We appreciate that the earth, the sky, the rain, and the sun made this food possible.

We thank those who have made this food available, especially the farmers, the drivers, the workers at the market, and the chefs.

We only put on our plate as much food as we can eat.

We chew the food slowly, so that we can savor.

We eat in a way that protects the environment, and minimizes climate change.

We eat to be healthy, to be happy, to be more present and productive.

A Movement to Help Untie Your External and Internal Knots

This movement comes from the traditional Chinese chi qong practice. It is both releasing and invigorating. It can be done wherever you are. It does not require any equipment; your own body is the instrument. It is convenient, since you can do it anywhere, at any time, and it takes only five minutes.

1. Honor the food—when you eat, only eat
    
2. Engage all six senses
    
3. Serve in modest portions—to enjoy quality, not quantity
    
4. Savor small bites, and chew thoroughly—to help digestion and taste
    
5. Eat slowly –to avoid overeating and to let yourself feel satiated
    
6. Don’t skip meals—to avoid low blood sugar
    

Start the New Year off with mindfulness. Make a serious pledge to yourself.  Begin writing a Mindful New Year’s Resolution. This resolution is a promise to yourself, and putting it in writing will help you see clearly what you intend to achieve in the coming months.  People who make resolutions are likely to be more successful in changing their behavior than people who do not.

Begin with this New Beginnings Meditation if you’d like help in creating your mindfulness resolution:

Our wonderful recipe contest partners are outlined here. These healthy food experts have much to offer anyone looking for ways to savor delicious dishes that nourish the body.

Recipe Contest Prizes:

• Limited Edition Savor Tote- a beautiful and sustainable mindful shopping reminder
• A hardcover copy of Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life
• Recipe to be featured on Savvy Vegetarian (top online vegetarian cooking website), the Savorthebook.com Blog, and contest partners’ blogs and Facebooks

Please see Rules & Restrictions for more info: http://www.savorthebook.com/resource/recipe-contest-rules

Guidelines for the Savor & Share Recipe Contest - October 2010.

Practice eating mindfully with these tools. View the written Seven Practices of a Mindful Eater in the pdf below and enjoy this video, in which Dr. Lilian Cheung explains the practices.

The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair.

Remind yourself to stay in the here and now with this watch, in Thich Nhat Hanh’s own calligraphy, which can be purchased from the bookshop at Blue Cliff Monastery. For more information, e-mail the bookshop at bookshop@bluecliffmonastery.org, or in Europe, e-mail itsnow@plumvillage.org.