10/04/2023
SAVOR
A Mindfulness Practice for Reveling in the Moment
Central to mindfulness practice is the intention to slow down our experience so that we can be more fully in the moment. SAVOR is a contemplative and sensory mindfulness practice that helps us to move through each facet or aspect of a fully “round moment” to experience it with as much whole heartedness as possible. The acronym SAVOR is a “memonic device” for a mindfulness practice that uses five letters, each offering a specific intention for your practice.
• The S of SAVOR, is to “sense” something pleasant or meaningful that comes from our senses or bodily sensation. Savoring what we see, hear, smell, taste, or feel through touch—as well as what we feel, is a gift we can give ourselves each day (or throughout the day) so that we’re more awake to our sensory and embodied lives. For example, we can feast your eyes on a tree outside our window or a tree we see out on a walk, looking at it with fresh and curious eyes.
• The A of SAVOR, is to “appreciate” the many features or aspects of whatever it is that we’re savoring. For example, when looking at a tree, we can take notice of its different aspects like its trunk, branches, leaves, or maybe the movement of the leaves, or perhaps we can note the play of the tree’s colors against the sky. Another “A” of SAVOR is “awe” in the miracle of appreciating the wonder of a tree’s beauty or the mystery of its roots that form an interconnected community underground. Dipping into “awe” allows us to connect our older selves to our inner kid who witnesses the mystery of nature and life generally.
• The V of SAVOR, is to “valorize” or actively value the world outside of us as well as the “world” inside our body that allows us to glean meaning and pleasure from the given moment as we mindfully savoring something or someone. The V of “valorize” is also an invitation to see ourselves as women of valor worthy of basking in a moment of savoring some aspect of being and sensing in a particular moment. Seeing ourselves as women of valor is an act of loving self-kindness. As we savor this moment, we can say, “I am a woman of valor and I am savoring this moment, right now.”
• The O of SAVOR is to “open” our whole body like a sunflower. By ‘opening,” we increase the surface area of our being that is so vast and expanded, that we can hold more of the present moment. An open flower attracts pollinators as well as and holding sunlight, wind, air, moisture, and darkness. In a similar way, our entire being can open to the present moment to hold an infinite array of sensations and pleasures. A useful phrase for the “O” of savor is, “I’m fully open to sensing and holding the vastness of this moment.”
• The R of SAVOR is to “revere” the sensation or feeling we are fully opening to. We can revere our body’s ability to deeply cherish and treasure this moment in which we are fully present to witnessing and honoring what it means to be in a sensory body and in a world that is generous and alive. The R of “revere” calls us to tune into all of what is truly sacred in not just the world, but in our ability to sense, feel, and take pleasure in the world. In the case of the tree, we could say to ourselves, “I revere this sacredness of savoring the leaves, branches, and roots of this tree.”
In review, SAVOR is an easy-to-remember practice for mindful appreciation of our sensory or bodily experience that reminds us to:
• Sense what we are experiencing internally or externally.
• Appreciate and have awe for the different features of what we are savoring.
• Valorize our sensorial/bodily experience, know that we’re worthy women of valor.
• Open by visualizing ourselves as being as wide as an open flower. Allow all of the pleasing sensory/bodily features of our experience “land” and be held within our being.
• Revere the sacredness of this moment of treasuring.
