Have you found yourself staring at the store shelves, or inside the refrigerator having no idea what to make for dinner?

Or standing in the messy kitchen, frustrated and glaring at the skillet with burned chicken?

Cooking can be pretty stressful!

One of my favorite tricks is to incorporate easy meditation routines into every meal preparation.

Why don’t you introduce this wonderful concept of focused attention into your cooking? After all, cooking is considered to be art by many. If you watch any cooking shows on TV, you can notice the chefs hyper focusing and being momentarily quiet during moments of chopping or measuring.

Meal preparation is a process of combining ingredients that would ultimately end up becoming fuel for your body’s cells. You should put positive energy into the dishes you prepare. So not only will the meal taste great, the whole process will become your way of showing respect to yourself and those whom you are cooking for.

Meditation during cooking will help you:

– To be present and centered. This means you will not skip a step in a recipe, or cut yourself.

– Get rid of any potential anxiety some have about trying new things. Some ingredients or cooking methods can be intimidating!

– Bring overall feeling of joy not only to the preparation of food, but to the consumption as well.

So how exactly can you incorporate meditation into your cooking?

1. Before starting, take a deep breath and think for a minute about where all the food came from; which farm were the vegetables grown on, what kind of people tended to the poultry, and so on. I always try to think about the energy the greens pulled from the sun and what minerals from the soil. Were there beautiful butterflies exercising their colorful wings over the blooming flowers? Were the rain clouds generous with hydrating the plants?

2. Now that you have painted this beautiful image in your mind, send gratitude to all those people who have helped the food you are about to cook on it’s journey—from those who grew it, to the truck drivers, to the cashier.

3. The next step is preparing ingredients for the dance they will perform in the sauté pan, on the grill or inside the oven. Think of this process as getting your food ready for its coming out ball—do the shoes fit (are the roots cleansed off), does the jewelry work (what kind of seasonings will you use), and so on. Use your imagination!

4. Once the cooking is done, it’s time to create an appealing presentation on the plate. This is the moment for your food to come out and shine! Express your love to the plate, blow it a kiss, and send it some positive energy. Food, after all is the main source of fuel for our body—we do want to feel completely satisfied after a nourishing meal.

5. When the time comes to enjoy the beautifully and mindfully prepared dish, take your time. Savor each bite. Breathe. Allow the food to travel slowly through the digestive system. Think of the cells of your body receiving the nutrients necessary for it’s optimal performance.

Bon appetite!

Relephant Read:

Nourishing the Body as an Art Form. {A Meditation}

Author: Natalia Levey

Editor: Emily Bartran

Photo: Pixabay