Herbalism

Pour a cup of tea and take a deep breath.

Can you feel the invigorating aromas and the blissful sensations ripple through your body?

The joy of drinking tea is an experience familiar to almost every culture. For thousands of years, humankind has adopted the use of botanicals for culinary pleasures, medicinal practices, and spiritual enlightenment.

Each plant is unique, everything from its smell, texture, shapes, sizes, and their growth habits. And its complex combination of chemical compounds offers special healing properties to restore our health from the inside. It is the oldest form of medicine we know.

Plants don’t lie. They are honest in its truest form. They grow, reproduce, and wither in synchrony with their environment. This is because the entire plant is intimately connected to their surroundings, such as the soil, the air, the weather, disease and predators, and we humans often seek this connection through our plant medicines. It is an ancient tradition that allows us to connect with nature, nourishing our body, mind and soul.

Teas can also bring people together. It is almost automatic to offer a hot beverage when a friend visits your home, isn’t it? It provides a comfortable, inviting atmosphere for one to open up their hearts and share their stories, and in return we offer empathy and support. Human beings are social animals, and herbal teas have played a crucial role in building relationships when we seek personal connections.

Throughout history, humanity has relied on herbs to mend our bodies and our hearts by uniting us with mother nature, and ourselves. In turn, we give respect and gratitude back to the our surroundings. Unfortunately, in our modern society, we have built stronger relationships with our TVs, cell phones and laptops. We prefer to talk to someone through a screen rather than in person, and we see greater destruction of our forests than ever before. What has become of our connectedness, our traditions, our well-being?

Herbalism is not about cultivating medicinal herbs for our own benefits. Not at all. It is about the balance, reciprocity and creating a sustainable ecosystem, so that our children, and our children’s children, can learn our ancestor’s ways in maintaining our health and our relationship with the earth.

So here is a thought.

Let the herbal teas be a daily reminder of our place in nature. Let it be a time of peace and tranquillity. Let it be an opportunity to connect with others and build relationships. Let it be a daily celebration of life!

Each sip of your favourite tea will take you on a breath-taking journey.

En Joi!