Content
Goal • Problem solving barriers to practice • Mindful Eating Materials • Raisins
• Orange slices • M&M’s
• Gummy worms • Crackers
Checking In (parent + child)
Review last session and mindfulness skill learned (if applicable) – elicit responses from parent and child, too.
Review practice assignment and ask both parent and child how their mindful practice went over the past week:
• What did they notice?
• Were they judging or noticing?
• Any difficulties about maintaining every day practice?
Beginning Session Check-In: How are you feeling? (child)
Ask the child to describe how they are feeling at the beginning of the session. • Happy
• Sad • Mad • Worried
• Any other emotions?
Introduction to Mindful Eating
Eating is an everyday activity that we can often do without really being in the moment. How many times have you been eating, and without realizing it, all of a sudden, you feel full or maybe not notice how much you were eating? Has that ever happened to you or can you think of any times when maybe you weren’t being mindful while eating? We can practice mindfulness in just about all of our everyday activities and today we’ll be starting with eating.
Raisin Exercise (Based on Kabat-Zinn. From Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G., & Teasdale, J. D. (2002). Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression. NY: Guilford.)
Begin by assuming a mindful posture – how are you sitting on the chair/on the floor, you might notice the feeling of air on your skin, you might notice your breaths.
86 Then begin to focus on the object in front of you and just imagine that you have
never seen anything like it before. Imagine you have just come from another planet at this moment and you have never seen anything like it before in your life. Taking one of these objects and holding it in the palm of your hand, or between your finger and thumb. Paying attention to seeing it. Looking at it carefully, as if you had never seen such a thing before. Turning it over between your fingers. How does the object look? What colors describe the object? Notice where the light shines on it. Use your eyes to explore every part of it, like you’ve never seen it before. If you notice any thoughts or feelings that come up as you are looking at this object, just note them as thoughts and return your attention to the object. How does the object feel in your hands – is it soft or hard? Is it bumpy or smooth? Now use your nose to smell the object, with each breath, notice its smell. Use all your senses to examine it.
And now slowly putting the object into your mouth and use your tongue to explore it. You might notice its texture or its taste. Perhaps you might notice your mouth watering as it is in your mouth. You might notice you have thoughts and feelings about the object or you might notice that your mind has wandered.
Now when you’re ready, gently bite into the object. You might notice that the texture has changed or that it tastes differently. Slowly chew the object, taking your time to notice the different sensations in your mouth. As you swallow it, notice if you have any sensations in your throat while it goes to your stomach. Again, notice what thoughts or feelings you have at this exact moment and realizing that now your body is exactly one raisin heavier.
Repeat exercise but with different foods (orange slices, chocolate M&M’s, gummy worms, crackers, etc.)
Questions to ask after Mindful Eating exercises: • How did you feel during the exercise? • What thoughts did you notice you had?
• Were you noticing or any times you felt like you were judging?
• Did you notice any body sensations while you were breathing mindfully? • Was there a moment when your mind wandered?
After Exercise Check-In: How are you feeling?
Check in with the child about how they are feeling at the end of the session? Compare to how he/she was feeling at the beginning of session.
• Let’s take a moment to notice how you are feeling. Tell me…
Teaching Mindful Eating to Parent (parent + child)
Invite the parent back into the session and have the child walk the parent through taking mindful eating. As needed, teach the parent together or the child can read the script to the parent. Ask similar follow-up questions to the parent and encourage child to share his/her experiences when doing mindful eating.
87 Emphasize that bringing greater attention or awareness to everyday activities, such as
eating, can enrich our day to day life, make normal, everyday things more enjoyable. Mindfulness Practice: (parent + child)
• Mindful Eating – Take at least 5 minutes in which both parent and child are mindfully eating – this can be during a meal time or snack time. Share with one another what you noticed while doing mindful eating. Make sure to record any feelings, thoughts, or body sensations you noticed before and after mindful eating. • Before parent and child leave, plan out together with them when they will do this
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