General idea: Often, we eat for survival (i.e., only to intake the source of energy), paying very little attention to the act of eating. Occasionally, we may indulge in the actual process of eating to satisfy our highly-developed sense of tasting, constantly judging the experience. In either case, we are far from being mindful. Through the practice of eating a raisin with constant awareness and without judgment, we try to cultivate mindfulness even during an everyday act of eating. With mindfulness, we can see things clearly, as they really are. For example, we will be able to see how we experience various sensations, including taste, with the feeling of like or dislike. As a consequence, we can also see how we react to them, e.g., attracted to desirable things and avoiding undesirable things. Although such a reaction is natural, simply being able to see it can give us a chance to act more wisely.
Procedure: An example from Ronald Siegel’s The Mindfulness Solution is copied on the back of this sheet. The same information is available on-line through this link (http://books.google.com/books?id=JMdhMkRnsIUC&lpg=PA345&dq=siegel%20mindful%20eating&pg=PA75#v=onepage&q&f=false).
Connection to everyday life: It would be impractical to simulate the raisin meditation during every meal. However, when the situation allows, we can still try to eat mindfully as much as possible by applying some aspects of the raisin meditation. We practice meditation in order to apply the benefits of the concentrated and/or mindful state of mind to everyday life. Eating meditation is a perfect example of doing this in terms of a mundane act of eating.