Zen Eating: just enough (and not too much)
My sister slipped some dharma punx tunes by Pablo Das onto my Mp3 player. He's an indie musician and eclectic activist, with causes ranging from the American Rebel Food Network (subverting the industrial food paradigm), to Buddhist meditation practices, and volunteer work at a suicide hotline for Gay Youth.
It was Pablo's spoken word piece/rant "BECAUSE" about the food industry that caught my attention, and that I keep replaying and listening to these days. (lol...one line is "Michael Pollan Rules!")
I got my tax return deposited. I've made an appointment for an eye exam and to get muchly needed new glasses. I'm also budgeting to buy my daughter a good infant car seat for her baby shower later this month. And I also indulged just a bit of a (healthy) splurge impulse buy (inspired by the above).
http://www.amazon.com/One-Bowl-Guide-Eating-Spirit/dp/1569246270/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297130662&sr=8-1<
http://www.amazon.com/Savor-Mindful-Eating-Life/dp/0061697699/ref=pd_sim_b_9<
And here is my "one bowl"* I found on etsy! Besides the lovely glaze, notice the holes and notch to hold your chopsticks; isn't that cool?
*One Bowl Eating proposes a simple but extraordinarily powerful idea: By adopting a single bowl as the vessel for your meals, you will become more aware of the food you eat, how you eat, and the effects (large and small) of particular foods on your body and your spiritual and physical well-being.
Mindful eating is ethical action. It is ethical action toward our self, toward all the beings who bring us our food, and toward all those who are hungry in the rest of the world.
I also need to consider the concept of Right Amount.
One guideline for mindful eating has to do with how much we eat. The concept of “right amount” comes from Buddhist teachings in which “right” means appropriate, beneficial, leading to happiness and freedom. What, then, is “right amount”?
There is a Zen ceremony called oryoki. Except for chanting, eating is done in silence, using a special set of bowls. The bowls are graduated in size so they can nest inside each other. Even the largest bowl is not very big. It holds about one and a half cups. Oryoki means “just enough.” The modest size of our eating bowls helps us eat just enough to remain healthy, just enough to feel satisfied, just enough to meditate without becoming sleepy, just enough to not be swayed by greediness.
“Just enough” is not a fixed amount. It changes according to circumstances. To be aware of “just enough,” we have to be mindful. When we practice oryoki, we can’t take too much, as we must eat everything in our bowls within the time allotted for the meal. We have to be aware of changing conditions, how hungry we are, how much we’ve been exercising, and how cold it is. We all adjust how much we take to the amount of food in the serving bowls, the number of people who will be served, and how much food they need to eat.
http://www.tricycle.com/-practice/mindful-eating?page=0,1
It was Pablo's spoken word piece/rant "BECAUSE" about the food industry that caught my attention, and that I keep replaying and listening to these days. (lol...one line is "Michael Pollan Rules!")
I got my tax return deposited. I've made an appointment for an eye exam and to get muchly needed new glasses. I'm also budgeting to buy my daughter a good infant car seat for her baby shower later this month. And I also indulged just a bit of a (healthy) splurge impulse buy (inspired by the above).
http://www.amazon.com/One-Bowl-Guide-Eating-Spirit/dp/1569246270/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297130662&sr=8-1<
http://www.amazon.com/Savor-Mindful-Eating-Life/dp/0061697699/ref=pd_sim_b_9<
And here is my "one bowl"* I found on etsy! Besides the lovely glaze, notice the holes and notch to hold your chopsticks; isn't that cool?
*One Bowl Eating proposes a simple but extraordinarily powerful idea: By adopting a single bowl as the vessel for your meals, you will become more aware of the food you eat, how you eat, and the effects (large and small) of particular foods on your body and your spiritual and physical well-being.
Mindful eating is ethical action. It is ethical action toward our self, toward all the beings who bring us our food, and toward all those who are hungry in the rest of the world.
I also need to consider the concept of Right Amount.
One guideline for mindful eating has to do with how much we eat. The concept of “right amount” comes from Buddhist teachings in which “right” means appropriate, beneficial, leading to happiness and freedom. What, then, is “right amount”?
There is a Zen ceremony called oryoki. Except for chanting, eating is done in silence, using a special set of bowls. The bowls are graduated in size so they can nest inside each other. Even the largest bowl is not very big. It holds about one and a half cups. Oryoki means “just enough.” The modest size of our eating bowls helps us eat just enough to remain healthy, just enough to feel satisfied, just enough to meditate without becoming sleepy, just enough to not be swayed by greediness.
“Just enough” is not a fixed amount. It changes according to circumstances. To be aware of “just enough,” we have to be mindful. When we practice oryoki, we can’t take too much, as we must eat everything in our bowls within the time allotted for the meal. We have to be aware of changing conditions, how hungry we are, how much we’ve been exercising, and how cold it is. We all adjust how much we take to the amount of food in the serving bowls, the number of people who will be served, and how much food they need to eat.
http://www.tricycle.com/-practice/mindful-eating?page=0,1