Cooking Meditation

1. Leave your preoccupations and worries at the kitchen door. As you wash your hands, imagine the day's concerns being rinsed away with the physical dirt and impurities. Wipe over work surfaces in the same frame of mind.

2. Bring together all your ingredients. Handle them carefully as the offerings of other life sources. State your intention to increase the happiness of those you are cooking for. Declare it out loud, if you like.

3. Let the activities of washing, chopping, and stirring suffuse your body and mind. Surrender yourself to each task, letting it be an outward sign of your inward state - calm, untroubled by distractions, and full of love.

4. As your mind gets drawn away by thoughts, constantly anchor yourself to the task at hand and to your intention = to satisfy with good food and love.

5. As you work, visualize the food you are preparing nourishing the diners with love, and see this love spreading out from the dining table as they take it with them out into their own lives and interactions.

6. Present the food beautifully - not carved vegetables and florid napkins, but by honestly and mindfully placing it on the plate. Now, even before it is eaten, the recipient will absorb feelings of caring and emotional sustenance.