Nourishment
Nourishment of body and being is at the heart of our work at Highland. When it comes to taking care with food no aspect is neglected – whether it’s cooking, eating, or serving a meal; growing and harvesting food in our organic garden; or handling and caring for food anywhere along the way. We take great care with our daily fare for the opportunity it provides to develop consciousness and presence in the countless and often mundane activities of daily life that relate to food.
Working intentionally with food and eating provides opportunities to align our choices with our values so that we can develop the qualities we may seek such as mindfulness, balance, grace, gratitude, sustainability, peace, simplicity and community.
Connectedness
In every culture and tradition food has been a centerpiece in the social and spiritual fabric of communities. Meals were a time to be physically nourished and also a place to come together, bond, revivify and to give thanks for another harvest. That deep sense of interconnectedness and gratitude for our place in the giving and receiving of life has all but been forgotten in our modern culture.
Today, food designed solely for convenience and stimulation is ubiquitous at every social event and workplace and too often only distracts us from the pain of emptiness and any real sense of connectedness with our self, others and the planet. At the same time we may be troubled by struggles with diet, weight, energy, mood and a myriad of health symptoms – all of which often reflect our ambivalent relationship to food and nourishment.
Conscious Eating
Many of us are now striving to expand our consciousness and our capacity to be present through meditation and contemplative practices. The real treasure and challenge of these practices is to be able infuse the qualities gained from them into everyday life. It’s one thing to feel presence, stillness, clarity and calm while meditating and it’s a whole different effort to retain those qualities in the activities of your life. At Highland we use the practice of conscious eating as a place to practice bridging this gap between being and doing.
Learning to eat consciously is one of the first and simplest methods of learning what it means to have presence with doing anything.
We periodically offer:
Workshops and classes on nourishment, conscious eating & cooking
Conscious eating meals and discussion
Wholistic nutrition & lifestyle counseling
Menu & meal planning
Instruction in the care of food to maintain the life force
Canning, food preservation and storage
Contact us to learn more about and get involved with our Food Project.
