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RetrEATing

How did your last two weeks go? Did you try any meditation? How did you go with the posture suggestions?

This week I came across the following article by Kerry Monaghan, a Certified Health Coach at the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in New York City and thought you might like it.

Eat Like a Buddhist in 10 Easy Steps 
By Kerry Monaghan
 
I recently spent a week at Dhanakosa, a Buddhist retreat center in the Scottish highlands, where we shared three meals a day with the community. As a nutrition coach, I took special note of the eating patterns that I found helpful to continue after the retreat:

1. Eat Vegetarian Foods

Following the Buddhist precept of non-violence to all creatures, our meals were all vegetarian. We didn’t have any meat, dairy or eggs. We did have lots of lentils, beans, soups, salads, and vegetable dishes. It’s chilly in Scotland in October, so our food was hearty and warming. 

2. Follow a Daily Schedule

We followed a set routine each day: breakfast at 8:45, lunch at 1pm and dinner at 6pm. 

Having a predictable daily schedule allowed us to plan our day and regulate the appetite. Dinner was early, and there was a long stretch of fasting from the evening meal until breakfast the next day, but my body quickly adjusted to the rhythm.

3. No Snacking

A cook was preparing our meals, and we didn’t have access to the kitchen between meals. There were bowls of fresh fruit set out for a snack, and there was also plenty of tea available at all times. Other than that--no snacking at all.

4. No Sneaking

Along the same lines, since all of our meals were shared together and there was no vending machine or secret stash of chocolate, everything we ate was visible to others. I see so many clients who sneak food (after the kids go to bed, for example), and I feel it’s healthy to eat in the presence of others.  

5. Save Dessert for a Special Occasion

During the entire week, we had rice pudding twice after dinner, and homemade oat bars after we did cleaning chores on the last day of the retreat. Sugar and sweets were very limited. 

Dessert was not a daily occurrence, it was a special occasion. I didn’t even miss dessert – my palette adjusted and I appreciated my meals more and found that the taste of fruits and vegetables became more vibrant.

6. Enjoy Home Cooked Meals

Every single meal was home cooked, including fresh-baked bread, soups and casseroles. As a result, there was not too much salt, no preservatives, and the flavors were fresh. 

I always encourage clients to slowly increase their number of home-cooked meals, because it’s so much easier to eat healthy if you have more control over how your food is prepared. Start with breakfast, and work your way up from there.

7. Eat after Meditation

In our schedule at the monastery, we meditated before breakfast, lunch and dinner. This meant that we were in a calm, relaxed state before meals--a good thing, because eating when you’re calm aids digestion. 

Most of us are not meditating three times a day outside of a retreat atmosphere, but it’s still good to take a few deep breaths, have a moment of gratitude for your meal, and eat in an unhurried and calm state.

8. Eat in Silence

We always ate without the distraction of radio, television, or newspapers. And we also took several of our meals in complete silence. 

I especially loved having silence during breakfast, because the morning is a more reflective time and it was nice to start the day quietly, without chatter. If you’ve never shared a meal in silence, you should try this, it’s a powerful practice. 

9. Have Porridge for Breakfast 

Every day we had the same breakfast, which was porridge with toppings (cinnamon, pumpkin seeds, raisins, muesli). Lunch and dinner varied. 

This caught my attention because I often encourage busy clients to systemize their meals. I tell them to find one thing they like for breakfast, and then stick with it. It makes your busy mornings flow more smoothly and allows your body to get into rhythm.

10. Help with the Meals

Even though there was a cook in charge of the meals, we each had daily chores and had to help with either preparing or cleaning up from the meals. 

This helped us all to be involved in the meal, and I know it helped me to feel more grateful for all of the effort that went into feeding the group.  

If these ideas resonate with you, I encourage you to take one or two to start with an incorporate them into your daily life. Please share which you find most helpful! 

