Blessing Food

[CivilDawn]

This one might be kickin around in the archives somewhere but I couldn't find it through the search engine.

I've seen it posted in many threads that it is wise to bless our food before we eat it. When I was growing up my parents always had us say Grace at the dinner table: "Bless us, O Lord, for these thy gifts which we are about to recieve, from thy bounty, through Christ, our Lord. Amen"

What are some other ways in which to bless our food so that we may receive the full benefit of the meal?

Cheers,
Justin

[Jonfen]

Personally I enjoy "chewing grace", this is an excerpt from Aldous Huxley's Island: "we don't say grace before meals. We say it with meals. Or rather we don't say grace; we chew it...Grace is the first mouthful of each course-chewed and chewed until there's nothing left of it. And all the time you're chewing you pay attention to the flavor of the food, to its consistency and temperature, to the pressures on your teeth and the feel of the muscles in your jaws."

There's more to it and that can be found in the first few pages of chapter 13: http://books.google.com/books?id=MB3VSMgJ5CkC&pg=PA242&lpg=PA242&dq=chewing+grace,+island&source=bl&ots=DVYc31z2fX&sig=vt-8BnMHZpO1e1U6VtnyhSMJyn4&hl=en&ei=cQd9Tre8KbOpsAKLmfQi&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

[modwiz]

I feel the big focus is being grateful that you are eating. I think the 14,000 is the number of people who die on this planet every day from starvation. Knowing that you are blessed to not be one of them, yet, is a form of consciousness around food that few make. Another upside to this awareness is never being bored with whatever you have to eat, no matter if it is the same thing everyday.


As for a blessing technique: After thanking Spirit for the blessing of having something to eat I hold my hands above my food and intone ( Om style) the word amen with each letter sounded for a meaning as I project the energy through my hands into my food to raise the vibration and make it resonate with my body/DNA. I say the A as ahh and use it to settle me and make a pleasing sound to acknowledge my delight in being able to feed my self. The M is held as a sound to indicate the savor of my food and to embue it with good flavor vibrations. The E is for energy which I send into my food. This 'eh' sound culminates in the N sound which implies an end or 'sealing' of the ritual.

[Nanoo Nanoo]

Yes left hand up in front of you ( like taking an oath ) and the right hand over the food ,, then ask for the blessing ... wait a few moments and then tell me how the palms of yoru hands feel ? ; )


N
N

[TelosianEmbrace]

I give thanks to the Earth for her bounty. I look at everything on the plate, mentally picture where it's come from and how many hands it has passed through to make it to the table. I have seen pics of Amma www.ammaaustralia.org.au cooking food for her devotees, and so have sometimes pictured in my mind's eye her preparing the food for me. Listening to high vibrational music and thinking elevating thoughts during the preparation of the meal helps in raising its vibration.
The food that comes from the supermarket has been subject to many different thoughts and vibrations, and I have been in the routine of blessing it and praying over it before I put it away in the cupboards.
sometimes I am amongst those who don't pray, so I simply take a few moments, look at the food and express my gratitude in a silent prayer. Just because they don't doesn't mean I can't.
There are so many ways to give thanks, it's the intent behind it that's important.

[Sierra]

When I am mindful, I do the Hawaiian I_can_never_spell_it prayer of I'm sorry, forgive me, I love you, thank you for each piece of food that goes into a meal as I cook. And as I do it, I visualize their life, their death, what I love about them, and what I am thankful for in their case, how I enjoy and love them.

I also ask, may my body only take in what I need, and the rest pass through harmlessly.

Then before I eat, I thank the creator ;)

I'm adding Modwiz's consideration of the daily starving to my intents. Thank you.

[Snowbird]

I first thank Gaea for the pure and wholesome good tasting food. As a spark of the Divine Creator, I bless my food with intention that it be used by my human body to maintain the current perfect health of this body. I thank the cells, systems, structure and DNA for their work in this maintenance.

[pharoah21]

Check out this short clip from the 70's, Ram Dass touches on authentic love vibrations with food.......FAROUT!

XsXh08NiEPc

[CivilDawn]

Sounds like its all about gratitude.

[Marianne]

CivilDawn, that first prayer is one that was used in my family too. I like a less formal way now. Lots of great ideas on this thread.

The person(s) preparing the food have an effect on the vibrations of the food. I try to take time and not get stressed about preparing the meal on time. I make an appetizer like a tray of veggies and dip, crackers, etc to get people out of the kitchen and give them something to start on.

I like Guy's idea of thinking about all the hands that the food has passed through, and expressing gratitude.

When it's just me I'm cooking for, I often forget to bless it.... thanks for reminding me, along with some very nice spiritual techniques.

[nomadguy]

Its a great idea, an give thanks by giving back to nature ~ what you don't eat. do not waste.

[Orph]

Kind of hard to put into words something that is done entirely with feelings, but, ....................... I don't really bless the food so much as I "love" the food. I open my heart center and then bring the food into my love energy field. I envelope the food in that love energy, then go back to it's source and give thanks to both the food and the earth mother.

[Marianne]

Its a great idea, an give thanks by giving back to nature ~ what you don't eat. do not waste.

Nomadguy, do you mean by composting the scraps? That's a great point.

[Nanoo Nanoo]

When i bless my food i thank the food its self, i thank the veges and meat and i show gratitude for it being there . When i do this an energy comes from my hands like a cool magnetism .. its almost like the food energises me in that moment ... blessed food tastes happier.

