How Fermentation Is A Meditation Practice
FELICITY EVANS
I don’t know about you, but at this time of the year especially, life seems to be whizzing before my eyes and I feel like I’m holding on for dear life.
If I had one wish for the Easter Bunny, it would be to please, please, please, give me an extra hour in the day!
Between having young kids, running a business, being married (yep! It takes time, too!) and the general fullness of life, I’m ready for a nap for a month!
Anyone relate?
That’s why I love fermentation sooo much. The whole ritual literally helps to slow things down a notch or two, and brings me back into my body. It asks us to engage in our senses and be fully present.
The whole nature of fermentation is working with a living organism – it’s like having your own kitchen pet. It helps develop patience and asks you to fully participate in creating a delicious living product.
Trust me, if fermentation was a pill, I think more of us would swallow it.
Here are 4 ways I think fermentation has helped give me some extra mindfulness in my crazy everyday
It Invites You To Tune Into Your Senses
Fermentation by nature asks you to stop, look and listen. It’s a total sensory experience – and unless you are fully mindful you may miss things in the world of fermentation and your kombucha could turn into vinegar!
1. Look
Whether your fermenting a delicious loaf of organic sourdough or bottling your first batch of water kefir, you need to know what to look for. Are there enough bubbles? Does the SCOBY look like it’s healthy? Look for clues from your fermentation and you’ll be rewarded with healthy ferments.
2. Taste
We have different taste buds spread out over our tongue, which help us to taste sweet, sour, bitter and a whole other raft of tastes and textures. Tasting your ferments, for example, you can tune into your taste senses: has the sourness developed enough? Is there enough texture to the bubbles in your fizzy water kefir? Do you need to add a little more sweetness to balance out the acidity? Really tasting your ferments is a total mindful practice.
3. Hear
Some ferments literally talk to you – you can hear them bubbling, hissing and fizzing as the rise, transform and grow. Problem is most of us are so busy listening to our phones go ding dong all the time, we don’t allow space to actually hear the delightful sounds of fermentation. In fermenting my water kefir, I can literally hear it bubbling while it ferments – it’s so cool!
4. Smell
I have young daughters, and I know the smells of their childhood won’t be bubble gum and candyfloss! It’s more likely to be the sour smell of freshly baked fermented sourdough wafting into their bedrooms, urging them to wake them up for a new day. Or the sweet-sour smell of milk kefir as I blitz it into their banana smoothie before school. Smell is such a deep part of our connection to life, especially early memories, it can literally transport us to another time.
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Felicity Evans is an alchemist and creator, in love with the healing powers of fermented probiotic products. Her passion is handcrafting a range of sparkling probiotic water kefir drinks, called Imbibe Living, that bring the energy and radiance into your everyday life.
She’s the author of “Probiotic Drinks at Home” and the creator of “Kitchen Alchemy,” an online course unleashing the inner Kitchen Goddess in you.