Left alone with ourselves, closing our eyes and taking a few deep breaths, we get many pleasant bonuses: we calm down, increase our mental concentration, and become happier. I have written more than once about the endless health benefits of meditation. Now I’m reading Thrive by Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post news portal, and I’m amazed again at how miraculous meditation is and how important it is to everyone’s health and well-being. I will publish a detailed annotation for the book in the near future.
Unfortunately, most of us cannot find even 15 minutes of free time for meditation during the day. Therefore, as an alternative, I suggest you combine it with another very useful process – cooking homemade food.
When preparing food, you will have to be careful not to cut off your fingers anyway. Here are six practical tips on how to meditate as you peel, cut, boil, and stir:
1. Move your phone away to minimize distractions
Treat cooking as the only thing to do at the moment.
2. Start with what makes you feel good.
If the kitchen is all messy and dirty dishes, you may feel overwhelmed (like me :). Incorporate cleaning and prep work into your meditation practice. Focus on one task before moving on to the next.
3. When you feel comfortable in your surroundings, you can start
Take a few deep breaths in and out and look around to make sure you have everything you need close at hand.
4. Use all your senses: look, listen, smell and taste
Listen to the sound that the stove makes when you turn on the gas. Feel the shape of the onion, close your eyes and inhale its scent. Roll the onion in your hand and feel how it feels to the touch – soft, hard, dents, or peels.
5. Close your eyes to enhance other senses and actually smell food
While vegetables or garlic are stewing, close your eyes and inhale.
6. Focus on the task at hand
Stir the soup in a saucepan, turn the potatoes in the pan, open the oven, add salt to the dish. Try to do this without focusing on other things that are happening in the kitchen or in your head.
Cooking a simple dinner will take you only 20-30 minutes, but thanks to this approach, during this time you will do a good job not only for your stomach, but for the whole organism as a whole.