Its amazing what a thank you with a good intention can do.. hmm


N
N

[Anno]

This is all making me very hungry.

I started 'blessing' food a while back but for me it was more of a cleansing. Trying to get rid of any negative energy that the food had picked up on the way to me, combined with gratitude for it being there. All the Animal and Plant spirits giving me their homes to help me maintain mine.

I think it goes beyond food though. If you're truly grateful to the Plant and Animal spirits it should extend beyond your kitchen and include all the plants and animals you see as you go about your day. One thing I've been experimenting with is saying hello to Plants and Animals I see about the place. Just letting them know that I know they're there. After a while I swear they start noticing you in return.

[Anchor]

Mine is: Lord, thank you for this food. Please bless it and purify it for its intended purpose.

Lord is (for me) shorthand for that which I otherwise refer to as the one infinite creator.

[leavesoftrees]

See the food that you are eating, filled with light energy . See your body absorbing more and more of this light energy as you digest your food. Every cell in your body fills with light, raising your consciousness to higher and higher levels.

[Maia Gabrial]

This one might be kickin around in the archives somewhere but I couldn't find it through the search engine.

I've seen it posted in many threads that it is wise to bless our food before we eat it. When I was growing up my parents always had us say Grace at the dinner table: "Bless us, O Lord, for these thy gifts which we are about to recieve, from thy bounty, through Christ, our Lord. Amen"

What are some other ways in which to bless our food so that we may receive the full benefit of the meal?

Cheers,
Justin

It's also good to give thanks to all the lifeforms that gave up their lives to nourish us.

[markpierre]

If we can influence water with how we're feeling, appreciation is a nice feeling. You know that cool Japanese guy that writes things like 'fear' and 'love' on glasses of water (I think there's more intimate detail to it than that).
I don't know why it would be different with food. That's the science brain in me being reasonable, but I'd prefer to be eating something that was liking me as a person, rather than seeing me as just another dumb preoccupied human.

Funny, everybody in the universe knew about prayer until fairly recently. Pray what you mean and the appropriate message generally gets to where it needs to go. I think a lot of those prayers really meant "man, I'm glad to be still just walking".
If I had to grow my own grain and grind it myself and bake it up just to make my lunch for tomorrow, I'd be damn grateful for that sandwich the next day. Supermarkets are whet they're referring to when they say 'the fall from grace'. But I can be grateful sometime that we have em,
I don't want to exclude anything.

If you can feel the consciousness of a plastic milk crate that you're sitting on supporting you and adoring you like a mother (and I promise you, you can. It'll shock the crap out of you), we're in that same type of relationship with everything. That would include food fresh or frozen.
Now that you got me thinking about it I'm going to try to remember to practice with my eggs in the morning.

Thanks for the thread. Really good topic.

[John Parslow]

Hello CivilDawn

When I was young (many years ago) we always said grace before a meal: "For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly grateful." What a great shame that this little ritual of thanks seems to have almost disappeared ...

Best regards. JP :cool:

[Tarka the Duck]

Hello CivilDawn

When I was young (many years ago) we always said grace before a meal: "For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly grateful." What a great shame that this little ritual of thanks seems to have almost disappeared ...

Best regards. JP :cool:

Oh my goodness! I am 5 years old again...did you used to say this in a really sing-songy lilty voice?

Wait a minute....I can smell the overcooked cabbage...:confused:

Thanks for that memory moment!
Kathie

[John Parslow]

Hello Tarka


Re: Blessing Food

Quote Posted by John Parslow (here)
Hello CivilDawn

When I was young (many years ago) we always said grace before a meal: "For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly grateful." What a great shame that this little ritual of thanks seems to have almost disappeared ...

Best regards. JP
Oh my goodness! I am 5 years old again...did you used to say this in a really sing-songy lilty voice?

Wait a minute....I can smell the overcooked cabbage...


You are welcome to the walk down memory lane - I had almost forgotten the overcooked cabbage - I seem to recall that we had it with most meals back in the day ...

All the best. JP :rolleyes:

[Vrilya]

This was a great subject and all posts here are wonderful expressions of thanking Mother Earth and our Creator...................My belief is, it's very important to raise the vibration of ourselves (this would include everything we put in our body) and This beautiful Planet, she truly needs everyones help.

Love and Blessings to all.

Vrilya

[Anno]

[...]I had almost forgotten the overcooked cabbage[...]

Off topic kinda but... ...one of the things I learnt when I moved out of home is that I don't dislike vegetables, I dislike the way my mum cooks them. Like a lot of people in her generation she overcooks everything down to tasteless mush. I use a steamer these days and like the veg quite firm. I even like Brussel Sprouts now. I tested this out on a few friends that 'hate veg' and they all were really suprised and asked for more.

It made me wonder if this was some kind of intentional conditioning to reduce nutrients in food before the days of processed food and the evil microwave.

Bringing it back on topic, I also give thanks for my steamer! £11 from Argos and one of the best things ever.

[John Parslow]

Hello Anno


...one of the things I learnt when I moved out of home is that I don't dislike vegetables, I dislike the way my mum cooks them. Like a lot of people in her generation she overcooks everything down to tasteless mush. I use a steamer these days and like the veg quite firm.

This is probably why I became a vegetarian in the first place - we always steam vegetables now ...


It made me wonder if this was some kind of intentional conditioning to reduce nutrients in food before the days of processed food and the evil microwave.

A very salient point my friend ...

Best regards to you. JP :cool: