the Altar of your home

What's your relationship with your kitchen?

My kitchen and I have had a tumultuous relationship at best.

I've been excited over my kitchen.
I've been confused over my kitchen.
I've been downright overwhelmed and depressed by my kitchen.

The overwhelm and depression came from a sense of too many responsibilities. Going through the motions of breakfast, lunch, dinner, clean up, repeat for our family of four (plus a cat and a dog and from time to time a snail or praying mantis’ mouths to feed... though I couldn't tell you what a snail's mouth looks like).

I spent many years feeling like I was behind the ball in the kitchen. Many years frustrated that I even had to be in there.

During meal times, I couldn't wait to get out of the kitchen. My irritation at having to prepare and serve another meal seeped outside the boundaries of the kitchen walls and into my family life.

Yet, 8:30 or 9 p.m. would roll around, and I'd find myself back there, rustling around in the cupboards or fridge. The kitchen whispered to me as I watched television. It promised me it had what I needed hidden in it's dark corners.

... the kitchen booty called me. I knew it was a booty call, because as I quietly snuck past the dinner dishes still on the counter… I just felt dirty.

This is how things went on for years. A true love hate relationship. Until I found Ayurveda, and was blessed with the practice of kitchen sadhana.

SADHANA is literally translated as a means of accomplishing something.

It's the method by which you ritualize your tasks.

(which in itself is so lovely. Just the idea of approaching an action as a ritual rather than a task makes me love it a little bit)

Sadhana is being present with everything you do. It's loving your present experience. It's tantra.

So, how do we adopt LOVE for kitchen responsibilities?

Everyone's kitchen sadhana looks different. But here's three tips that went a long way for me:

Practice referring to your kitchen as your altar. Truly this is the most sacred space in your home. It is where you go to nourish your body. When food is prepared with gratitude and loving awareness, we are much more likely to make better choices.
Create a habit of cleaning the kitchen immediately after a meal. Beyond the sense of accomplishment and feeling “done work for the day” this will bring you; Rather than sitting down, taking a few minutes to move your body after a meal stimulates your digestion.
Ceremoniously turn out the lights and adopt a ‘kitchen closed’ mentality for the evening. Having the kitchen clean lessens the chance of evening snacking, because you've created a subconscious barrier by cleaning the counters off and turning off the lights. I recommend putting on your favorite tunes, and getting the whole family involved, thereby creating healthy habits for your growing children.

I can tell you that it's a heck of a lot easier to look at my kitchen as a Divine altar if I walk into it looking clean each morning. Dirty dishes are less than divine.

If this isn't something that you're doing now, take a moment to consider why not. A lot of the work that we do in my tribe surrounds our assumptions and justifications for doing or not doing. You very likely do the dishes at some point during the day. What would it feel like to just make it happen immediately after supper? What kind of space could you clear up in your day if meal prep, eating, and clean up was all neatly packaged together, and repeated? It’s little habits like this that make space in your life for what really matters.

Kitchen Sadhana is just one of the tips I share in my Simple Habits checklist. Grab your FREE download today.

xo Carly