BON APPÉTIT!

April, 2025

When I started thinking about writing this article, I thought to myself, “keep it light and easy (digestible), there must be some jokes to set the tone.” So, when I next spoke to my daughter on the phone, I asked her if she had any jokes about digestion. With barely a pause, she said, “What's the stomach's favorite magazine?” Answer: “Reader's Digest!” (an American-based family and general interest magazine). She'd just made that joke up on the spot. She also has very good digestion and a seemingly iron stomach that never bothers her, no matter where she travels in the world. Food for thought: how may we all be able to come up with good humor and good digestion so easily? Are they linked?

I've been living in France for almost fifty years, so I am aware of cultural differences between here and my experiences in the US (and other countries) in relation to, or relationships with, food, eating and digestion. What one eats will affect how one digests, as does when, where and how one eats, all of which are lengthy topics in themselves, but we can safely say that digestion is a phenomenon that affects every living person everywhere and it's not always easy.

The differences between how and where in the body one culture vs. the other feels negative effects of digesting are revealed in the organ vocabulary. In the US, there are plenty of ads for heartburn and acid indigestion medicines (think, heart and stomach). In France, over-indulging leads to a liver crisis (crise de foie).

There are also philosophical, metaphysical, spiritual and political aspects to the digestion question, but let's stay with the physiology. So, where does human digestion begin?

Digestion begins in the mouth. Saliva brings the first enzymes necessary to break down food and also provides the lubrication necessary for swallowing easily. Thus, the importance of chewing thoroughly and salivating as much as needed.

The relaxation of practicing Continuum can increase salivation, so here's a description of a dive that begins with a sound that I like doing because it takes time, increases mouth and throat awareness, all with the feeling of a kind and gentle massage:

Sitting, take a baseline by noticing where and how you are at the start of the dive. While you're doing this, slowly slide your tongue over the front and back of your upper and lower teeth as you let your saliva accumulate in the mouth by not swallowing for a moment.

Then tilt your head slightly back, keeping the throat open and gently gargle with your saliva, softly sounding Ahhhh at the same time.

Breathe in and out through the nose whenever you need to.
Let your jaw hang and your tongue slide back. You may find this more easily if you are lying down.

When you finally swallow, make the sound, “Hmmm,” cascading like a satisfied sigh, while gently smiling. Cascading means letting the note or tone on which you start the Hmmm gently slide up and down a bit.

Why smile? To stimulate the Vagus Nerve (which has ramifications in the face) and which contributes to good digestion by producing necessary digestive juices and hormones acting on gastric contractions in the stomach and intestines. This all contributes to a generalized sense of wellbeing.

Now let yourself revel in fluid Open Attention.

Continuing down the digestive tract, for the stomach, liver, gall bladder, pancreas and kidneys, do silent, gentle breathing in and out through the nose, similar to a Hu Breath but with mouth closed, jaw hanging, noticing the large wet space in your mouth, smiling.

Take the time to direct the sound towards each organ with hands on your abdomen, over the organ into which you are sounding. As the sense of the organ fills your hands with its volume, let the organ move you. You can also place hands on two separate organs to feel the connection between them and the support they give you.

Pauses are welcome…

Experiment hanging out in the space at the end of an exhale, lingering, suspended, sensing the movement continue underneath …

Do as many rounds as please you. . .
Revel in Open Attention …

Now, lying down, for access to the intestines, while smiling, make the sounds of Ah.Ah.Ah.Ah.Ahhhhh's, with your mouth open, ending in a prolonged Ahhhhh, (the short string of “Ah.Ah.Ah’s are inspired by the Mala Breath).

With hands over the intestines, if you like, fingers kneading like soft kitten paws, go deep into the tissues, visualizing the wave motion of the cilia in the loops of the small intestine, then up the ascending colon, across the transverse colon, and down the descending colon to rectum and anus.

Revel in a final Open Attention. . .
and BON APPÉTIT!