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Is 'Winefulness' the key to having fun at the party without the hangover?

Drink mindfully and you'll have all the fun and half the hangover - © Zoonar GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo
Drink mindfully and you'll have all the fun and half the hangover - © Zoonar GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo

Christmas time. The chance to eat, drink and be merry. Healthiness is swapped for hedonism as our diaries become a whirl of festive frivolities. It can all turn into a bit of an endurance test and come Christmas Day, our livers are left desperate for respite and our minds yearning for peaceful downtime. Especially as recent research from Cambridge University has shown the size of our wine glasses have doubled since the 1990's, which encourages us to pour bigger measures which we swig even quicker, no doubt doubling our hangovers the next morning.

Christmas office party drinking - Credit: Getty/Getty
Christmas office party drinking Credit: Getty/Getty

 

But what if you could feel calm and connected while drinking your favourite tipple? Welcome to Winefulness, the new mindful technique that could revolutionise not only your Christmas but your whole drinking life…. 

I first came across Winefulness when I was in Australia last year. I had spent the past few years trying to be more mindful and holistic, and as I neared 40, had started to question my drinking habits. I’d always been a binge drinker and I had decided that me and my beloved white wine were no good together. So I cut it out of my life along with a lot of other things, like going to the pub with my mates or hosting cosy, convivial dinners. I was trying to lead my best mindful life but all I did was lose most of my social life and become rather joyless, bored and lonely.

People drinking wine together in bar - Credit: Inti St Clair/Getty
People drinking wine together in bar Credit: Inti St Clair/Getty

Whilst in Brisbane I met Manish Singh, a leading mindfulness practitioner who runs a mindfulness company called Changing Mindspace. I had always struggled with concentration during mindfulness and meditation practices. I had all the candles, the mantras and the meditation apps, but nothing seemed to turn my mind off for long enough to really be in the ‘moment’. So, I was intrigued and more than a little sceptical, when Manish suggested that I try Winefulness - a new meditation technique with wine that he had started developing and teaching.

Jo Carnegie who has used winefulness to cut down on her drinking  - Credit: Julian Andrews/TMG
Jo Carnegie who has used winefulness to cut down on her drinking Credit: Julian Andrews/TMG

What place did wine have in mindfulness? My experience of drinking until then was more akin to mindlessness. But by then, I was so exhausted by the relentless search for inner peace I was also gasping for a glass of Australian Chardonnay. So, with nothing to lose, I found myself a week later trying out my first ever Winefulness session in a bar on Brisbane’s sunny riverfront.

We both got a glass of Sauvignon and Manish asked me to do what he called a ‘baseline check’ to see where I was emotionally. I was actually feeling rather relaxed for once, rather than the normal resentfulness I’d always felt at ‘having’ to meditate. He made me sit and observe the colour and movement of the wine in my glass. It was lunchtime and the place was busy, but Manish told me to just observe the noise, rather than react to it.

Red wine poured into glass - Credit: Image Source/Image Source
Red wine poured into glass Credit: Image Source/Image Source

I picked up the glass and Manish instructed me to feel the weight and coolness of it in my hand, to use it as a kind of prop to physically anchor me into the moment. Next, he told me to put my nose to my glass to inhale the wine. The scent of the wine made me take strong, gusty breaths and I realised how shallow my breathing was normally. Just by breathing down into my belly, I instantly felt more relaxed.

After the first sip, I closed my eyes for a moment and kept the wine in my mouth, focusing on the feel and flavour. As the wine trickled through my body, Manish told me to keep focusing on my breathing: the inhale and the exhale. Normally when I had my first sip of wine I would still be ‘up there’ in my head, checking my phone or looking around me, or chatting.

PICTURE POSED BY MODELS - Credit: Cathal McNaughton/PA
PICTURE POSED BY MODELS Credit: Cathal McNaughton/PA

This was a whole new experience. I was literally tracking the wine through my body and to where it was leading me. Manish asked me what sensations were coming up and I started to list all the little hot spots of tension: my neck, my shoulders blades, around my hips, even my feet. By connecting to my body, even if it was mostly tense, a sense of space opened up. Rather than chucking back another mouthful (my previous MO) my first sip of wine last a good few minutes. I felt calmer and more present than I ever had from sitting cross-legged for an hour on a yoga mat. All for the price of a good Sauvignon.

At first, drinking wine to become more mindful does a bit daft, not to mention counter-intuitive. But paying close attention to the experience of drinking a glass of wine had the same effect on me as a quiet meditation. An average Winefulness practice can start from one sip and go up to one or two glasses. At the point you start to feel yourself losing awareness, it’s probably best to stop your practice or just get on with enjoying your booze. But when we are doing something we enjoy, like drinking wine, we are relaxed and more receptive to being in the moment. Which is a great starting point to any mindfulness practice.  

Drinking at a bar - Credit: Chris Rout /Alamy
Drinking at a bar Credit: Chris Rout /Alamy

It’s different from wine tasting, because with wine tasting you are told what the notes and flavours to look out for. With Winefulness you are having your own unique experience, and you can also practice it anytime, anywhere, with anyone. Most importantly it’s fun. I now have a much more balanced approach to drinking. Using these techniques at a party stops me from glugging drinks and has given me a workable strategy to manage my social life. I still drink, but I don’t drink too much. Instead of knocking the glasses back, I savour the wine and the moment. It also means that I have given myself permission to stop doing the things I thought I ‘should’ be doing and started doing the stuff I liked again.

So if you find yourself feeling a bit fraught over the festive period, try taking some time out with your glass to practice a bit of Winefulness. Who knows, maybe you’ll even end up swapping your Dry January for a Wineful January…  

 

The 6-step Winefulness Practice  

LOOK & LISTEN: Look closely at the visual data: the colour, light and movement in your wine and glass. Listen to the noise/sounds around you but don’t label them ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Notice your baseline state of mind: are you distracted or emotionally charged?

SMELL & BREATHE: Get your nose right up into your glass and breathe in the wine for a little while. Take little breaks to clear your nose. Notice if the smell brings up any emotions or any thoughts or memories. Keep your breathing soft and strong and relaxed.

TASTE & FEEL: Take a sip of wine and focus on the flavour and feel in your mouth. After you swallow, just breathe for a few moments, noticing the flavour and feel of your exhalations. Let the wine work its way through your body. Notice any new sensations. Can you feel any points of stress? Don’t try to change anything, just have that awareness that it’s there. Even if you only manage twenty seconds, that’s twenty seconds you weren’t ‘up there’ and you were giving your brain a break. Over time you’ll feel more connected to your body and have a calmer, spacious, more creative mind.

 

www.changingmindspace.com