Mindful Eating (K-2nd Grades)

Artist K.R. from our Sahara Desert adventures

It's hard to believe that yesterday was the last Mind Move Make class for my youngest K-2nd grade artists!  We had a fantastic final class.  First, I asked the students to tell me their favorite things about Mind Move Make; I got many different answers.  Several students replied, "Everything!"  Many other students chose a favorite yoga pose as their best memory.  And other children said their favorite thing was getting to know all the people in our group.  One of my main goals in Mind Move Make is developing a sense of community between the students, so I was happy to hear that making friends was one of their favorite parts of class.

  I told the students that I had a special treat for them since it was our last class together, and that it was something you could eat.  Everyone was curious about what it might be!  I explained that instead of eating this special thing the way we eat most foods, we were going to eat it mindfully, together as a group.  I revealed that I had two dried cherries for each person, and that dried cherries is one of my favorite foods.

I explained that as soon as I saw each child in his or her mindful body, I would put two dried cherries in his or her hand.  Each child was able to explore the cherries as a scientist might, smelling, feeling, looking at, and listening to them, but not tasting them yet.  (Yes, I did have the children wash their hands before we started!)  When everyone in the class had their cherries in hand, I told them they could gently place one in their mouth, but asked them not to chew just yet!  I asked them to take the time to feel it's texture and see if there was a taste before chewing.  After a few moments I told them they could slowly chew the cherry while really paying attention to the taste and the sensation of chewing.  I also asked them to think about the act of swallowing the cherry and to see if they could feel how far down they could feel the food traveling through their bodies.

After everyone was finished, I asked what the experience was like.  One girl said she had never thought about swallowing her food before; she found it really interesting to actually feel the food going down her esophagus.  Many other students described the sour taste of the dried cherry, and the rough texture in their mouths.  I asked why mindful eating was important to practice and one girl said, "Because it lets you really taste your food!".  Very true.

After experiencing mindful eating, we looked at the book I Am Yoga one last time and followed along with the movements of the book.  Art-wise, I gave the students three options: 1. They could draw themselves in their favorite yoga pose 2. They could draw themselves eating their favorite food mindfully 3. They could draw themselves in their mindful body.  Here are a couple of the results:

And here are the rest of the Sahara Desert artworks from last class!