The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Breakfast is a time formeditation
Eating in silence is an ancient practice.
“I don’t meditate so I look to other parts ofmy day to become meditative, including my coffee and breakfast routine,” Nina Zorfass, 30, a New York City resident who works in marketing, wrote in an email.
Her technique? Eating breakfast in complete silence.
When she started this practice eight years ago, Zorfass noticed that she felt more prepared for the day ahead and could make healthier food choices. Now, in the midst of a pandemic, she has relied on that time to recharge while living andworking in close quarters with her partner. “Alone time is hard to come by in our apartment,” she said.
Eating in silence is an ancient practice with roots in many monastic communities. “Buddhists, Celticmystics, Sufis, Vedic mystics,” said Ginny Wholley, a teacher at the UMass Memorial Health Care Center for Mindfulness.
“Everyone has a component of silence that is an inherent part of the practice.”
Jon Kabat- Zinn founded the center where Wholley teaches in 1979 to promote and study the benefits of practices like these in a secular setting— in part because it’s challenging. The concept for silent breakfast is simple enough:
Focus on your food, quietly, and deal withwhatever thoughts come up. But it’s more difficult than it seems.
I spent several days at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, last October, and silent breakfast was on the menu. Signs on every table reminded guests that breakfast should be eaten in silence. Educational carousels of cards extolled the virtues of reconnecting with yourself each morning: It benefits yourmindandbody to start your day purposefully, calmly and in gratitude.
On the first day, I carried my breakfast tray down the aisle of the dining room, feeling the eyes of strangers followme like some angst- ridden school cafeteria scene inmovies. I passed rowafter row of fellow breakfasters. Some shifted in their seats as Iwalked by, the only sounds the cautious clinks of silverware onto bowls and plates. Occasionally, a chairwould scrape the floor as someone sat down or left.
“Our society leans into complexity and difficulty, because then there’s more ‘ value’ to it,” said Cristie Newhart, the dean of the yoga school at Kripalu. “When you’re first learning to becomemorepresent, it’s like: ‘ Present withwhat? What do I do?’ In mindful eating, you’re bringing all your attention to food.”
My mind revolted halfway through my granola. As a freelance writer, I’ve always had an unhealthy work- life balance, partly from internalizing the idea that I should maximize productivity at all costs. My parents were both entrepreneurial peoplewho successfullyworked theirway out of underprivileged childhoods. They instilled a tough work ethic in me. “Self- care,” I believed, wasfor peoplewho had the time and money. Not working hard enough meant risking failure.
But here I was, atmy first wellness retreat, trying to appreciate a bowl of berries and tailspinning into existential dread. It felt indulgent and lazy to focus so intently on my food. I had a to- do list a mile long and a new mortgage to worry about. I was deeply uncomfortable.
“As someonewho speaks nearly constantly, the idea of enforced silence seemed punitive,” saidMelissa Klurman, a journalist in Montclair, New Jersey, who also tried out silent breakfast on a retreat to Kripalu last year.
Ravi Kudesia, a mindfulness researcher and assistant professor at Temple University’s Fox School of Business, said: “One of the funny things about starting a mindfulness practice is that when you quiet the external noise, you start to hear more of the internal noise. If you’re not used to this, it can be incredibly unpleasant. The key idea here is that it’s better to notice thewhispers before they become screams.”
I couldn’t concentrate, so I let my mind run wild through its litany ofworries and reminders. Then, like a toddlerwearing herself out after a tantrum, mythoughts quieted down. After several days of silent breakfast, I started to hearmyself. My concerns and thoughts, happy with their time at the soapbox, stepped back and stopped plaguing me first thing in the morning. I could focus onwhatwas in front of me, without guilt, without obligation, without stress. It was an unusual feeling of freedom.
For Deborah Vaphides, 62, an acupuncturist from Montclair, New Jersey, starting her mornings with a silent routine several days a week helps her feelmore grounded throughout the day. She sits by her window and watches the sunlight stream in early in the mornings while practicing deep breathing exercises.
“I used to listen to the news every morning for decades,” Vaphides said. “No more. I know the news will find me these days no matterwhere I go. Theimage of the light changing during my quiet mornings stays with me all day, and I come back to that peacefulness any time I need it.”
This peace, it turns out, has a lot to do with our physical response. “Whenwe’re in silence, our brains and bodies react similarly to when we meditate,” Lauraine Hollyer, a clinical psychologist, said in a phone interview. “Cortisol, which is associated with stress, decreases in the bloodstream. Blood pressure, breathing rate and heart rate also decrease. We can concentrate and recallmore easily.”