Mindfully Eat a Raisin
Take a few raisins (or another kind of food with an interesting or unusual texture, smell, or taste) and imagine you've never seen or tasted raisins before.
Mindfully eat it.
Purposefully slow down, sense it, savor it and smile between bites.
Use all your senses to see it, touch it, smell it, and sense it.

Then gently pop it into your mouth and really enjoy it.
Enjoy its texture, its taste, how it feels in your mouth.
Let it stay in your mouth for a little while and then swallow it.
After you have swallowed it, let your lips turn up slightly and smile.
Do the same thing for each raisin you eat or bite you take.
What Was Your Mindfulness Experience?
We can’t wait to read your experience and get inspired.
And until then...
Great exercise again. I did this before on the first day of a mindfulness course. Wonderful how it immediately takes me out of my head and how much flavor there is to experience when I taste with true attention. Rarely tasted such a delicious raisin…;-)
Thanks Ben for this honest sharing.
Isn’t it a magical experience when we put attention and awareness to what we do?
Imagine how life would be when we put such awareness in EVERYTHING that we do…
This is a great exercise. The moment in time where there is nothing else. It also tastes stronger. Instead of a raisin I had e piece of dark chocolate. Felt like a reward ?
This excersize I did long ago during my first Mindfulness course.
I remember it well.
You also have to chew 30 times.
That’s better for your intestinals.
Thanks for your valuable addition Marjo.
When I read the suggestion to eat a raisin mindfully, I immediately felt resistance.
My first thought, “I don’t have time.”
My second, “I don’t want to feel.”
The first sounded ridiculous. I was shocked by the second.
I know I’d rather work with my brain than my body, but having this ‘hidden’ thought tells me a lot about how I once thought I could best protect myself from painful experiences.
However, a raisin doesn’t hurt.
So I just mindfully ate a raisin and smiled.
It was a very enjoyable and positive exercise that really brought me back to this moment.
Thank you.
Thanks for your honest and sincere comment Manny.
So many of us live much too much in our head than in our body. The body has so much wisdom to teach us and we avoid it, thus missing so much knowledge and wisdom.
Starting with noticing those reactions and doing it anyway is a great place to start experiencing the sensation and the wisdom of your body.
next step is to turn any eating into Mindfulness Eating… and see experience the difference
Enjoying your food, instead of eating without tasting, experiencing…
For me also the preparing of the food is included, washing the fruits or vegetables, without hurry preparing your meal, taking time, looking at it, smelling, feeling, enjoying the time it takes, cutting veggies is also meditative.
Putting it on a plate in a nice way, with different colors, maybe a flower, or some fresh herbs (when I make tea in spring I start walking barefoot, enjoying my surroundings, looking en picking intuitively what I choose te be in my teacup..)
Feeling grateful for mother earth, the nature, to provide in this.
And when it is time to eat, chose a place to sit, alone, or with good company.
Connect with your body, your feet on the ground, your breath, relaxed and free, feel the sun on your face, or the warmt of your sweater, no hurry.
Enjoy it all.. And then start your tasting and eating, mindfully.
Thanks for this detailed description of hot to turn eating into Mindfulness Eating, Marjon
Focussing gives me peace of mind
Thanks Paul for this great insight.
I use self hypnosis, focus on myself or on my surrounding. Helps to focus, find peace and calm down.
That’s a great suggestion Cobi. Thanks for this valuable input.
Could you recommend some of your favourite ways of doing it?
Sat outside today and really looked at the clouds, at the sun shining in the water, at the plants. close my eyes and just feel being alive. It really helps.
Thanks for your wonderful addition Sylvia.
isn’t it great that it’s the simple things in life that add so much to the QUALITY of our lives?
What else could you do to add?
Reading these Words full of Mindfullness is too? Reading with all my senses.
Appreciating, more taste, better digestion. Before starting take a few deep breaths.
Try eating (anything) with a blindfold. Really helps with winetasting too.
Thanks for your valuable addition Ard. It’s one of my favourites… in general eating with your fingers without forks, spoons or knives add a lot for being in the moment and experiencing more of what we eat
Aandachtig leven, maakt dat je echt leeft.
Oh Yes, it works so much better than eating fast. It tast so much more! I like to eat more aware. It’s also better for the digestic system. Thank you.