It helps to control anxiety and stress, to regain resources and self-confidence. Meditation “in full consciousness”, in a conscious way or mindfulness, already widely practiced by adults, in some French schools it is also recommended for young people who have problems maintaining constant attention and concentration. And after the long lockdown imposed by measures to reduce the spread of covid-19, it has been very useful for managing the inevitable negative emotions in children.
The conscious meditation or mindfulness, is the phase that prepares for meditation, from which to start, especially if it is faced for the first time.
Extrapolated from the totally spiritual sphere, meditation seems to be the cure-all of our years. Recent studies, published in theAmerican Journal of Preventive Medicine, have shown that meditating reduces the tendency to drive and eating disorders by 50%. These results have led a group of American doctors and psychologists to develop specific programs to eat “in full consciousness”, in a conscious way.
For example the Mindful Eating created by Jan Chozen Bays, pediatrician, Zen teacher and abbot of the Great Vow Zen Monastery in Oregon, author of Mindful Eating: a Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food. But also MB-EAT (www.mb-eat.com) by doctor Jean L. Kristeller, author of The Joy of Half a Cookie, which also has an Italian version of the protocol. These studies have given rise to centers inspired by the American and the Mindful Eating Day, days dedicated to the discovery of conscious nutrition, in fact.
“In this post-industrial era it is all too easy to take the act of eating totally for granted, facing it with an enormous lack of awareness and charging it with complicated psychological values ​​that obscure, and sometimes seriously distort what is one of the simplest aspects , basic and miraculous of our life », writes Jan Chozen Bays in the introduction a Mindful Eating. «This book was written for anyone who wants to improve their relationship with food. In the many years of working in the medical field and practicing and teaching mindfulness, I have come to the conclusion that mindfulness is definitely one of the best medicines out there. Most of the books and techniques for changing the way we eat require a change that is dictated from the outside. Mindfulness, on the other hand, evokes a change that starts from within. A natural and organic process that takes place in the times and in the ways that best suit each of us ».
“Imagine what it would be like to lose weight without difficulty and without giving up the foods you prefer,” writes Jean L. Kristeller in the introduction to The Joy of Half a Cookie. «Tasting a glass of wine, a freshly baked sandwich, a slice of pizza or a piece of chocolate without the usual tug-of-war between desires and willpower. It’s possible? Sure. Mindful eating will show you how. The program for the Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT) includes four fundamental elements: meditation and awareness, the power to get in tune with body and mind, accept rather than oppose, the positive value of food, scientific demonstration how this makes a difference ».
CONSCIOUS FEEDING OR FULL CONSCIOUSNESS
How can we feed ourselves in a conscious way or in full consciousness? It is necessary first of all develop complete attention to what you eat to regain a healthy relationship with food. Doctors of the program Mindful Eating they recommend dedicating even just a few minutes a day to analyzing how you eat, recognizing various types of hunger, observing negative thoughts associated with the effects of food and identifying eating habits. This operation certainly takes time and effort, but it imposes less constraints than a diet and is easier than counting calories. In addition, eating consciously or in full consciousness is less stressful than a diet, it does not involve banning certain foods, but eating better and everything.
It is really possible to lose weight by following a conscious diet, but under only one condition: don’t get obsessed with the number of kg you want to lose. Seeing only the goal, there is the risk of no longer distinguishing the path to take to reach it. The more experiences of full consciousness multiply, the more wrong eating habits are changed. Mindful eating allows us to recognize if we are really hungry or if we are just nervous, helping us to eat only when we really need and thus promoting weight loss. While all diets, especially the more rigid ones, push to go back to the feeding modalities before the diet, in this case the changes are perhaps small and slow, but they last over time. You get to eat only the necessary quantities, to recognize the sense of satiety, to give yourself time to listen to the signals of the body.
4 WEEKS IN FULL CONSCIOUSNESS
The Mindful Eating program takes 4 weeks.
1.In First week necessary identify emotions. Before eating, you have to ask yourself how you feel (nervous, stressed, tired). The emotion that takes over the others conditions the way we eat so to avoid throwing ourselves on food without realizing it, when you sit at the table or wash your hands, it is important to recognize it. In order not to be dominated, you have to breathe deeply while inflating the abdomen. At the table it is important activate all five senses to appreciate what you eat from all points of view: the colors, the scents, the shapes, the texture, the nuances of taste. It would be better not to have disturbing elements that distract from the awareness operation, such as the cell phone, the TV or the radio, the computer. At the end of the meal, the sensations of satiety are analyzed or if something is still missing and you are really hungry.
2.The second week is dedicated to creation of new rituals. If the moments of full consciousness are multiplied, it will be easier and easier to use awareness during meals. Exercise serves to limit (or eliminate) the flow of thoughts, often negative, that accompanies all daily actions, from brushing your teeth to taking a shower. The idea of ​​this exercise is to live in the moment without getting carried away. Little tricks are needed to get used to it, like a bracelet that jingles and distracts us from negative thoughts or taking a deep breath 2 or 3 times before answering the phone. Or new rituals, like looking out the open window every morning to capture images, sounds, noises, smells. At the table it is about look at the plate and what it contains to visualize every little detail. Then, when it’s time to swallow the morsels, try to grasp its texture and flavors, before they change and reach the stomach.
3.The third week we start there actual meditation. To reduce the stress that leads to eating too much, too fast, too many sweets or too much fat, a few minutes a day of meditation are enough, away from meals and possibly always at the same time of the day. For example, before going to sleep or in the morning after washing and dressing. You can choose to follow one guided meditation (there are also some on the Italian site of Mindful Eating) or simply sit on a chair listening to what passes inside us (emotions, thoughts, tensions) and outside (noises, sounds, smells, smells). Alternatively, meditation can be replaced by an activity that requires concentration, from gardening to walking, but also simple deep breathing exercises (inflating the abdomen). At the table this week the task is to eating using the non-dominant hand (the right for those who are left-handed and vice versa) in order to send information to the brain different from the usual ones.
4.The fourth week it’s time to achieve goals and to use all the advice from the previous three weeks. At the table it is necessary to remain focused and attentive at least for the first three bites of each dish, chewing slowly and placing the cutlery on each bite. When you feel full, it’s time to stop eating.
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