Published October 10, 2012 at 3:21 PM

visit the author at www.kerrymonaghan.com

**

This article resonated with me because I have had similar experiences on retreat at Cloud Mountain, Sravasti Abbey and various other retreat centres.  The food tends to be vegetarian and wholesome. Often parts of the meal are home grown. The schedule usually begins with an early morning meditation before breakfast of porridge and toppings. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and always includes a huge variety of foods including fresh leafy greens. Dinner is small, usually a simple soup and bread. Tea is always present, and a basket of fruit is accessible.Meals are usually eaten in silence (most of the retreats I have attended have been silent throughout the duration of the retreat but even those that have not been completely silent have had some duration of silence, during meals or in the evenings, or early mornings etc.). Everyone in the retreat community takes part. Everyone has a task to do to help make the community function. I have even been on retreats in which I didn't even serve myself. I simply held out my plate while others tipped a spoonful of rice and a spoonful of curry and some salad on my plate. At first my ego mind contested this arrangement but after a bit I found it incredibly freeing. I had no decisions to make in relation to food except to choose where to sit down to eat it. My mind was not filled with thoughts about what I should or shouldn't eat, if I should have seconds, have I taken too much of the tofu, or whatever. I simply got in line, picked up the plate on the top of the pile and held it out to be served. Amazing.

I am pretty sure that I would be very healthy if I ate like this all the time! It is harder in our modern day society than in retreat mode, as most of us can't afford a personal cook! Lunch hour is often a busy time, and there isn't always time to cook a big home made meal, but perhaps we can put some of these ideas into practice. I am going to at least try. I can easily bring a big salad to work for lunch, and cook a nice soup for dinner. I have found a breakfast I love, not porridge but a high fibre cereal I mix myself that includes linseed, psyllium, rice bran, and corn flakes, which I mix with berries, pea protein and soymilk. A friend has also recommended green smoothies and I can't wait to try them for the summer. Staying away from snacks, sugar and dessert is a harder one for me but also valuable.

I read another article recently (which I have lost but will post when I find it again) that spoke about taking the same care in preparing food as we do eating food, to see food preparation as a sacred act. How mindfully do you prepare food? I know I am often stressed, rushing, trying to multi-task as I hurry to make dinner after a long day of work, before my son hits meltdown or cooking porridge for the family while I load the washing machine, unload the dishwasher and eat my own breakfast. Perhaps tomorrow night I will sit my boy in front of a Thomas DVD (we often cook together but when we do I am always in "risk aversion" mode, trying to keep him from catching something on fire, cutting a limb off, or destroying something), and breathe while I chop, cook and wash. Will you try too?

Practice: Try the practice above of making food prep into a sacred act. Think of it as an act of generosity. Be grateful for the opportunity to prepare food for others if you are cooking for a family or friend, or simply be grateful for the food in your hands. Breathe while you cook. Notice the smells, colours, and textures of the food you are preparing. Be present in the moment. And as always please let us know how you go!

Have a great week!

Metta,

Dharma Mama

---

Meditation 101

Inspired by this (in which Martine Batchelor explores the process of grasping and its amplifying effects as well as how meditation can help us to release our clinging thus allowing for a more creative engagement and response) I thought we'd return to the topic of meditation. The Sanskrit and Tibetan words for meditation mean to familiarise or get acquainted with. In meditation we get to know our own minds and then transform them by familiarising ourselves with positive states of mind. We are able to clean out the cobwebs so to speak.

I have personally struggled with creating a consistent regular meditation practice, but when I have managed a daily meditation practice the effects were noticeable. There are a variety of aims for meditation. Most of us are familiar with the calming aspect. Scanning the body and letting go of any tension does wonders. Spending some time focusing on an object like the breath lowers the heart rate and gives us some space to act with intention. I don't want to undervalue the power of a calm body and mind but there are additional goals of meditation. When the mind is calm we then have the space to analyse our thoughts and behaviours in a constructive context. In the 11th century, the Indian Buddhist Master Atisha summarised essential points from the Buddhist teachings into what is now known as the Lam Rim or graduated path. The Lam Rim provides a comprehensive outline of analytical meditations designed to develop our mind towards compassion, wisdom, patience, etc. and on to enlightenment! Meditation also helps to develop concentration and focus. Sounds great right? So how do we start? Let's start with the body. A seven point posture is recommended. 

