When you eat your breakfast, even if it is just a small bite early in the morning, eat in such a way that freedom is possible. While eating breakfast, don't think of the future, of what you are going to do. Your practice is to simply eat breakfast. Your breakfast is there for you; you have to be there for your breakfast. You can chew each morsel of food with joy and freedom.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Showing posts with label mindfulness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mindfulness. Show all posts
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Embodiment and mindfulness in serving a cup of tea
In Self and Others, the anti-psychiatrist Ronald Laing tells the story of a schizophrenic woman to whom a nurse gave a cup of tea. "This is the first time in my life that anyone has ever given me a cup of tea," the patient told her.
Since this scene took place in Great Britain where drinking tea is a daily ritual, it seemed impossible that the patient was telling the truth. But she was. Laing explains that her extreme sensitivity about being recognized or not recognized as a human being, as a human body, allowed her to express a simple and profound truth: "It is not so easy for one person to give another a cup of tea. If a lady gives me a cup of tea, she might be showing off her teapot, or her tea-set; she might be trying to put me in a good mood in order to get something out of me; she may be trying to get me to like her; she may be wanting me as an ally for her own purposes against others. She might pour tea from a teapot into a cup and shove out her hand with cup and saucer in it, whereupon I am expected to grab them within the two seconds before they will become a dead weight. The action could be a mechanical one in which there is no recognition of me in it. A cup of tea could be handed me with me being given a cup of tea."*
To be there, behind the cup of tea . . . to be there, in our body, for ourself and for others . . . to live in our body . . . . [I]t is essential for us to feel within our bodies who we are, that we are. Be a body first of all. Be a body at last. Be.
from The Body Has Its Reasons, by Therese Bertherat and Carol Bernstein (1989)
* R.D. Laing, Self and Others (1961)
Since this scene took place in Great Britain where drinking tea is a daily ritual, it seemed impossible that the patient was telling the truth. But she was. Laing explains that her extreme sensitivity about being recognized or not recognized as a human being, as a human body, allowed her to express a simple and profound truth: "It is not so easy for one person to give another a cup of tea. If a lady gives me a cup of tea, she might be showing off her teapot, or her tea-set; she might be trying to put me in a good mood in order to get something out of me; she may be trying to get me to like her; she may be wanting me as an ally for her own purposes against others. She might pour tea from a teapot into a cup and shove out her hand with cup and saucer in it, whereupon I am expected to grab them within the two seconds before they will become a dead weight. The action could be a mechanical one in which there is no recognition of me in it. A cup of tea could be handed me with me being given a cup of tea."*
To be there, behind the cup of tea . . . to be there, in our body, for ourself and for others . . . to live in our body . . . . [I]t is essential for us to feel within our bodies who we are, that we are. Be a body first of all. Be a body at last. Be.
from The Body Has Its Reasons, by Therese Bertherat and Carol Bernstein (1989)
* R.D. Laing, Self and Others (1961)
Monday, June 28, 2010
The Kitchen Temple
A kitchen is a place in which you prepare food - our earthly and spiritual sustenance. Food has been linked with the sacred since time began. It is only in recent years that we have lost our connection with the food that sustains us. Nowadays many of us barely register what we eat; we eat on the run, gulping down "fast food"; we pop "convenience food" in the microwave and unconsciously swallow it while watching television. Few of us sit down as a family to enjoy good food.
All the great religions teach that food is a blessing from the Divine and should be treated with immense respect and gratitude. No religious Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Muslim or Buddhist family would dream of just tucking into a meal without saying a blessing and giving thanks. In China, food is considered to be a physical link between humans and the gods; beautifully prepared meals are given as a sacred offering on family alters. In the ayurvedic tradition of India, food is a spiritual science with precise prescriptions of how to prepare and eat food for physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. In African-American culture there is the tradition of "soul food." Soul food is food cooked with love, intent, intuition, and a sense of history. It is a living prayer and celebration, and has much to teach. Although the individual rituals and customs may vary, all these traditions have several things in common. First, they recognize that food is far more than mere fuel for the body; it also sustains the soul. Second, they believe in the mindful planning, preparation, and consumption of food. Third, they insist on the necessity to give thanks for the food we eat. Most of them also sanctify the ritual of eating together in groups - whether of friends or family.
Until the twentieth century, the hearth had always been the center of the home, It was the kitchen center around which the family kept warm, fed itself, and discussed the day's work. At day's end, family members gathered in the kitchen, preparing and eating their meals, praying, laughing, and planning.
an excerpt from Spirit of the Kitchen, by Jane Alexander
(2002 Watson-Guptill Publications)
All the great religions teach that food is a blessing from the Divine and should be treated with immense respect and gratitude. No religious Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Muslim or Buddhist family would dream of just tucking into a meal without saying a blessing and giving thanks. In China, food is considered to be a physical link between humans and the gods; beautifully prepared meals are given as a sacred offering on family alters. In the ayurvedic tradition of India, food is a spiritual science with precise prescriptions of how to prepare and eat food for physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. In African-American culture there is the tradition of "soul food." Soul food is food cooked with love, intent, intuition, and a sense of history. It is a living prayer and celebration, and has much to teach. Although the individual rituals and customs may vary, all these traditions have several things in common. First, they recognize that food is far more than mere fuel for the body; it also sustains the soul. Second, they believe in the mindful planning, preparation, and consumption of food. Third, they insist on the necessity to give thanks for the food we eat. Most of them also sanctify the ritual of eating together in groups - whether of friends or family.
Until the twentieth century, the hearth had always been the center of the home, It was the kitchen center around which the family kept warm, fed itself, and discussed the day's work. At day's end, family members gathered in the kitchen, preparing and eating their meals, praying, laughing, and planning.
an excerpt from Spirit of the Kitchen, by Jane Alexander
(2002 Watson-Guptill Publications)
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