Chocolate meditation

[Lesley Martin]

Seeing as the subject of chocolate came up elsewhere...this is a good way of learning to enjoy chocolate without going mad but without depriving yourself of it altogether, which can lead to a predictable reaction!

You can do the whole candle thing if you want, perhaps make a cup of really good coffee, settle yourself down somewhere comfortable where you won't be disturbed for a while.

You need some really good quality dark chocolate. You are only going to eat a little so splash out on something a bit expensive perhaps.

Unwrap the bar and break off a square or two, depending on how big they are. Rewrap the rest and put it away to avoid temptation! Now use all your senses to appreciate the feel, texture, smell and look of the chocolate before putting a piece on your tongue. Allow the chocolate to melt, savouring the flavour and the feel of it in your mouth. Do not chew, just allow the chocolate to melt away while you relax and enjoy it fully. The idea is to give your whole attention to the sensuous experience.

There's an audio here 
http://cdn.franticworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Chocolate-Meditation-from-book-Mindfulness-Finding-Peace-in-a-Frantic-World-128k.mp3

Or if you search chocolate meditation on Google you'll find lots.

Sent from my iPad

Lesley Martin

[Jules]

Very interesting.  I wonder if it would work for the lovely, smooth, round, slightly spicy taste of rioja?! 

[Lesley Martin]

I'm sure a wine meditation would be just as beneficial! Certainly its all about mindfulness rather than mindLESSly swigging it back!

On 7 November 2013 13:00, Jules <jul...@btinternet.com> wrote:

Very interesting.  I wonder if it would work for the lovely, smooth, round, slightly spicy taste of rioja?! 

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[Fiona]

You forgot the next bit Lesley.  "Repeat until the bar of chocolate is finished."

[glenc]

I was just catching up a bit on threads when I read this one Lesley. It amused me!!!!  I love dark chocolate but I am pleased that I can only eat a couple of squares every so often.  I love dark chocolate with red wine. Although (many years ago) one wine buff at my French class informed me that 'chocolate ruins the bouquet of the wine'.  Glad I am not an oenophile (I think?!!).

I don't eat much chocolate usually, but it is amazing....when I have had a really awful time, I just cannot pass the Green and Black's section in the shops. I think that is chocolate and agitation.  I wonder if chocolate is addictive. Or whether it just soothes a need occasionally.

Maybe I will just have the red wine.  I cannot get through much of that.

[Lesley Martin]

I'm pretty sure chocolate is addictive Glen - or at least sugar is. There is apparently a chemical in chocolate which promotes feelings of wellbeing so it does soothe as you say. I am much more likely to end up eating the whole bar if it is milk or white chocolate which  is why I only buy dark chocolate. I am then able to restrict myself to a square or two with my after dinner coffee.

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[Jeannie's]

Maybe it's because chocolate and sweets were rationed when I was young, but chocolate has never been my choice! There could be boxes of chocolates in the house and I wouldn't eat them but give me home made Scottish tablet ( not fudge ) and I would demolish the lot! That's why I never but it. I used to love Thornton's treacle toffee but kept losing fillings, so had to give that up! I am partial to Lakeland's Australian liquorice though.

Sent from Jeannie's iPod today!

[glenc]

Jeannie - I,too, am a child of the rationing era so I have never grown up with a taste for chocolate particularly.  I pass it by in the supermarket and never delve into bowls on offer in people's houses.  However, somehow, if I have had a series of setbacks and am feeling down I am drawn to Green and Blacks (fortunately not often).  I quite like tablet (which is not often available down here).  But my memories of teenage years in Scotland will always be.....Duncan's Hazlenut Chocolate.

[Elspeth Scott]

I am sure chocolate is addictive ; I certainly display addictive behaviour around it, especially milk chocolate. And I find it impossible to have 'just a couple of squares', once the packet is open I just keep making a pig of myself.

[Shaun Finnie]

I’ve read recently that the shape of the chocolate changes its taste – which is why Cadbury have had a lot of comments / complaints recently about changing the recipe of their Dairy Milk even though they swear that they haven’t. They have made the chunks more rounded though which apparently makes it taste smoother / more oily. It’s all to do with how quickly it melts, which means that different molecules hit your taste buds at different times.

 

Don’t know if it affects the addictiveness or otherwise of it though?

 

Shaun