The Mindful Raisin Challenge

This is a challenge I learned during yoga teacher training. For a group of aspiring teachers who were overcome in the rest of their lives by work, traffic, kids, grad school, and life in general, we found this very hard. Though it felt a little silly at first, we were all surprised by how unintentional we usually were when eating.

What you need: 3 plump, juicy raisins. If you’re not a raisin fan, you can use another dried fruit or even chocolate chips.

How to eat raisins (or your choice!) mindfully:

1. With raisins in hand, begin to explore them with all of your senses. Imagine that you’ve never seen a raisin before. Discover everything you can about them!

2. Turn them around with your fingers and take note of the colors.

3. Observe the texture - any softness, hardness, coarseness, or smoothness.

4. Put the raisins up to your nose and take note of any aroma.

5. Place the your raisins close to one ear, squeeze them or roll them around, listening to any sounds.

6. Now the fun part! Slowly put the 3 raisins in your mouth, noticing the sensation of your mouth beginning to water as you start to chew them.

7. Chew the raisins slowly and with intention until they are virtually disintegrated.

8. When you feel ready to swallow, note the sensations of swallowing the raisins - for example, sensing them moving down your throat and into your esophagus on their way to your stomach.

9. Visualize this happening and the energy and nourishment that this intentional eating is going to provide your body.

10. Take a moment to congratulate yourself for taking this time to experience truly mindful eating!