Engage Your Senses

Hi, and welcome to this short exercise to help you engage your senses as you prepare a coffee. It's quite rare that we take the time to truly appreciate the textures, the aromas and flavors of this process. And this really is something you can do in your everyday life. It's an opportunity to pause, to slow down for a few minutes so you can really enjoy the moment. We're often so caught up in the thinking mind that we're not present to acknowledge perhaps where the coffee has come from, the people involved in making it, and much worse, we don't really get to appreciate the process. We're so rarely in the present moment. So join me now as we fully engage our senses. So before you start the process of making your coffee I'd just like you to take a nice, big deep breath, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. Just to help bring you into the present moment. So you might be using beans or ground coffee, either is totally fine, but just take a moment just to observe the coffee. Notice the different shapes, the textures, the color. By slowing down in this way, gives you an opportunity to appreciate where the coffee has come from. More than just the store, the journey it's been on from the farmers to the pickers and how it's been transported all the way to your home. So just connecting with the journey of the coffee, you can bring it up to your nose and just start to smell all the different aromas. You might find that your mind drifts off to a particular place, food and drink very often does that for us, but really just noticing all the different aromas. So you might need to grind your beans or wait for the kettle to boil but each step is a moment to be mindful. Continue to notice different sounds and smells as you engage all the senses. If your mind starts to wander off just gently bringing it back to what it is that you're doing. So as you finish preparing your coffee, just being present with each moment, taking in the different smells, noticing the temperature of the cup, allowing the steam to rise. And when you're ready to take your first sip just pause in that moment, take a deep breath, fully connected with the mind and body. So you can really enjoy the coffee you have mindfully prepared....