Mindfulness and Tea
Photo: Heirloom Gardener, John Forti
Tea is one of those wonderful comforting drinks to have whether you’re cold or warm, have a cold or just need a lift. Its properties can soothe your mind and settle your stomach. Tea is a beverage tied to tradition and ceremony, is an ingrained part of the history of some countries, and has been a staple of industry and agriculture for many.
“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.”
When I first became sick in 2020, most things were off limits. But tea remained something that tasted good, made me feel well, and I could handle the caffeine in the early part of the day and embraced the herbals later in the afternoon or evening. There were always bags of tea in my kit when I headed to the hospital and my husband has been brewing a pot of tea for me every morning since. We buy leaf tea from Upton tea which offers an amazing array of imported tea blends from around the world, but I’m equally happy with the herbal mix from my farmer’s market or a bag of Red Rose.
What those of us tea lovers know and appreciate is the time you gain back in your day when stopping long enough to have a cup. Really stopping and sitting with an actual cup (not one of paper or a thermos) and enjoying that entire beverage. The pause in your day and the act of focusing for just the time it takes you to drink it, can make all the difference in the level of stress or tension you feel. It’s an act of mindfulness when you focus on one thing in one single moment.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, the contemporary master of mindfulness practice, defines it as, “the awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally, in the service of self-understanding and wisdom.” Simply put, it is being fully present in the moment.
When we take the benefits of that moment back into the energy of our daily lives, we bring with us the focus and centering that the moment instilled, and can work to be more present in how we interact.
So put on the kettle and put up your feet. It’s time for a cuppa!
Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the earth revolves—slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
