughout, and after consuming. Discover how these sensations really feel in your physique with no judgment and plenty of self-compassion.