1. The Back: One should be seated and the back should be straight. This helps the flow of energy and helps keep the mind alert. My teacher used to suggest visualising the spine as a stack of coins. It is best to raise the bum a bit by sitting on the edge of a meditation cushion that is resting on the floor, but if you are unable to sit on the floor, you can use a chair. I have a Dharma friend who happens to be a doctor and has been meditating for decades. He suggests that if you are in pain siting on the floor to sit in a chair so you don't do damage to yourself. You can still straighten the back in a chair. Just be sure not to lean on the back of the chair if you can help it as this impedes keeping the spine straight. 

2. The Legs: The legs should be crossed. Of course must of us have trouble folding ourselves into the lotus position, but do what you can that is comfortable. The position of the legs effects the ability to keep the back straight so experiment with what works for you. If sitting in a chair, simply rest your feet on the floor.

3. The Hands and Arms: The hands should rest gently in your lap, palms up with the right hand on top of the left, thumbs touching. The hands should not rest on the feet but rather just below the navel. The elbows should be slightly away from your sides letting some air in between, which helps fight of sleepiness during meditation. The shoulders should be held up and back, not slumped forward but not worn as earrings either.They should be relaxed.

4. The Head: The chin should be tucked down slightly, not resting on your chest, but directing your gaze slightly down towards the floor in front of you. Holding the head too high may result in distraction and holding it too low may result in sleepiness.

5. The Tongue: If meditating for long periods it can be helpful to rest the tip of the tongue against the back of the upper front teeth and the rest of the tongue lightly against the upper palate as this assists in keeping saliva from pooling in the mouth, reducing the need to swallow.

6. The Eyes: The eyes should be gazing ahead, either unfocused or focusing on a specific spot about a foot in front of you. Most beginners find it easier to meditate with the eyes closed but the Buddhist teachings suggest learning to meditate with the eyes partially open. You can try this after you gain some experience. When I first hear this I thought, "how in the h are you supposed to keep the eyes just partially closed"? After time though it became easier. The idea is that if you keep your eyes open just a slit you will let light in, mitigating the risk of falling asleep, daydreaming and becoming distracted. Getting used to meditating with eyes open also helps us transition our practice from the cushion into daily life.

 7. The Lips and Teeth: The jaw should be relaxed with the teeth slightly apart. The lips should be touching gently. The breath should be drawn through the nose rather than the mouth if possible. 

If this all seems too complicated just try to keep the back straight and the gaze slightly downward. 

Sitting still isn't easy. It can be a practice in itself to learn to have patience with small discomforts. I used to attend meditation retreats twice per year and I always found that it started out fairly well, but by the second day my body would rebel. I would have an itch here, pins and needles there, an ache in my back, a pain in my knees. Given time the body would seem to settle, then the mind would rebel. I would want to stand up in the middle of a silent meditation retreat and scream or run out and jump in the car and drive home. It's challenging to look at one's own mind for such a long period! Luckily I never did follow through with either of those things and I found that after a few days I would settle in. 

On one retreat at Cloud Mountain some years back, Venerable Thubten Chodron challenged us about our fidgeting. She said that no one in the meditation hall was to move for an entire hour. If we felt as though we couldn't do so then we were to go to another building and we had to move continuously for twenty minutes. What a lesson! I joined the movers group with a handful of others. We sat down to meditate and began to move. Each one of us chose a different form of movement (rocking, shifting, arm movements, etc.) but none of us could meditate. In fact we couldn't stop laughing. We laughed until we cried at the ridiculousness of it all and then at the end of the half an hour we stopped moving and began to calmly meditate. I then had one of the most amazing meditation sessions ever. I felt as though I could have stayed still for hours! We returned to the group with a better understanding of why we sit still during meditation. It's very distracting not to do so!

We will continue with more about meditation and the Lam Rim next week. Until then, have a good one!


Practice: Let's try out some meditation with a focus on posture this week. Check your usual posture and try out the 7 point meditation posture. If you feel bold enough, try the exercise above of  moving constantly while meditating for a period of time (I suggest 5 minutes or so). Then stop and sit still (no scratching, adjusting, etc.) and see the difference. Let us know how it goes!

Have a great week!


Metta,

Dharma Mama

Offerings

Last week I wrote a little bit about generating  a mind of gratitude that understands our interconnectedness with all beings before delving into a meal. Many Buddhists say prayers or do specific offering or other visualisation practices before eating. Following are five contemplations that are recited and examined at Sravasti Abbey before a meal.

