Winding down after a long, hard day is vital for settling your spirit and producing mindfulness, calmness and a sense of gratitude. While there are many methods to use when attempting to achieve this state of relaxation, perhaps none are as notable and proven as taking time in the evening to end your day with tea. It will gently transport you from a frantic world to a state of relaxation.
Benefits of Ending Your Day with Tea
-
For Your Body: There are many healing properties within tea itself. Some teas even have a sedative effect, enhancing relaxation, calming anxiety and helping to settle an upset stomach.
-
For Your Mind: The ritual of having tea at the end of the day, perhaps right before bed or as part of a nightly routine is a way to refocus the mind, moving away from the stresses of the day and promoting a sense of well-being and calmness.
-
For Your Spirit: Taking time to breathe deeply and call to mind the moments of beauty you noticed during your day invites your spirit into a state of gratitude, love and peace.
What Teas to Choose for End-of-Day Relaxation
There are many teas you can choose from that are ideally suited for an end-of-the-day regimen. We recommend choosing relaxing teas like rose, rooibos, chamomile, peppermint or hibiscus. The following are some specific options that we recommend:
- House of Peace: This is a relaxing herbal blend that is caffeine-free and organic. Ingredients: Organic lemongrass, organic chamomile flowers, organic tulsi, organic ashwagandha root and organic rose petals.
- Indian Rose Garden: A soothing, honey, floral tea. Ingredients: Organic: Egyptian chamomile, USA spearmint, Indian rose petals and French lavender.
- Hibiscus Elixir: A revitalizing tea with ginger juice and red fruit. Ingredients: Organic: hibiscus, rosehips, ginger, licorice root, lemongrass, dried apple, elderberries, orange peel and citrus essential oils.
- Rooibos: A nourishing tea with notes of honey and tobacco leaf. Ingredients: Organic shortcut Rooibos
Tea Meditation for the Day's End
As mentioned above, drinking tea as part of an end-of-day routine is a preeminent way to promote mindfulness and organically give your body a much-needed boost in terms of mood. As a way to help you along this path of mindfulness, we have put together a step-by-step process, showing you how you can adopt a practice of mindfulness and meditation while enacting a tea-drinking ritual at the end of each day:
- Choose your tea. While you want energizing tea in some cases, for meditation, you want relaxing teas like the ones outlined above.
- Choose your cup. This can include selecting a cup or mug that makes you happy, that is relaxing, that has an uplifting or funny message, etc.
- Notice and watch the water boiling. Take a moment to simply stand and watch, be in the moment.
- Watch as the tea infuses and meditate on how the tea allows its beauty to become part of and one with the water.
- Notice the aroma and take deep breaths in to note the fragrances of the tea as it is infusing.
- As you drink your tea, close your eyes and focus deeply on each sip. Feel the warmth of the liquid, notice the hints of flavor and savor them as long as possible before moving them past your tongue and swallowing.
- Listen to your environment and notice what’s around you. Do you hear a clock ticking, music playing, the sound of a child breathing in their sleep, or the purring or breathing of a beloved cat or dog? Feel the warmth of the cup of tea in your hands or the softness of a blanket you have placed over your lap. Engage as many senses as possible in the experience.
- Call to mind the elements of your day for which you are thankful, enacting a mindset of gratitude. