“When one stays in the darkness long enough, one begins to see.”
C.G. Jung, Alchemical Studies
During our first year of the Seasonal Tea Club, we focused on general attributes of seasonal awareness, the ways in which the changing climates affect our health, and the means by which we align ourselves with the harmonious cycles of the season. We encourage you to consult the Living Tea blog to further explore these important topics through the previous seasonal offerings. In an effort to deepen this exploration, we are changing gears this winter to discuss the element of water. The philosophy of the winter season, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, is one of conservation and storage. Without such practice, the result is possible injury to the water organ, the kidneys. Taoist practices, including diet, herbs and movement, encourage conserving our energy and not overusing active yang energy. We are encouraged to sleep more, go to bed earlier and wake with the sunrise. Minimizing external mental stimulation, staying warm, avoiding the cold, lessening sexual activity, sweating less and storing our energy.
THE WATER ELEMENT
As it says in the Dao De Ching:
The supreme good is like water,
which nourishes all things
|Without trying to.
It is content with the low places
That people disdain,
Thus it is like the Dao.
As the mother of tea, good clean water is essential to the perfect cup. We recommend seeking out and harvesting fresh spring water for your tea sessions (findaspring.com). This pilgrimage alone will elevate your tea sessions beyond what you might imagine, and is the simplest, cheapest way to improve your tea. As the passage suggests, water gains its extraordinary power through humility and acquiescence, taking the shape of whatever container we place it in. By staying low and humble, water carves the great canyons of the world. The human body is 60% to 70% water, and as Masaru Emoto communicates in his extraordinary book The Hidden Messages in Water, water is affected by intention, sound, words and music. All of this goes into our tea. In the words of teamaster Wu De, “water is half our earth. It is so intimately connected to this life we live. It is not just a part of us, but is us- fundamentally. Honor and respect water, not just as the Mother of Tea, but also as the flow of your life, from rain and sky to mountains and ocean.”
The water element in Chinese medicine is related to the darkness of winter, as well as both the physiological and psychoemotional attributes of the kidneys, adrenal glands and urinary bladder. To the extent that this exploration is applicable to our daily lives during the winter, we can reflect on the role of fear and willpower in our lives, for it is fear that immobilizes the will. Fear is symbolized by the dark unknown, the cold scarcity, and “death” of winter. What areas of your life do you exercise an imbalanced level of control and are your actions motivated by fear? When we stop resisting our fear, the body’s natural response of activating the adrenal glands’ fight or flight response ceases to instinctually drive us. By befriending our fear and embracing the unknown, we gain profound energy that was previously used to attempt control of the outcome of our lives. Try exploring healthy activities that you would otherwise avoid due to fear.
The way of water is the path of least resistance, which for a human being requires waiting, observing and wisely allowing the natural flow of life. A wise person follows this flow, moving through life in a way that gracefully and nimbly navigates obstacles, the way of the rivers, the land and sea. We have a strong tendency in our culture to always seek control and to make things go our way, which can deplete the will. We pollute our inner waters or fluids with toxic substances; stimulants to support overwork and stress, which deplete our adrenals and our reservoirs of ambition and will, unhealthy foods and alcohol that disrupt our digestive fluids, excessive sexual activity, which depletes our kidney energy. Excessive stimulation through violent or graphic media creates aberrant flow in the “water” of our emotions, images stored in the flow of the subconscious. On a larger scale, we treat the waters of the earth the same way- polluting with pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals and nuclear waste. When the waters of our bodies become polluted or run dry, there is fear, paralysis, depression, anxiety, fatigue, phobias, arthritis. There is a lack of flow. So what does all this have to do with seasonal teas?
As we mentioned, water is the most essential ingredient to tea after good, clean leaves. By relating to tea as a means of developing natural alignment with the seasons, we can generate greater health and harmony with life. Throughout the winter months, we can take the time to support the health of the “water” organs and reflect on the our relationship to fear. We can tune into the wisdom of the body and the heart rather than acting solely out of will power, replacing the words “hard work” with “aligned flow.” This may sound like watered down woo-woo, but consider reflecting on what life would like if you bring will into alignment with true strengths and capabilities, allowing instead of forcing. Perhaps ask yourself where fear is operating in your life and what lies at the root of that fear. Try nourishing, grounding, kidney-supporting foods like root vegetables, hearty stews and foods that grow in winter. Drink dark, earthy calming teas that support meditation, rest and appreciation of natural beauty. Find calming physical exercises such as yoga, tai ch’i and qi gong, which strengthen the spinal column and align posture, then stick to it, which in turn strengthens the will. Try to avoid excess working during the winter, as well as excess thinking and craving for more activity or stimulation. Get foot massages to relax the body, stimulate the kidney qi and renew the kidney willpower. Practice meditation to assuage your fears and perhaps gain insight into the motivations that arise out of fear, allowing you to develop trust. This in turn creates greater tranquility as you stop trying to control the world around you. These simple practices leave you feeling empowered instead of drained in life, allowing you to cultivate willpower, follow-through, strength and wisdom. Through winter regeneration, our health thrives and we feel a tremendous abundance of energy when the more active Spring season arrives.
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Winter is upon us. The gold and yellow leaves, scattered across the forest floor, remind us that the nip and stillness in the air whisper of snowfall. Trees go into dormancy, slowing down metabolism, energy consumption and growth. The animals gather winter supplies, burrowing homes, eating more food than usual to sustain themselves during the cold months ahead. The grains have ripened, the harvest is stored away or shipped from farms to feed mills, ethanol plants or river terminals, where grain gets loaded onto barges and shipped far and wide. Lakes and rivers freeze as all things in nature slow down, wither, hide, hibernate, return home, and enter a resting period. The days grow shorter, and we often start our days in darkness, bundled in sweaters and blankets. We tend to communicate more with our family and friends, making plans to gather over the Holidays, to celebrate around big, hearty meals and warm fires. While we tend to spend more time indoors, which in many cases means spending time with loved ones, it is also a time that we stay home more often. During this time of unrest in the world, it is especially important that we deliberately create space for our own reflection, contemplation, reading, meditation, stillness and cultivation. By developing greater harmony and clarity within ourselves, we have more to offer others, and this creates a ripple effect. This, my friends, is a very good time for tea.
At Living Tea, we spend a lot of time in the mountains around our home in Boulder, Colorado. We are fortunate to experience distinct changes in the seasons, and so the natural proclivities of each season seem obvious. It is one of our favorite times of year because we unearth the dusty clay jars of aged Shou and Sheng Puerh, strong Yencha and dark roasted Oolongs. We tend to enjoy big steaming sips of sidehandle bowl tea during long early morning tea sessions, sometimes getting snowed in for long weekends. This important time of the year is essential for rest, rejuvenation and the cultivation of wisdom that comes with introspection. We will share some insights into ways of staying healthy and aligned during this season, but first, the Winter Collection.