Health and Well-being

Happy and healthy living

Name who and what a grain passes through before it reaches your plate, walk through eating one mouthful mindfully, and say what the chapter asks you to do when a touch feels wrong.

The teacher asked the class to sit in a circle and close their eyes. Then she went round and put one small thing into each palm. Some of them knew what it was straight away, just from the feel of it. Nobody was allowed to bite into it yet — the whole point was to slow the eating down until each part of it could be noticed.

A grain is precious

The journey from a field to a plate is a long one, and a great many hands and animals are involved along the way. That is the reason the chapter gives for finishing what is on your plate. Leaving food is not just about the food itself — it is about the work that carried it to you.

Have a play

Three things a day needs: a good plate, something that gets you out of breath, and a proper night.

Tap any part of the picture.

Worked example

A cousin offers you far more food than you can finish. What is the careful thing to do?

  1. Say something before the food is on your plate, not after.

    Once it is served and left, it is waste; before it is served, it is just a smaller helping.

Try it together

Let us set out what a healthy day rests on, together.

The chapter's closing lines pull the whole of it into one sentence, and it is worth building that sentence yourself.

    1.A grain needs people and animals to reach your plate, but it needs three things from nature first. Soil and water are two of them. What is the third?

    Have a go

    Your turn. What does the chapter say yoga does for you?

    Ready to practise?

    Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.

    Print a worksheet