So often we eat mindlessly, allowing other aspects of life to dash or wander aimlessly across our consciousness, distracting us from our fundamentally physical relationship with food.  Mindful eating is often presented as being just about focusing on the food itself; the look, smell, taste and texture; but it can be so much more than this relatively shallow form of connection.  Why let the mindfulness stop once you have swallowed the food?  If we are taking the time and trouble to influence the spirit and quality of our food using biodynamic methods, are we fully appreciating every quality that arises as a result? 

Truly mindful eating can therefore incorporate a fully open minded response to the entire process of consumption. Do you notice the vibrancy of biodynamically farmed produce as it becomes incorporated into you?  How and where does its energy mix with your own to create a new synergy, and how does this synergy feel?  Can you feel this on a physical or an energetic level?  For example, do the different light frequencies of variously coloured foods feel different?  Or if you usually eat raw sprouted beans, do they feel different in your body if you stir-fry them or when you add them into a curry sauce, for example?

To set an intention for our food choices is another interesting concept: so if we want to revitalize ourselves, calm our troubled minds or bodies, or simply lift our spirits by enjoying a delicious meal, does this influence not only our food choices but also the way that the food interacts with us as we consume it?  Or does your body naturally draw you towards certain foods and repel you from others, depending on its changing needs? 

If you are living a mindful life, then of course a mindful approach to harvesting or purchasing food can become a fascinating way to explore the ways in which our physical and spiritual selves express their needs by influencing our desires.

There are of course no right or wrong responses to foods, as we are each as unique as every food item; all of us intricately influenced by our environment and experiences.  If you would like to explore your own relationship with food and eating patterns, you may enjoy using ‘Nourish’ at www.soulnutrition.org. This is a photographic, mindful eating food diary that provides you with room to reflect on cooking and eating experiences. Although best to upload photos via smartphones or tablets, the week to a view page is clearest on a laptop; from here you can hover over each image to read previous entries and quickly identify the patterns that best support you, or simply observe how your experiences change over time. 

The site offers a number of free resources, but with options to donate to support brain cancer research should you wish to do so.  You can explore all aspects of it now at www.soulnutrition.org 

Published in the Biodynamic Association Newsletter, Spring 2015