Kitchen Mindfulness

Anyone ever feel stressed, rushed or overwhelmed when taking care of business in the kitchen? It has become our culture's norm to rush from one task or place to another throughout the day. If we make it into the kitchen at all, the result is typically healthier than eating out. However, if our time in the kitchen has the same chore-like feeling as all of our other stressors, we are less likely to prepare our own food...less likely to eat real food... and worst of all, less likely to experience good health, high energy, lightness, alignment and connection.

Dinner Bell!

The kitchen can be a place of mindfulness, pleasure and calm. It can be a place where we create routines that bring us to that sweet spot with ourselves where the world just feels right. I think it's called contentment. Shared routines can also bring family members and friends closer together over our most common threads as humans: our need for nourishment and relationships with others. 

You've maybe heard of applying the zen practice to mundane chores such as sweeping or washing dishes. This involves simply bringing all of your attention to the present moment, while completing a chore. When you wash dishes, for example, it can become a relaxing meditation simply by paying close attention to the way the water feels and the soap smells. Building on this idea of mindful practices, I have gifted myself and my family with several pleasurable kitchen rituals that I am offering as examples to get you thinking about your current routines and whether you are satisfied with them.

Mindful kitchen practices especially for MAMMA (that's me): 

• I always start by pouring myself something to sip on while cooking. (Breakfast: tea, coffee or hot lemon water in my favorite mug; Lunch and Dinner: water, club soda, kombucha, cool tea, wine or beer in a fancy wine glass or goblet.) I find that the most important detail is the awesomeness of the vessel rather than the content. This practices sends a clear message to myself and anyone hanging around the kitchen bar that this is MY time and that I will do it MY way, taking time to sip something just for me along the way. A wine glass makes every meal preparation feel like a celebration.
• While cooking dinner, I always play whatever music matches my mood. Sometimes I'm shaking it up with Maroon 5 or my 12-year-old's pop stuff, and other times I'm shaking it down with acoustic, folky stuff that makes me all thoughtful and introverted. Whatever the mood, the music increases the sensuality of my cooking experience. I'm touching, tasting, smelling, seeing AND listening to something pleasurable.
• I decide whether I'm in the mood for "helpers" or not. At my discretion, I invite a kid or my lover or a neighbor/friend to chop, dice, stir or otherwise just keep me company. Often, I ask my hubby to play piano while I cook. I'm pretty sure he prefers that arrangement to being deemed sou chef for the evening.
• I really tune into the way the food I'm cooking is expressing itself. One of the reasons I prefer stovetop to baking is that I interact with the food the entire time it's cooking. Either way though, I find it very relaxing to simply pay attention to the look, feel and smell of the vegetables, meats and spices...and let gratitude for such abundance wash over me while I'm cooking.

Mindful kitchen practices for my FAMILY, FRIENDS, CONNECTIONS (that's we):

• When a meal is ready, I ring a small brass bell that I keep by the stove to signal to anyone in earshot to "come and get it!" Its the familiar sound that signals the beginning of our time together withOUT devices, distractions or delays in getting to the table with washed hands. It's the gong at the beginning of a yoga class, the cowbell at the beginning of an old fashioned camp stew, the horn at the beginning of a barbecue...whatever. It's not a new idea, but it is rarely used in family kitchens on a daily basis. We like it. Kids love to be allowed ring the bell.
• Preparing everyone to calm down, focus on the meal and be fully present in a state of gratitude typically requires some sort of prayer or meditation. Though we have used songs and rhymes in the past, we find that holding hands while taking a deep inhale together then exhaling a long yyyuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmm (like Om) does the trick. It's so simple and spirit-neutral, that we are able to use this short meditation moment with any visitors. It seems to produce minimal awkwardness, while allowing us the continuity of our usual routine. 
• Because our time together in the kitchen is of great value, we respect it with pretty good manners. For instance, if someone has a need or desire to leave the table before others are finished eating, we ask to be excused. This is an expression of respect for the conversations and connections that we have given our attention to during the meal. We also deliver our dirty dishes to the sink and take pleasure in keeping the sink clear by washing as we go - whomever happens to be at the sink at any given time. Using basic manners that are predictable and generally non-negotiable helps keep the peacefulness in the kitchen.
• We rarely have any type of prepared dessert, but we often break off a small piece of dark chocolate for each other during group clean-up. Who was it that taught us that just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down? Oh yes, Miss Poppins was so right. Just a mouthful of chocolate helps the kitchen get clean. We savor the chocolate and the joy of sharing a task to make it quicker.

SUGGESTIONS...no matter if you are a single, a couple or a family: 

• Consider integrating some or more of your favorite things into your kitchen space and time (music, art, people, baubles, candles, plants, cocktails, etc.).
• Mark the start and end of your mealtimes to designate the time as mindful time, a time to be fully present.
• Make cooking and cleaning in the kitchen feel like a celebration or a treat for yourself...whatever that means to you. 
• Practice paying close attention to the ingredients you are using while cooking, imagining where they came from and how they got to you. Express gratitude (silently or loudly) for nature and all the hands that brought these things closer and closer to your kitchen, your plate and ultimately your body.
• Think of washing dishes and cleaning up as a way to wash away all the troubles and stressors of the day. Relax into it.
• Maintain high expectations for the how kitchen time is valued and respected by everyone who eats there. 

The kitchen is my church. It's where I do a dance in honor of Mother Nature...connecting with my life source and loved ones. It's where I celebrate life! It's the foundation for good health and happy living. A few solid mindful kitchen practices can ease the stress of the day AND make the food taste better.

Hoping to help you make healthy changes by bringing more ease and pleasure into the kitchen. Next up: A dish I learned in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.