Have you ever tried meditating during dishwashing? It's more common for us to grumble, gripe, or grudgingly get to work. Here is a brief, practical meditation that can boost gratitude, soothe us, and improve our mindfulness... all while doing the dishes!
In your minds eye begin to see yourself standing at the kitchen sink. Perhaps it's after dinner and the dishes need to be attended to. Take a moment to just allow your natural reaction to surface. Perhaps it's fatigue, boredom, or the desire to rebel from adulting. Whatever it is, just take a moment to recognize it, perhaps you can even greet it, allow it to be there. "Hello fatigue. I see you. It makes sense that you are here. It's been a long day. Let's be together for a few moments."
You may begin to breath with your emotion. As you stand at the kitchen sink, take a moment to just allow your feet to ground into the earth. Invite your shoulders to relax down your back, your arms to hang heavy for a moment. Soften your face, perhaps you may even close your eyes for a breath or two. Breathing into your body an awareness and grounding energy. Breathing out and releasing tightness and judgment.
Gratitude
As you stand here at the kitchen sink, begin to breathe in a sense of gratitude. Perhaps you see the dishes you ate on and you remember the food you ate. Take a moment to breathe in gratitude that you have dishes to eat on and food to eat. This is not a shame filled gratitude, but a gentle joy filled gratitude.
As you turn the faucet on, hear and see the clean warm water begin to come out of the faucet. Perhaps your fingers feel the temperature of the water. Feel the warmth come into your fingers, soothing and inviting. Hear the sound of the water as it hits the dishes splashes into the sink. What an amazing thing to have clean, warm water. Breathe in the clean warm water. Breathe out your gratitude.
Perhaps you pick up a sponge or dish cloth and put some soap on it. Notice the color of the dish soap, the sheen and texture. As you begin to rub the soap into the cloth you begin to smell the dish soap. Smell the clean fresh scent, Breathe it in. Breathe out gratitude that in the middle of a chore like this, there is something so remarkable as this smell.
Begin to wash a dish. See the bubbles begin to form. Watch them slowly pop and slide across the surface of the dish. Slowly the suds and warm water begin to dissolve and loosen the bits and pieces of of food on the plate. You can imagine holding the dish under the clean warm water and rinsing the bubbles away.
The water streaks across the clean surface, leaving a glossy finish. You carefully set the clean dish down to dry and begin on the next dish.
Soothing
As you wash the dishes, you smell the soap, you feel the warm water, you hear the squish of the soapy cloth across the dish. As you wash away the remnants of what is no longer needed, you feel yourself release the stress of the day, releasing what is no longer needed as you move into the evening.
Breathing in, you breathe in the clean soap and warm water. It feels relaxing and calming. Breathing out, you release your stress and anxiety as you rinse the dish clean.
Mindfulness
Using your senses, you invite your mind to notice the small things. Slow the process down so you have time to notice these many little things. The pop of the bubbles, the smell of the soap, the sound of the water, the clean sheen of the dish.
Breathing in, calm. Breathing out, gratitude.
As we move out of this short meditation, take a moment to tune into your body. Feel your heart beat, your breathing. Notice if you feel more calm and grounded after practicing this in your minds eye for these few minutes.
Take It To The Sink
This short meditation can be effective in our minds eye, but I encourage us to take it to the sink. Practice this, however we can - with what time we have, under the circumstances that our uniquely ours. We can notice, without judgement, where this meditation is difficult for us in real life. Notice where it feels needful. Is this inviting us to consider changing or updating behaviors in our life?
Namaste my friends,
Love, light, and clean suds to you all!
Juli Larsen
Certified Meditation Facilitator
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