Raisin Meditation for Mindful Eating

How often do you eat your breakfast while scrolling down your Instagram feed, mindlessly eat lunch at your office desk, or watch Friends series on Netflix while eating dinner? We are all guilty for it!

Of course, we might think the food we’re eating is excellent, but we rarely feel the natural texture and flavour of the foods in our mouths and enjoy every single bite. Sometimes we don’t even feel how full we are until we’re painfully stuffed. Sometimes eating is just another part of our routine tasks.

It can be tough to focus on every bite, flavour, and texture of our food, but as the motto goes, “practice makes perfect,” so; learning mindful eating is an excellent way to become conscious in other aspects of our lives. The ‘Raisin Meditation’ is the perfect exercise to find out how to eat mindfully, as it’s an exercise to help you zone into one tiny thing…a raisin! So keep reading this article to see how to practice.

How to practice the raisin meditation?

Before you begin, find a quiet place where you can sit down and relax. You can take a few deep breaths to loosen your body and bring your mind to the practice. Once you’re calm, please pick up the raisin and hold it in your hand.

1. Look at the raisin: Try to concentrate. Let your eyes wander over the Raisin and pick out all the details– the colour, ranges of light and shade, any rims or shine. Before moving on, you should close your eyes, as this can increase your other senses and help you focus.
2. Touch and feel the raisin: Observe its small size in your palm. Feel the raisin’s texture with your fingers. Is the skin smooth? Are there any edges? Is it soft or hard?
3. Smell the raisin: Bring the raisin closer to your nose and smell it. With your deep inhalations and exhalations, focus on any scents and aromas you can detect. Does it smell earthy? Or perhaps sweet? Has this triggered your taste buds or made your tummy grumble?
4. Taste the raisin: Place the raisin in your mouth, regarding how your hand intuitively understands where to go. Don’t chew yet; spend some time concentrating on how the little raisin feels on your tongue. Roll it over in your mouth and feel its texture on the top of your mouth. Take one or two bites into the fruit, without swallowing it yet. Set your mind on the sensations just released into your mouth. How does it taste? How does it develop as the moment passes?
5. Hear the sounds: Pay attention to the sounds you make while chewing and swallowing it. Notice When you’ve explored the feeling of the raisin in your mouth [1].
6. Swallow the raisin: Think about your intention to swallow the raisin and then imagine that little raisin going down your throat and through your GI tract.

How do you feel now?

If you do this raisin meditation exercise a few times, you will feel super calm afterwards. It’s an exceptional practice to focus on the present moment and to consider the different steps that go into eating – and nothing else.

It’s a reminder that eating should be about enjoying the delicious food, and you shouldn’t spoil it by being in a hurry.

[1] https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/raisin_meditation