It felt super weird to do my first Chocolate meditation. I for so long used food to sort of drown out the thoughts in my head through a mechanical hand to mouth motion until I felt a sense of relief. For some reason when I was in the act of "stuffing my face" with my favorite confection the swimming thoughts in my head regarding all I had to do for the upcomming day, week, and months...seemed to calm down. So to say the least the Chocolate meditation was an experience I had never experienced before. Savoring something sooooo slowly that you actually experience it morph into various states of matter was mind blowing. I experienced the same sort of release when I ate triple the amount I had with the meditation. What's even more crazy is that I don't even usually eat White Chocolate. It's not even Chocolate, Let's be real. I clowned my husband for the past 10 years because this is the only "chocolate" he would eat yet I had one of my best experiences eating in my life, eating this stuff.
My sister had an "eat, pray love" like experience in Costa Rica last month. I was so super proud of her for getting out of her comfort zone and taking a leap of faith to travel alone and experience a whole new culture. I lived vicariously through her for 10 whole joyous angst filled days. We used "FaceTime" daily through the misadventures of the gecko invasions of her first casita, the beautiful tropical serenity of her second living quarters and the teary sober moments of home sickness. There were some days when I just wished she was home because It was so nerve racking to have her so far away traveling solo. How is it that when she was on vacation I was so stressed. Would she safe?, Would she have an anxiety episode due to the changing accommodations? and...she HATES bugs. Why didn't she just go to Italy like in the movie? These questions swirled in my head through out her vacay. Anyway, It was riveting and I loved and hated the whole experience because although I was here on Maternity leave getting acclimated to my new life as a mom of 4 daughters I experienced a new world miles away through her. When she came home I was inspired to do something bold and transformational as well and I finally decided to start this Mindfulness journey for real. I had clearly bought the book weeks ago so I was already primed. When she returned home she gifted the hubby some Costa Rican White chocolate. He tried a piece and was not impressed so I helped myself to a piece. It was okaaaaay, I'm a dark chocolate girl. But I decided to give it a chance and experienced the Joy of White Chocolate and the start of my Mindfulness Journey simultaneously. Here is a sample of the basics of the Mocha Meditation. The idea is to help train the mind to pay attention to the details of the food that we often time dismiss or just bypass. Try it out.
Mocha Meditation
To prepare for this meditation I picked a quiet peaceful space where I knew I could guarantee at least 2 minutes of alone time. For me that was my closet. I knew it would take the kids some time to find me there.
1. Take a piece of chocolate of your choosing and place it on the wrapper. Look at the shape of the chocolate, how it is laying on wrapper. Does it cast any shadows? Look at the texture of the surface of the chocolate. Is it smooth? or are there any crevices you see? For me I noticed some pretty cool details on the chocolate bar. I appreciated the design of what must have been the mold they placed the cocoa butter in to create the bar.
2. Does it have a smell? I was pleasantly surprised of the cocoa smell of the white chocolate. I think I was used to the "white chocolate" sold mostly in stores here that often have no real cocoa butter in it. I really enjoyed the aroma.
3. Focus on the feel of the chocolate. The temperature as it touches your lips and the inside of your mouth. I really didn't want to handle this chocolate a ton because it was kind of melty so I popped it my mouth and used my tongue to explore it until all that was left was a warm sweet pool of goodness in my mouth. I exhaled and and then swallowed. Yummm. The experience was absolutely delightful and dare I say, sensual.
