A shared practice
Mindful Eating: A Tangerine
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Created bySean Fargo
From Sean's mindful-eating collection — recorded in his own voice.
In Sean Fargo’s own voice13 min
Read along — the full script
Welcome to this exercise on mindful eating. I'm Sean Fargo. Today, we'll be exploring a mindful approach to eating a tangerine. If you don't have a tangerine, just imagine one in front of you. If you do have a tangerine or anything close to a tangerine, like an orange, please pause this recording, grab it from your kitchen or your yard, and come back and press play when you're ready.
So to begin, let's look at the tangerine in front of us. We can bring non-judgmental awareness to how the tangerine looks, experiencing the sight of a tangerine. Again, if you don't have one in front of you, you can imagine the sight of a tangerine in front of you.
Notice the color. Perhaps there's a shade of orange or multiple shades of orange. Is there a green leaf coming out of one end? Noticing the texture. Maybe there's many shadows in some of the crevices of the skin. Noticing the shape of the tangerine.
Perhaps it's not perfectly round or oval. Just noticing the nuance of the shape without labeling anything as good or bad, right or wrong. And now I invite you to touch the tangerine, to pick it up with your hand and to hold it.
What does the tangerine feel like on your skin? Exploring the circumference of the tangerine with your fingers and feeling around the different parts of the skin of the tangerine. What does it actually feel like? Perhaps you can notice a temperature of coolness or warmth.
Perhaps the temperature is warming the more that you touch it. Now I invite you to peel the tangerine. And as you peel the tangerine with your fingers, I invite you to smell any smells that you can notice. Noting what it feels like to be peeling the tangerine with your fingers.
Smelling the smells. And perhaps you can listen to the sounds of the skin breaking. What does that sound like? And now coming back to your vision again, what does the peeled tangerine look like? What does the peeled tangerine feel like on your skin?
Again, we're not labeling anything as good or bad, right or wrong. Simply noticing the senses. And now I invite you to take a piece of the tangerine, a small piece of tangerine, and put it in front of your mouth. Not in your mouth yet.
Notice if saliva is excreting in your mouth. As you put the tangerine close to your face, perhaps feeling an urge to eat it. Noticing any anticipation, thoughts about what it might taste like or feel like in your mouth. Perhaps you can notice the smells more distinct.
Perhaps from this range, the texture of this piece of tangerine looks very interesting or beautiful. And now I invite you to put the piece in your mouth and slowly begin to move it around in your mouth in a safe way and begin to slowly chew it. What does the taste taste like?
How much liquid is released? How are you moving your mouth, your jaw, and your tongue? To fully savor this experience, it can be helpful to close the eyes at this point. Truly bring your full awareness to eating this piece of tangerine and to the act of swallowing.
Really sensing into the act of chewing, tasting, and swallowing. Perhaps noting anticipation for another bite or noticing what it's like to have that piece of tangerine in your belly. And how does your mouth feel right now after having eaten a piece?
So we can bring awareness to all of our senses as we eat, noting our physical sensations, sights, smells, even sounds, and of course, the taste. We can bring full embodied awareness to the act of eating, sensing into our bellies as we eat several bites, checking in to see when we're full or when we're not hungry anymore. Noting the types of thoughts that we have around anticipation.
Noting even the elements of what we're eating, from the skin of the tangerine to the cells of liquid. We can do that with any food that we eat. Perhaps you discover that after you bring awareness to a tangerine or to anything that you eat, that perhaps you've never quite tasted it in the same way before.
Maybe there's certain foods that you discover that you like more than you thought or less than you thought. So bringing this non-judgmental awareness to your senses as you eat can be a very helpful tool to increase mindfulness in your daily life. I hope some of this has been helpful for you.
Thank you for your mindfulness.
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