Sense Awareness Meditation – Relax While Cooking

When you cook, be aware of your senses. For example, if you are making soup, hear the sound the vegetables make as you remove them from the package. Hear them moving on the cutting board and feel how the knife cuts through them. Smell them and look at their colors and textures. Pay attention to how the knife and the vegetables feel in your hands. Hear the burner and the pan as they warm up. Hear the garlic, onions, and peppers sizzling and how they smell while cooking. Feel the spoon in your hand as you stir the food. Feel the heat of the stove. Add the water or broth and see, hear, smell, and feel what is happening as you pour it into the pot. Use all of your senses while adding the other ingredients.

Giving your attention to your senses while cooking can be done with any meal. Just be aware of what is happening at each moment. What can you hear? What can you see? What can you feel? What can you smell? What can you taste?

If thoughts, emotions, or sensations take you away from your attention on cooking, this is normal. Our minds are extremely busy and move back and forth between thoughts frequently. As soon as you realize your focus has been hijacked, just let go, and move your concentration back to what is at hand. If whatever pulled you away is strong, let your attention stay on it until it lessens and then return to your cooking. This can occur time after time but is perfectly normal. It is a process, and the thoughts pulling you away are normal and necessary.

Working with your senses while cooking is relaxing and the meal might even turn out better with the increased focus. In the beginning, practice for just a minute or two. As your concentration becomes stronger and, if it feels good, do it throughout the entire meal.