Medicinal or harmful?

Reflections from a tea ceremony

On Wednesday morning I was served tea. Not at a cafe or in my kitchen, but as part of a traditional tea ceremony. It was 6:30am, eight of us seated on floor cushions surrounding the tea server as incense burned and background music played. The cosy warmth of the room a stark contrast to the heavy rain and dampness outside.

As I sipped on the fifth cup, the essence of the tea now fully open, I marvelled at the way my body was responding to it; no edginess, no accelerating heartbeat, no sweat, no provoked anxiety, no adrenaline spike. Just a true sensing of the pulse of my body and a clear channel of energy and clarity moving through me. In that moment I was tasting the medicine of the tea.

When I came home I journaled about this and the insights I gained while in ceremony and in my scribbling I recalled a realisation I had during my recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). During my illness I stopped drinking caffeine. Although prior to CFS I had been a chai aficionado, I just couldn’t do it any longer. Too much of a buzz, too astringent for my under-nourished body and too stimulating for my insomnia-ridden being.

But I did miss it. And as I began to heal, I took tentative steps towards embracing my daily cuppa again. I started by drinking it slowly while sitting on my veranda listening to the sounds of nature. The gentle movements and the ambient environment balancing my nervous system while I got used consuming tea once more. In that process, I also learnt how to truly appreciate the flavours, scent and texture of the tea. It became a full-bodied experience and this is how I found a way to incorporate it back into my life in a way that was both rewarding and nurturing.

Then one day I met a woman for a meeting about my planned book. It was the first ‘business’ catch up I’d had since I got sick and the first time I’d had a caffeinated drink outside of my home. It was a hot day, the sun beating down on us, I was excited about the potential of the meeting, I was talking fast and thinking quickly. Suffice to say, the tea went down without me being present to it. I started to get that adrenalin hit feeling and by the time the meeting ended I was high on a stimulant and I was off-kilter for the remainder of the day.

It was a huge moment for me and a revelation of what I’d discovered throughout my healing period.

Everything can be medicine. And everything can be unhealthful (or unhelpful) too. Even toxic.

We joke about the 80/20 rule or all things in moderation when we refer to alcohol, sugar and other so-called vices. But I actually feel we’re missing the point of this.

According to Ayurveda, unprocessed sugar and honey in small amounts is medicine. This medicine was part of my healing process. Just as un-homogenised organic milk with the right spices was too. I taught myself to eat all the so-called ‘bad’ foods again through quality, quantity and timing.

Alcohol in days gone by was a ceremonial drink, as was tobacco a ceremonial practice. They were consumed in small doses and in a way that brought out the healing properties of these natural substances. Just as in my tea ceremony on Wednesday.

What I experienced in the tea ceremony was a pure medicinal plant offered in a conscious traditional ceremonial way that brings out the best of it. The energy I felt in my body during this experience was still a version of the adrenalin buzz I got from unconscious tea drinking. It is the life-force we all have, but there is a subtle but potent difference.

It’s kind of like the way our nervous system works. We need both SNS and PSNS activity but at the right time in the right manner.

In our modern world we love packaging up and bottling everything. We love finding superfoods and super-practices and then over-indulging.

I’ve never been a fan of the concept of the superfoods, because just like all things can be medicine, all foods can be super too.

Every single fruit and vegetable has a gift; that’s what nature intended for us. They have a time and a season and a quantity. When our ancestors were hunting in the wild, they would pick a berry or two to sustain them for the journey, not take the whole tree and synthesise it into powder form to take in mega doses on a daily basis.

I can eat a handful of berries, but a whole punnet at one time will be too much. Ditto with dark chocolate or even a piece of meat.

Similarly with sun exposure or cold water therapy. The ancients knew better, they knew when and how and for whom. We take it to cult status which sometimes crosses the fine line between medicine and unhealthful.

I know my Vitamin D levels always increase while living up north and getting appropriate timing sun. As does my sleep when I get sunrise and sunset exposure. But if I was to spend the midday hours of a hot January day unprotected and in full sunlight I’d probably get burnt and feel not so good after it.

A friend does cold water therapy but not when her kidney energy or nervous system is untethered.

Returning to the tea, I came home and felt so in tune with myself, my body, my life-force energy and essence. I sat at my computer and the words that surfaced were clear and centred. Six cups of tea on the run would’ve left me at the other end of the spectrum.

We’ve removed so much of the ceremony from modern life. We do too much on the run and without presence. I know starting my day in a conscious practice, can change the experience of that day.

What are your experiences of this?

With love,

Sharon