Little Guide of Chocolate Calm

small actions & mindful chocolate rituals to add a little calm to your day

brought to you by meditation teacher & mindful chocolatier

Meredith Whitely

It's not always easy to press the pause button is it?

But it's so important to build little breaks into your day and week to help with focus, energy and wellbeing.

This is where mini-rituals and small actions play a really important role...

This guide contains some short chocolate-based activities designed to pique your interest, simmer up some creative juices and give you a few ideas for cultivating a little chocolatey calm.

They are designed for you and your team to play around with and experiment, to see which elements resonate.

Each exercise includes prompts for team members to share their experience with each other.

In the spirit of mindfulness, try to explore these without judgement and with a big heap of self-kindness.

Oh and a few delicious mouthfuls of chocolate of course!

Work through the exercises in order - or choose your own adventure...

little rituals of chocolate calm

1, taste with pleasure slow down and savour

hocolate breaths p into calm through your breath

ng new experiment & have fun

4, chocolate connection building connection through shared memories

5, hot chocolate meditation bringing mindful eating to life

1. taste with pleasure

Mindful eating is such a beautiful practice, and still one of my favourite ways to explore mindfulness.

A big part of mindful eating is helping you reconnect with the joy of taste and eating. (While also being grounded in the nonjudgement and compassion of mindfulness.)

And slowing down as you taste is an important element of this.

Think back to your last meal or mouthful...

Can you remember what you ate or drank? The colour? The flavour? The texture in your mouth?

How it made you feel?

Did you eat out of habit, need or pleasure? Or something else?

Starting to become aware of these questions and some of the answers is your first step towards more mindful eating.

And remember it's not about being 'bad' or 'good' - I'd like you to try and remove these words from your vocabulary for now.

chocolate calm exercise 1 - slow taste

Let's explore a food (or drink) you really enjoy - it might be chocolate or something else entirely...

...take a small piece and for a mouthful or two taste slowly, really savouring the experience.

What flavours or tastes do you notice? What emotions spring up?

Or maybe even memories?

How do you feel once you've finished the mouthful?

Take your time and enjoy this opportunity to slow down

Prompts for sharing your experience with your team...

How did it feel to taste more slowly than usual? What flavours or tastes or sensations most stood out as your tasted? What did you enjoy most about the experience?

what is mindful eating?

Mindful eating is an ancient practice and way of eating based in the principles of mindfulness

It involves:

- building awareness of the full process of hunger and eating, both internally and externally

- coming to this without judgement; and

- reconnecting with the pleasure of taste

It nurtures a way of eating with intention, attention & compassion, using ALL the senses

est & digest

When we're calm and unflustered, we're in our 'rest & digest' state. This is the opposite of being in a flight, fight or freeze 'stress' mode.

Both these states are a totally normal part of being human, but you ideally want to be in a rest & digest state (aka your relaxation response) more of the time.

Why? When you're in your rest & digest state you can:

think more clearly be more creative be less emotionally reactive get better quality sleep - which is REALLY important digest your food more effectively (as the name suggests!) just generally feel a bit more tip top

There are many ways you can move yourself into this state: breath meditation is one of them. And connected to your breath is your sense of smell.

We actually 'smell' through both our nose and mouth. (Most of what we call flavour is actually smell!)

This is where chocolate comes in. Across the different types of chocolate there are up to 600 different aromas you might detect when you breathe in and out.

If you enjoy chocolate, you might also find this really calming. This is both to do with the power of our breath to regulate our system, but also the impact of smelling delicious things on our mood.

chocolate calm exercise 2 - chocolate breath

Sit comfortably on a chair with your feet on the floor and a piece of chocolate or a mug of hot chocolate in front of you.

Take a few deep breaths in and out through your nose, breathing all the way down into your belly if that feels okay.

Now lift the chocolate up to your nose.

Breathe in again, breathing in all the aromas. You might take some longer breaths and shorter breaths.

You could even play around with gently closing one nostril while you breathe and noticing if this changes anything. Notice what you can smell and how it makes you feel.