Five Contemplations  Before Meals

1. I contemplate how much positive potential I have accumulated in order to receive this food given by others.
2. I contemplate my practice, constantly trying to improve it.
3. I contemplate my mind, cautiously guarding it from wrongdoing, greed, and other defilements.
4. I contemplate this food, treating it as wondrous medicine to nourish my body.
5. I contemplate the aim of Buddhahood, accepting and consuming this food in order to accomplish it. 

Pretty amazing, eh? They also say a variety of prayers while imagining that the food becomes blissful nectar that transmits wisdom to those who consume it. They then offer the nectar to a small Buddha visualised at their heart chakras. 

Food offering  is one of the oldest Buddhist practices and can take the form of offering food to monks and nuns, those in need, or animals. Offerings are also made in sometimes elaborate rituals to Buddhas and the like, not because the Buddhas are going to eat them but as a mind training practice for ourselves. These practices assist us in developing a mind of generosity and in loosening the grasp of attachment. If you look closely you will often see Buddhist altars decorated with food offerings. Cookies/biscuits, fruit and chocolates are probably the most common. During specific ceremonies intricate sculptures are made of butter and flour. 

One time I helped prepare for a special Tibetan Buddhist ceremony for which food offerings were integral. I went to a local market and picked up yummy foods including dried pasta and jarred sauce, peanut butter and vegetables as well as the usual sweet  treats. My offerings elicited some smiles and laughter, but they were true offerings from the heart and we were able to donate them to a local food bank afterward. Venerable Thubten Chodron explains the practice of offering further in this article.

A good beginning offering practice is the offering of water. Water is something most of us have at home so it is easy to offer. The practice is to find some sort of clean containers and each morning fill the bowls with water while offering it to the Buddhas and Boddhisattvas. In the more advanced practice each of 7 bowls is filled with water while one visualises a variety of offerings (flowers, incense, music, water for drinking, water for washing, food, and light). The  bowls are then emptied and cleaned at the end of the day. Here is an article from the Tara Institute that explains the practice of keeping an altar at home including the water bowl offering practice. 

Another offering practice might be to offer food to people or animals in need, your elderly neighbour or a friend who hasn't been well.

Practice: Let's try some offering practice this week. Even if you don't feel comfortable with the concept of offering food or water to imagined Buddhas, try visualising yourself giving the food to those in need. You might even wish for those in need to have food and drink materialise for them. Do you think these practices will assist us in loosening our attachment? I am going to try....

p.s. I came across this fun little article about one woman's realisation about her Nutella fixation. Enjoy! :) 

Have a great week!

Dharma Mama

Grace

A number of years ago, my mother invited our extended family over for Thanksgiving. My step father got to work organizing the menu (he is a fantastic cook) and my mom worried about cutlery and seating. My task was to come up with some sort of "grace" to say before the meal. Sounds simple enough, and it would be in most families, but not in mine. We have an odd mix of lesbians and republicans, vegetarian hemp-wearing animal activists and good old boys, atheists, Buddhists, and Mormons. I wanted to say something meaningful without offending the Christian set. I spoke from the heart about gratitude and interdependence and when I finished there was a dead silence in the room. "Well this is awkward",  I thought. I then asked if anyone else wanted to say something, thinking the Mormons might want to thank God for the abundance before us. My cousin piped up, "Wow, how can any of us say anything after that?" We then began to eat with gratitude in our hearts (at least I hope so, they may have just been stunned). Below is something similar to what I said that night. Wouldn't it be great if we took the time to think of this before each meal every day? I am going to try to do so more often.

A Buddhist "Grace"

