Incorporating mindfulness into my life has always been a consistent source of clarity and a way to process information from the day, however incorporating it into my education has never been a habit of mine. In our course, the contemplative practices are a way to use mindfulness to enhance our education, and allow us to connect with how the material we are learning about makes us feel and what emotions it causes.
By doing a contemplative practice centered around chocolate and the cacao that chocolate is made out of, it redirected my thinking to be centered around the experiences of the individuals that are producing the food that I enjoy most. After, watching the video of the cacao farmers trying chocolate for the first time, and then trying cacao for the first time myself, it was very striking to me that individuals who were responsible for creating such a popular food had no idea what it tasted like, and had only experienced the bitter dryness of the cacao. During the contemplative practice, I found myself wondering about what other foods I enjoy on a regular basis are produced and harvested by individuals who had never tasted the food themselves.
Participating in the contemplative practices during class allows us to connect what we are learning from class with our own personal lives and feelings. Creating these connections and being able to tap into our emotions is important when learning about such sensitive issues, it not only helps us connect more to the people who are being hurt by the system, but it also creates more of an incentive to bring about change in our global food system.