<The Wine Guy at the Chicago Reporter wrote a nice piece on small ways to use the mind-body connection that is at the core of our work at Somatic Vision. The Wine Guy advocates positive thinking and experiences to make life more enjoyable and less stressful.

He recommends a TV-free dinnertime accompanied by a glass of wine, gratitude, and light conversation with loved ones. Sounds good to us!

We are aware that people experiencing ongoing unmanaged stress tend to develop unhealthy habits, which include over-caffeination, over-drinking, over-eating, smoking and the like. These bad habits undermine health as much as the stress that triggers these behaviors.

In contrast, an effective approach to stress management includes an appreciation of well-prepared and nutritious food, a glass of wine to compliment a meal if you'd like, and time simply spent with people you love.

And regarding the wine: Why not add a little mindfulness practice to boost your enjoyment of it?

1. First, make sure not to overfill the glass. The glass shown in the picture above is too full, preventing the perfume of the wine, its "bouquet," from filling your nose. Much of the pleasure of drinking wine is in the smell, which is the greater part of taste. So, pour just a few ounces into your glass, and swirl it round a little before sipping. You'll enjoy the beauty of the wine's colors especially well if you spread out a white napkin on the table, or have a white tablecloth. Its aroma will escape the glass, and its flavor will develop with the addition of air brought in by the swirling.

2. Then, take a sip while smelling the more concentrated notes in the glass.

3. Sip in a way that brings yet more air into the wine (For once, ignore what you know about it being polite to not slurp!) and keep the wine moving around the different areas of your tongue for awhile.

4. Then enjoy the velvety feel of the wine slipping down your throat and its aroma moving up from your throat into the back of your nose.

How do you feel? We'll guess that you'll feel lovely and relaxed, happy and appreciative of the carefully tended grapes and the caring winemakers who brought passion and expertise to the production of the wine, of the company you're with.

A santé!

Note: These techniques for tasting wine are used by professional wine tasters, and now that you've tried them, you understand why! No more gulping wine just because you're stressed-out, please. You're missing all the beauty and calming effect.