Today a great meal is on the table before us. Aren't we fortunate? Think of all the effort that has gone into the preparation of this meal for us. Wow, what kindness we have received! We can think of the people who planted the seeds, nurtured them and harvested the crops, for us. The minute beings who helped the plants grow and those who gave their lives in the process of growing and harvesting them. The people who prepared the goods for sale and those who transported them. The people in the supermarket chain who prepared and delivered them. Those who stocked the supermarket shelves and those who sold them to us. Even those who baked and stirred and minced and mashed them into a meal today. Beyond these easy to see kindnesses there are more, as we are all connected in the web of interdependence. The farmers and the supermarket workers would not be able to do their work if they did not have homes made for them by builders or farm equipment manufactured by factory workers. The seeds themselves would not be present if there weren't plants before them, similarly cared for by those who grew them. The truck drivers could not transport the produce if it weren't for the truck manufacturers or the road crew who built the highways. And all of these beings would not be able to do the great work that they do if it weren't for their parents who gave them life (and perhaps the doctor who saved it as well) and their parents, and their parents, and so on. When we look further we will see that every single sentient being has put great effort into the preparation of the meal before us. Let us be grateful and endeavor to repay the kindness we have received. Let us eat the food before us to gain energy to do good work in the world with an aim to benefit all sentient beings.

Practice: This week let's try to stop before putting anything into our mouths. Let's pause and think of all of the effort put into creating the food or drink we are about to consume. We can then generate a mind of gratitude aimed at benefiting others. Let me know how it goes!

Here are a few new links and tidbits to explore...

A World of Grace (a beautiful poster of examples of grace from cultures around the world)

Practicing Buddhism in Daily Life by Ven. Thubten Chodron

Exploring the 8 R's of Meditation: 

The Value of Nothing (from a yogic perspective rather than a Buddhist one):

Buddhist Blessing for Food
by Annie B. Bond

Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space
combine to make this food.
Numberless beings gave their lives
and labors that we may eat.
May we be nourished
that we may nourish life.

Have a great  week!

Metta,

Dharma Mama

Getting Back On Track

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post but don't worry, I haven't forgotten Buddha At My Table. Rather, I have been doing a lot of thinking! You see, I am a working mother of a preschooler with special needs and with a partner who works evenings. I get 3 hours once per week to myself and I usually spend them at a cafe writing this blog, but the last two weeks I had the opportunity to attend a Dharma Centre for a meditation and teaching and I jumped at the opportunity. Afterall the blog is useless if I don't put the tools that we discuss into practice myself. how luxurious it was to spend some time with other meditators and spiritual seekers!

I found it somewhat entertaining when I sat down on my meditation cushion at the first session and learned that the teachings for the two weeks were to be on patience and attachment! Perfect I thought. I wished I had brought a pen and paper and deperately tried to remember every word so i could recount them here. However, after nursing my family back to health from a nasty cold and then spending a week with my inlaws in the country, where eating masses meticulously prepared artery clogging Italian/Australian dishes is mandatory,  I unfortunately remember very little.

So today I finally have  time to write but have fewer things to say. A book on the Buddhist monastic code sits beside me on the table as I sip my tea, but I will need more than these three hours to absorb the details enough to discuss them. Next week we will get back on track with a new topic related to Buddhism and food. I will leave you this week with some interesting links and a question. Do any of you say grace, a prayer, or express gratitude at meals? Do you have rituals around eating like taking a deep breath before starting, eating in silence or chewing each bite 20 times? I think we will discuss some of the Buddhist blessings and practices performed before or during eating soon.

I am curious what you think of this one...do any of you feel like the author sometimes?
http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/amonticello/2012/08/against-the-pursuit-of-happiness-a-meditation/#comment-243544

The latest Zen Habits post on foodaholism is great...

http://zenhabits.net/foodaholic/

And a teaching on the roots of addiction from Venerable Metteyya on Tricycle...

http://www.tricycle.com/blog/video-teaching-venerable-metteyya-addiction

Practice: This week let's focus on gratitude. For what are you grateful? Have you expressed it lately? 

Metta, 

Dharma Mama

With gratitude....

The Noble Eightfold Path

Last week I explained the Four Noble Truths and said that we would delve further into the fourth truth, the Truth of Path, which is the path outlined by Buddha to cease our suffering. After we make it through these we can get into how all of this talk of the 4 of this and the 8 of that and the 3 of the other relates to our topic of food and eating.

So here they are:

Right View - This is about seeing reality as it really is. It specifically refers to understanding the teachings of impermanence and emptiness (we haven't gone into these yet but will!). In simple terms these teachings are about the changing nature of everything and how things aren't really as they seem, they are less solid, less concrete. This is a complex concept so I will point you towards teachings by qualified teachers when we get further into the subject of emptiness.

