How?

Invite yourself to step into a beginner's mind - you can even pretend you are from another planet and that you are tasked with finding out everything you can about earth. As you eat your food, be as curious as you can to find out as much information as you can. Assume you know nothing about it, except that it is safe to eat!

First, explore the food with your vision. What colours, textures, patterns, etc. can you see? Then move to touch. What textures can you notice? is it hard, soft and squishy? When you notice your mind wandering off the food, just gently bring it back to exploring this morsel.

Slowly lift the food to your lips. What sensations do you notice as you are moving your arm through space? Does anything happen inside your mouth as the food gets closer? You might even take a listen - since we "know nothing" about this food, we can't be sure it doesn't make a sound (you'd be amazed at what people report hearing when trying this out!)

Next, place the food in your mouth and roll it around to all sides with your tongue, noticing any taste sensations. Then slowly bite the food and chew thoroughly before swallowing. As you swallow, you can even bring awareness to sensations of the food traveling into your belly. You may not notice anything, however, the lack of sensation is also something we can pay attention to.

Finally, notice any lingering sensations as the food settles into your belly.

You can reflect on what you noticed - your direct senses of exploring this food.  How is this different from how you usually eat? What might you take from this practice into your daily life?