If you read my blog last year you already know that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!  True, I am pretty much a sucker for the whole holiday season in general, but there is something really refreshing about a holiday that emphasizes the spending of time over money.

In last year’s Thanksgiving blog post, I shared a special activity that you can share with those you love during your holiday celebration.  It’s a tradition I started several years ago in my family and it is always anticipated.  In case you missed it, check it out here. 

If you have ever had a class with Tim and I, then you know our favorite thing is to teach people how to bring more consciousness and intentionality to their lives and relationships.  Well, what do you know, Thanksgiving just happens to be the perfect time to bring our very favorite thing to something else I am sure you will be doing this holiday season…. cooking and eating! 

Before I started this “aware” eating and cooking practice for myself I noticed the strangest phenomenon.  Every January, without fail,  my dryer would break.  The washer, no problem.  The dryer, cursed.  “The dryer temperature must be affected by the cold weather setting in,” I thought.  “Why else would it be getting hotter and thereby shrinking all of my pants?”  As you can guess, after a few months, which also happened to coincide with many hours at the gym, the dryer magically fixed itself.  “Must be the warm weather coming!”  Not quite.

All of that holiday eating, drinking, baking…oh my.  The problem isn’t all of the tasty treats, parties, or even the dryer that must be shrinking your pants.  The problem is that we do most of our holiday cooking and noshing pretty unconsciously. 

Sure, we all want to have dryers that function properly year round, but there is a more essential reason for being mindful about what we are cooking and eating.  When we are mindful, we are grateful.  We physically embody gratitude.  You don’t have to mentally be thinking, “I am grateful for this, or I am grateful for that.”  Simply pausing and being present in the moment with your Aunt Helen or that pumpkin pie, is an act of gratitude.  We honor, we respect and we intentionally bring our conscious awareness to the abundance that is flowering in that moment. 

This holiday season, I challenge you to bring mindfulness to your meals.  Whether you are cooking them or eating them, I have some tips for you: 

Cooking with Consciousness

The kitchen is a great place for magic.  Everyone loves a good home-cooked meal and during the holidays they are plentiful.  When you spend time making and preparing food, a piece of you is literally infused into it.  In the same way that germs can contaminate food if you touch it with dirty hands, your energy also travels into whatever you are preparing.  Have you ever eaten a meal that someone cooked for you when they were in a foul mood?  Did you notice it just wasn’t quite as good?  There is a reason for that.  When you cook unconsciously, whatever is going on for you emotionally, spiritually, physically and mentally is absorbed into the food. 

When you go into the kitchen to cook for your family and friends this holiday season think consciously about what it is you want to “feed” them on all levels. I put a different kind of intentional conscious magic into every dish I create for the holidays.  Mine usually looks something like this:

“I am infusing these sweet potatoes with the emotion of love. As my guests eat it let them feel love, let them know love, let them be love.” 

“As they taste the bitterness of this sauerkraut, let them know that when life tastes bitter they are spiritually supported by the universe.”

“These collard greens go to the strength and healing of the immune system.”

“These mashed potatoes are filled with thoughts of prosperity and joy.”

As you are preparing your intention infused culinary creation, stay present and mindful.  Tune into your breath and let all of the kitchen utensils become an extension of your intentions.  As you chop, whip, roll and slice, feel the feelings that you intend to infuse into your delicacy. 

One warning: There is one downside to cooking with consciousness; there are rarely any leftovers!

Eating with Intention

As you sit down to eat your consciously prepared meal, or one that was likely made with the same level of consciousness as the 15-year old scooping your fries, try this:

1. Take a deep breath.  Really feel your breath as it travels all the way into your belly.  Tune into your sensations of hunger and your sense of fullness and feel where you are in that moment.  Are you hungry, starving, full?

2.  Examine the food on your plate and become present with it.  Take another breath, appreciate how it looks and smells. 

3.  Set your own intention.  Before taking a bite decide how you would like this meal to feed you.  Even if you didn’t cook the food yourself, you can put your own intentions into the food.  You will influence its energy and affect it too.

4.  Take a bite, chew it slowly and mindfully.  Really taste the food.  What is the texture, what is the temperature, the flavor, the spice?  How does it feel in your mouth?  How does it make you feel?  Salad certainly feels different than a turkey leg.  How?  Find out, inquire within.  Taste your food on all levels.

5. Digest.  Digestion is a very involved process in the body, one in which we should all be thankful for.  I don’t know anyone who has worked a day in their life as hard as our digestive systems work for us every day!  Be present for this process too.  Stop every several bites and check in.  Am I still aware of what’s going on here with my body or has my fork turned into shovel that I am now filling a trough with? Just check.

6. Enjoy.  This is an automatic step.  When you begin to practice mindfulness in eating and cooking you will begin to enjoy the experience of food even more. 

When we enjoy life, we are living and breathing gratitude.  And when we are living and breathing gratitude we shine light on the whole world. 

May all of your meals be filled with gratitude!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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