Blessing Before Eating

We spend so much time as a culture obsessing about food. What we should and shouldn’t eat, punishing, berating and starving ourselves to try to become something better than we are right now. I’ll do this cleanse/diet and then I’ll feel better about myself or if I can just get into that pair of skinny jeans, I’ll be happy. The problem is that the effects of the cleanse/diet are fleeting, and then you’re back to living with your beautiful imperfect self.

A softer/gentler approach, which engenders a healthier and happier relationship to food, is to get into the habit of blessing your food before you eat it.  If you already do a family blessing, try to find a different one – change it up so that the one you usually chant by rote doesn’t just become background noise before you pick up your fork. We don’t always bless our food as a family, but when we do it leads to an infinitely more satisfying experience. I’ve looked around at all kinds of blessings, and this is one of my favorites. It’s by John O’Donahue from his wonderful book, To Bless The Space Between Us.

As we begin this meal with

grace,

Let us become aware of the

memory

Carried inside the food before

us:

The quiver of the seed

Awakening in the earth

Unfolding in a trust of roots

And slender stems of growth,

On it’s voyage towards harvest,

The kiss of rain and surge of

sun;

The innocence of animal soul

That never spoke a word,

Nourished by the earth

To become today our food;

The work of all strangers

Whose hands prepared it,

The privilege of wealth and

health

That enables us to feast and

celebrate.

This just says it all and draws me into deep gratitude, not just for the food on my plate, but for the fact that I am healthy enough to be able to enjoy it, when there are many who aren’t. I love that he reminds me that wealth (as in being able to afford decent fresh food,) and health are a privilege – something I should never take for granted.

This blessing is a great one for children too. My daughter and her friends cannot be reminded enough that they are really privileged to be able to eat however much they need and want, when 1 out every 14 people on the planet don’t get enough to eat. I found a photograph in a National Geographic magazine this week, which showed a large family in a slum in Calcutta, India. There were about 15 people huddled around a little kerosene burner  on which sat a tiny pot of porridge (the size of a 15-ounce can.) Every single person’s eyes were fixed intently on this little pot, which the mother stirred. It was a powerful image because it was nighttime and you just knew that with that many people and so little food, almost all would go to bed hungry. I’ve never gone to bed hungry – ever – how fortunate I am.

It’s so ironic that after pondering that image for a few minutes in the dentist’s office, I put the magazine back on the waiting room table and spotted a gossip mag with the headlines “Jessica loses 30lbs!” OMG – what planet are we living on? I mean we’re all on the same planet and yet some of obsess about how to lose weight, while others can think of nothing other than where their next morsel of food will come from.

Saying a blessing, either out loud to my family, or quietly to myself, slows me down. Slowing down and breathing before eating a meal is an important step to take in avoiding over-eating. In much the same way as we explore the feelings in our body at the start of a yoga class through the breath, we can do a mini version before tucking in. How does my body feel? Does my energy feel alive or blocked? What’s going on with me? If I’m angry, frustrated or sad, this exercise will allow those feelings to surface and through breathing I can often release them. It’s never a good idea to eat if you are feeling any of the above, as you will be in your head, not in your body.

If we take this time to draw the breath deep into our belly, while softening our facial muscles and allowing our shoulders to drop away from our ears, we can actually become present enough to enjoy our food. This little yogic exercise will help you to chew more thoroughly, to put down your fork between mouthfuls, and ultimately to stop eating when you feel full.

I was sitting in a vegan restaurant with my daughter the other day and a very colorful lady sat down and made a great show of putting her hands together in the namaste position while taking loud yogic breaths over her steaming plate. My daughter was horrified – “that SO embarrassing,” she whispered, as we both averted our eyes. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t do that. My quiet meditation/breathing thing is barely noticeable to the outside world – hopefully!!

Please share any blessings  – even one-liners, that you love and try to say a silent blessing before every meal you eat this week.