The Yoga Meal is all about mindful eating; not just what eat but how you eat.  See how the ordinary meal becomes an experience. This method helps you to develop an intimacy with your food unlike any other.  You begin to slow down and appreciate not just the foods, but the efforts that went into getting your food onto your plate.  There is an intentional pause or stillness. Follow these guidelines just one meal per day and you will find that foods become tastier, more vibrant, and deeply rich.  This is all about awareness.

Give it a try to see for yourself if your relationship with food doesn’t evolve into a healthier space.

1. Remain seated.  This doesn’t mean in your car.  It means that you set a space at a table and you sit to eat your meal.  Even if the meal is as simple as a bowl of oatmeal or a piece of fruit.  Sit down with a plate and a napkin. The before you eat, pause.  Pause and look at the foods; colors, smells, textures.  After you have paused you choose to bless the food, pray over the food or simply pause.

2. Only 2-3 handfuls of food on your plate.  Start with this amount.  This is the amount that typically is enough to sustain our bodies.  We often live in the mindset of lack, and therefore we take in way too much food.

3. Put the fork or spoon down between bites. When we are loading up our utensil with the next bite, we are not experiencing the bite that is in our mouth.  We are in the future bite rather than the present bite.  When the fork or spoon is down you are more aware of the sensations that are happening in your mouth.

4. No talking with food in your mouth. We may have been raised with the words “don’t talk with your mouth full” but this goes deeper.  Conversing at a meal is fine, but doing so with food in our mouth is not mindful. When we are talking with food in our mouth, we are usually not chewing as much as we should (in order to get that sentence in), and we are really not focused on what is happening in our mouth.  Awareness again.

5. Wait 10-15 minutes after eating before reaching for more. As humans, we eat way too much.  It is pretty evident that in our country more people are over eating and struggling with weight. By becoming aware of not only what we are eating and how we are eating, we deepen the awareness to the possibility that we are eating for reasons other than hunger.