“The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn
IMAGINE you are focused, relaxed and fully present. Some people might get a visual of a person meditating. Thankfully, I have been able to maintain in a mindful state without setting aside time just to meditate. As a new mom and a physician, I needed to be innovative with my mindfulness practice using ESP technique. Its not that kind of ESP! ESP stands for Eating, Showering, Peeing and Pooping. YES! All those essentials that we do on a daily basis. What is mindfulness? To keep it super simple (KISS), mindfulness is being fully aware of your 5 senses without judgement. You simply observe. What am I seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching?
Uncluttered spaces help. For example when I eat, I make sure I put any non eating items out of sight. Growing up, we were encouraged to turn the TV off while having a meal. Nowadays, smart phones have invaded our meals. Every single lunch break at work, I have to take deep breaths and stop myself from preaching the ESP technique. I am literally the only one looking at my food as I put it inside my mouth, everybody else is looking at their cellphones or reading the paper. How can you feel satisfied with a meal if you don’t even look at it .. REALLY look at it, smell it.. TASTE it. Some of us spend time fantasizing about our lunch break or giving in to our cravings. But do we really feed ourselves properly? No food commercial will ever give you a visual of eating food and have the model half-attentive. So what I always remind my patients is imagine you are in a food commercial! Fully engaged in the yumminess of what you are eating. Remembering EVERY single bite. The last two bites are crucial. When you see the food slowly disappearing on your plate consciously, you also get to say goodbye and commit to the portion you have. No seconds. When I do this, I feel so much more satisfied and with a clear memory that, yes, that meal was yummy.
3 minute mindful eating practice
- 1. Remove non eating things- turn off cell or tv
- 2. Take a breath before first bite – remember you are a model in a food commercial
- 3. Before first bite look at your food, smell, taste, hear – no judgement if you like it or not- just observe
- 4. Once food is inside mouth- chew, chew and chew until mouth is empty and not downing it with water. Put down the utensils in between bites
- 5. Repeat #3 and #4
- 6. With the last 3 bites, take a mental picture of the food …and say good bye
3 minute mini vacation in the shower
- When you’re in the shower- you are just in the shower
- As you turn on the knob for water, imagine that you are closing the door for thoughts- like events during the day and your to do list. You can re-open this after you turn off the knob.
- Engage your 5 senses- Feel the warm or cold water, hear the water splashing, smell the fragrance of the soap, see the water sliding on your skin
- Inch by inch soaping the face or any 1 body part while engaging 5 senses
Brief mindful practice has been shown to improve general wellness even in stressful situations. A recent research done on nurses and nursing assistant perceived its benefit for themselves as well as for others in the following areas: relationship to self and family, ability to focus, teamwork, decreased stress, improved attitude, and increased compassion toward patients. There are numerous studies that shows improvement in depression, PTSD, stress, sleep and weight management.