Hey,
This is Ish,
And today I wanted to talk to you about the relationship between drinking tea and meditating.
So this is actually a topic I'm very passionate about,
Just because I do have a couple of tea tattoos myself,
And I've also worked in different tea rooms before.
So think of tea as a great supplement to your meditative practices.
So since the 1200s,
Or early 13th century,
In Japan,
Matcha green tea was actually used as a method of keeping monks awake and alert through their long sittings of meditation.
These sittings would be up to 10 hours a day,
So they really needed the monks to stay alert.
And matcha specifically is unique because it has a lot of caffeine,
Which obviously helps you stay alert,
But it also has another compound called theanine,
Which makes you very relaxed.
It promotes half of brain waves in the body,
In the brain.
And the combination of both the caffeine and theanine allowed monks to stay alert and not be drowsy through the long sittings of meditation.
And if you go over to China,
They actually prepare tea in very small teapots known as gaiwans.
They're very small.
And they prepare it in a ceremony called gongfu style.
And this is to promote a feeling of mindfulness,
Because they prepare it very specifically,
And there's a whole art form to it.
And notice how the teapots are very small,
And the cups are also very small as well.
And this is because you want to be sipping the tea very mindfully,
And it's actually not that uncommon that it takes someone who is drinking tea in that fashion to drink a very small pot of tea in 30 minutes.
So compare this to a local Starbucks where you have a giant cup of coffee,
Venti or whatever the size is,
And you just gulp it down.
And that takes you about 10 minutes.
These monks or people that are practicing more of that meditative arts,
They take about 30 minutes to just drink 8 ounces worth of tea.
So think about that.
And Vietnamese monk Thit Nhấc Hạnh often teaches drinking tea in a mindful fashion as well.
So he actually does teach different guided meditations where you take 30 minutes just to sip on a cup of tea and really savor it.
So there's a whole mindfulness element to it.
So when you're looking at certain types of tea to drink,
You aren't too sure of what types of tea you want to drink,
Here are my couple of recommendations.
And obviously,
You can play around with different teas you like.
There's hundreds of different styles and flavors and methods of which they're prepared.
But my favorite would be matcha,
As I described earlier,
Because it really promotes that relaxation and it's actually one of the healthiest teas out there that has the highest amount of antioxidants.
So you'll feel a really nice buzz effect and feel really calm off drinking matcha.
So that's my go-to.
Another tea would be Pu'erh tea.
That's basically in terms of oxidization,
It's a step above black tea,
What we think of black tea.
So it's very earthy,
It's very fermented.
And subsequently from drinking this,
You feel very grounded because think of the earth element,
It's very grounding.
So when you drink Pu'erh tea,
You feel very grounded and calm.
And this can be great,
Especially during the winter seasons.
And funny enough,
Drinking Pu'erh tea,
As well as matcha,
Can actually produce a tea high where you feel very calm and almost like you're drunk.
The next tea I would recommend is white tea.
So white tea is very light and it's perfect for drinking during the summer.
The next tea I would recommend is called Gynostemma.
And this is technically a herbal tea,
It has no caffeine in it.
And it's an adaptogen tea,
So it actually relaxes the body and reduces stress levels in the body.
For me personally,
I tend to be not that stressed too often,
So when I drink that tea,
It knocks me right out of go to sleep.
So it really depends on what you're like and what you have going on in the day.
But if you are typically more of a anxious or stressed out person,
Drinking this tea,
Gynostemma,
Can really help you relax and really get into the meditative state of just being very calm.
And the next tea I would recommend is technically not a tea,
But a tisane or herbal tea,
Would be lavender.
So lavender has a lot of anti-anxiety properties and can help you really feel calm and relaxed.
And also,
I find that drinking the lavender tea,
Especially in the evenings and nights,
Can help me go to sleep a lot easier.
So those are my recommendations and I'll probably make more tea related content later in the future,
But I hope this helps.
Thank you.