Right Intention - This refers to one's attitude and determination. It is about seeing the value in spiritual endeavors. It has three aspects. The first is receptivity or openness. The second is renunciation, being willing to give up that which causes us suffering. The third aspect is having loving thoughts.
Right Speech - This refers to what Jack Kornfield calls "speech from the heart". It is using our speech in ways that benefit others rather than those that harm others. The first aspect is of telling only that which is true and the second is of using speech that is helpful. The opposite of Right Speech (Wrong Speech) is gossip, unnecessary or untruthful speech.

Right Action - This refers to what is called "Ahimsa" in Sanskrit. It is acting in a way that does not harm other beings. That sounds far more simple than it actually is. Most of the time we go about our lives without stopping to think about the consequences of our actions. Buddha asks us to do so. There are two aspects to Right Action.There is the restraint of not-harming, for example not killing, and then there is the active side of performing positive actions, for example, saving lives. The five basic precepts of a lay practitioner we discussed previously fall under Right Action. What I found when I first started to examine my actions to determine if they were beneficial, a small space appeared between the thought and the action, so I could make a purposeful decision about my actions. It's amazing. I remember thinking that I had always thought that I was a nice person until I started studying Buddhism! When you start to look at your actions you might see areas that need improvement like I did.

Right Livelihood - This refers to making a living in a way that does not harm. It has five aspects. The first is doing something that is not harmful, so not doing work that involves weapons, drugs, killing, slavery, poisons, etc. The second is appropriate happiness. There are three aspects to appropriate happiness. The first is having some kind of work that you can do. The second is producing something from your work so you can contribute in some way to your family or the community and feel good about your contribution. The third is being free from debt (how wonderful would that be?!) and the fourth is being free from blame or fault, not doing work for status or because of some other external reason but rather because it comes from the heart. The third is growth and awareness which is about bringing awareness to your work so you can use it as an opportunity to grow. The fourth is simplicity which has become a movement hasn't it? You may know people who quit their job in advertising to start a nursery or become a musician. The fifth aspect is service. We can frame our work as service no matter what what we do. We can focus on giving service to those with whom we interact every day, our coworkers, employees, managers, clients, readers, customers, etc. Keeping service in mind can transform our work.
Right Effort - This is about putting effort into spiritual study. No matter how many teachings we attend, how many books we read, how much knowledge we have, we will not become enlightened unless we put effort in and practice! There are four types of effort. The first is to abandon what is not skillful (i.e. attachment, anger). The second is to sustain the cessation of what you have abandoned. It wouldn't do a lot of good to stop and then start again, eh? The third is to cultivate that which is skillful such as love, compassion and wisdom, and the fourth is to maintain that which you have cultivated.

Right Mindfulness - This is about seeing clearly without judging or trying to change what is. It is about being fully aware, being really present in the moment with all our senses. It is then about reacting to that what we see with our awareness in a positive way.
Right Concentration - This has two parts. The first is about quieting the mind, to slow down and calm ourselves so we can begin. The second part is to focus the mind into single pointed concentration. This is the vehicle to understanding.

Sometimes a simple reminder can bring me back to a skillful mindset. I find it hard to get through the mountains of email I receive but it's such a nice surprise to get a weekly Buddhist Quote. They tend to pull me back to a positive attitude. Shambala Publications has a variety of weekly quotes to which you can subscribe, His Holiness the Dalia Lama, Pema Chodron, Chogyam Trungpa...check them out here. Another thing I used to do and have recently just begun again is to find a book of quotes or sayings and read one every morning, perhaps as you sit down for breakfast. An old housemate Sam and I used to do this. We had a book of Dalai Lama Quotes and another from the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Reading a short statement gave a focus for the day. I had forgotten about the practice until Sam sent me this book in the mail recently. Much better than watching the news or checking facebook messages over breakkie!

Practice: This week let's look at Right Livelihood. Examine how you can infuse service into your work life. Are there moments when you can practice mindfulness? Meditation? Compassion and Care? Restraint? See if you can transform your experience at work by looking at it as an opportunity to practice patience, love, kindness, non-attachment, etc. Maybe if I was focused on others I wouldn't be focused on the afternoon tea and treats quite so much? Let's see.....

Have a great week!

Metta,

Dharma Mama