# The barium meal that wouldn't move

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-barium-meal-favourite-food
- Themes: mindful eating, mind-body connection, slowing down
- Life situations: digestive problems, eating while distracted

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

A monk in Thailand given an afternoon barium X-ray finds the meal won't move because his stomach is 'asleep' in the afternoon; a nurse tells him to think of his favourite food, and at once it starts moving.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

I remember learning this when one of my fellow monks, a long time ago, he had some digestive problems and so he went to the local doctor. This was in Thailand. And they decided to give him a barium meal. I don't know if they still do that. They probably do ultrasound or MRIs these days but I'm not quite sure. But what a barium meal was, he had to drink this radioactive guk. And it lay in his stomach and they had some x-ray machine that can actually see how this barium meal actually went through his system. That way they could actually test if there was any blockages anywhere or any difficulties in his digestive tracts. But the stupid doctors, they scheduled his appointment for about two or three o'clock in the afternoon. And you know monks, we'd only eat in the morning time. In the afternoon we don't eat. And he'd been a monk for about four or five years. So when he was lying down there, that barium meal was just sitting there, wasn't going anywhere because the stomach wasn't used to doing anything in the afternoon. It was half asleep, it was resting. That's what happens in monks. And so he'd actually had this meal, all the nurses or doctors or technicians were around him, and they couldn't proceed because the barium meal was just sitting there. And so one of the nurses, a very smart girl, said "monk, think of your favorite food." And he was lying on his back. As soon as he started thinking of his favorite food, then the barium meal started moving here and all over the place. Just the thought was enough to actually get the whole system going.

## Teaching point

Attention to food sets digestion going — eat slowly, mindfully, without distraction.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

One thought of his favourite food, and a sleepy stomach woke up. Mind and body work together more than we notice. Eating in front of a screen or in the middle of an argument, we hardly taste a thing. Try one meal slowly and quietly, enjoying each mouthful, as a small kindness to yourself. None of this replaces a doctor's advice.

## Source

- [How To Be Positive | by Ajahn Brahm | 17 Oct 2008](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H94Dz4Iq2d4) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 36:28 to 38:07: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H94Dz4Iq2d4&t=2188s