You might even like to turn up the corners of your mouth into a little smile while you do this...

Prompts for sharing your experience with your team...

How would you describe what you smelled and how it made you feel? Was there anything that surprised you? Do you now feel more calm, less calm or no different?

the sacred history of chocolate

Chocolate - or cacao really - has a long and sacred history. Its origins lie in Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America). Though we don't know exactly where the first wild trees grew, it was first domesticated by the Olmecs and Mokaya people. There's evidence of over 4,000 years of human consumption of cacao.

Chocolate comes from the cacao pods of the Theobroma Cacao tree (which translates as "Food of the Gods") - and it actually starts out as a pulpy fruit.

Traditionally chocolate was consumed mainly as a spiced savoury fermented drink (occasionally sweetened with wild honey). It was often used in spiritual ceremonies and celebrations - and cacao beans were also used as currency by the Mayans.

During the Aztec era, cacao became more linked to nobility and wealth, and its use became more ritualistic. One particularly well known chocolate lover was the ruler Montezuma, who was rumoured to drink 50 cups of cacao from a golden chalice every day!

Although the first cacao beans were brought to Western Europe in 1544 (as a gift to the then Spanish king), it wasn't until later in the century that Hernando Cortez shared the drink that the indigenous people had prepared for him in Mexico with the Spanish Court.

Over the next century the popularity of drinking chocolate spread through Europe and later into the 'New World'. Sadly this love of cacao had some disastrous consequences for indigenous people (through the spread of disease and slavery). It also resulted in the loss of some of the ceremonies and rituals celebrating cacao.

The version of chocolate we're more familiar with today - in solid formdidn't come about until the Industrial Revolution in the 19th Century. The first solid bar of chocolate was created by Fry's (later bought by Cadbury's) in 1847. It was then almost another 30 years until the first milk chocolate bar appeared.

Cacao now grows in many tropical regions around the equatorial beltincluding West Africa, Madagascar, Vietnam, Bali, Solomon Islands, India, Mexico, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Jamaica, Grenada - and even Australia!

Many cacao growers live below the poverty line, and there are ongoing issues with child labour and slavery, particularly in West Africa. However there are also many more chocolate makers and cacao traders working with farmers and cooperatives to ensure better quality cacao and more fair conditions for growers.

Fortunately in amongst this growth and change, some cacao rituals have survived or been recreated by modern Mayan communities. This has allowed the celebration of cacao to continue into our current time.

3. something new

Continuing to learn (and having fun with it!) is a really important part of wellbeing*. And chocolate is a great learning tool.

Because chocolate has so many different flavours and aromas it makes a really great ingredient to play around with in the kitchen.

I love pairing chocolate with unusual foods and trying out different combinations. It can be lots of fun, sometimes delicious - and sometimes less so. It's all about learning to taste and, through this, building a real connection with your senses.

I always start by tasting a chocolate slowly and getting a feel for its character.

If you need some help, here are some of the things you could look for:

chocolate calm exercise 3 - new flavours

Having (mindfully!) tasted your chocolate, consider ingredients or flavours that might complement it...

Chop up your chocolate into pieces and place a little of each of your 5 chosen ingredients on a small plate.

Take a piece of chocolate and a small amount of one ingredient, tasting them together (just add little amounts as you want the chocolate to sing through!).

You might even like to combine a couple of ingredients once you get more confident...

You could try this together as a team over lunch or explore at home and then share your experience

Prompts for sharing your experience with your team...

What works well together?

What did you enjoy?

What was not so good?

(You can also try this with hot chocolate by sprinkling ingredients into it...)

Some ingredients to try (there are many, many more!)

- a pinch of smoked sea salt

- black pepper

- dried rosemary

- roasted cumin seeds

- pumpkin seeds

- dried cranberries

- peanuts

- desiccated coconut

- orange zest

- fresh mint

- a drop of rose water

- cheese (e.g. goat's cheese, mature cheddar or caerphilly)

- small chunk of sourdough

- fresh or dried chilli

4. building connection

There are lots of ways chocolate brings us together to build connections - sometimes with people we don't even know!

