Feasting and Celebration

As the holidays approach—a time of feasting and celebration—give yourself a gift to help enjoy the season. Take your zen-cuisine practice out of the kitchen and into your daily life for a truly heart-warming experience. After preparing, eating or cleaning up the kitchen, pause briefly before you step over the threshold. 

Close you eyes, and relax into your breath. Let awareness center and ground your thoughts. For a moment, let yourself step out of conditioned time and space into the present moment, falling into grace. Soften your heart, relaxing your body and gently opening your mind in loving tenderness to the world around you.

As you open your eyes, let your gaze soften and slowly leave the room. Pay attention to perceptual shifts that come after your time in the kitchen. You may notice you feel lighter. If you began to cook in a stressful situation, or at the end of a long day, you may feel as if something has been lifted from your shoulders. You seem to have more energy and a spaciousness arises in the mind. Although busy and distracted before you focused on cooking, now your thinking is noticeably clearer and steadier. You enjoy a greater sense of ease, and happiness in this a newly-emerging calm. You are able to respond to what is happening around you. rather than mindlessly reacting to circumstances. Perhaps a concern which loomed large before you started cooking has been resolved, or relaxed into a more realistic perspective. 

You may also be aware of a change in your perception of what manifests in the present moment, experiencing without preconceived bias. Your heart expands, and as you open to life, you are this wider, deeper, broader awareness. In this brief pause before leaving the kitchen, you take time to sense the subtle shift in the way you feel about yourself. Touch the changes in your relationship to food and to the way you relate to other people through food.

Look deeply at the clarity of your thoughts, and relax into the flow of energy riding on your stable breath. Notice life unfolding around you. Take this moment to honour your own presence, and the process of living as it dances through your life. May zen-cuisine practice bring joy in this season of light. Happy Cooking!