It could be...

- thinking about the cacao farmers as you taste chocolate

- sharing a beautiful chocolate dessert with a friend

- having a chat over a lovely mug of hot chocolate

- following the story & journey of your favourite chocolate maker on Instagram (or social media of choice)

Sharing food is a hugely important part of many cultures for good reason!

Sharing our taste experiences and food memories also helps connect us with other people - and this connection is important to our wellbeing.

You might even discover something totally new about someone you've known for a long time, just through sharing your food stories and memories.

...getting to know you

chocolate calm exercise 4 - chocolate memories

Chocolate is a food that's full of emotions and memories for so many of us. Sharing our chocolate stories is a great way to get to know each other a little more. At your next team meeting or away day, why not use some of the below prompts as a warm up?

1.

2. 3.

Choose 1 or 2 of the below chocolatey prompts to kick off the conversation...

Tell me about your favourite chocolate. What do you love about it?

What's your earliest chocolate memory? What's your favourite chocolate moment? (It might be a first taste of a special chocolate, connected to a memorable holiday - or maybe even a cooking disaster!)

tips for mindful listening...

Put aside any distractions (like a phone!)

Set an intention to listen with an open heart & with attention*

Try not to interrupt and give the person space & time to fully share their thoughts

Summarise back what you've heard - and maybe even what you enjoyed or surprised you

* if your mind wanders, just notice this has happened and gently bring yourself back to focussed listening

5. hot chocolate meditation

Preparing chocolate as a drink is a nod to the origins of cacao. It's also a beautiful way to explore a mindful eating (or drinking!) meditation.

Heating up chocolate releases its aromas and the warmth of the drink adds another soothing layer to the experience.

Take your time making your hot chocolate, and sit somewhere comfortable and quiet to sip it so you can fully enjoy the moment.

Remember, there's no right or wrong when it comes to your experience of tasting so simply pay attention to how it is for your today...

You can even start your meditation as you prepare your hot chocolate. Take your time and engage your senses as you measure out your hot chocolate, simmer it in the pan and pour it into a mug.

If you don't like hot chocolate, you can try this meditation with any warm drink e.g. tea, herbal tea, coffee or turmeric latte

chocolate calm exercise 5 - hot chocolate meditation

Promptsforsharingyourexperienceasateam...

Askeveryonetopreparetheirdrinkjustaheadofsittingtogetherto meditate(inpersonoronline).Whenyou'vefinished,leteach persontoshareoneortwowordstodescribetheirexperience.

Sip along to the meditation

about

meredith whitely & calm cocoa

Meredith is a meditation teacher, chocolatier & chocolate judge. She specialises in the beautiful practice of mindful eating (and its lovely overlap with chocolate tasting!).

She helps people and teams live more mindful and compassionate lives through tasting, mindfulness - and chocolate!

Meredith's work was inspired by her own need to find better balance, after many years of struggling with stress-triggered digestive issues while working in a range of corporate environments.

She has a deep and longstanding passion for all things chocolate.

Meredith runs mindfulness & wellbeing experiences for individuals and teams, along with creating her range of mindful hot chocolatey treats through Calm Cocoa.

about calm cocoa by meredith whitely

Explore a gentle path into wellbeing with the delicious combination of hot chocolate & mindfulness.

Calm Cocoa is an award-winning hot chocolate range, made by hand using flakes of ethical single origin chocolate.

The uplifting ritual of making & drinking hot chocolate is a beautiful way to add moments of mindfulness to a day.

We want to help you create the space for wellbeing, giving you the opportunity to explore a deeper sense of connection with yourself and the world around you.

We're a little business with a big heart based in Mid Wales, delivering products & experiences around the UK.

Any questions? Get in touch...

Meredith Whitely, Chief Chocolate Officer

meredith@foodatheart.co.uk

07751 623 457

foodatheart.co.uk calmcocoa.co.uk

...and breathe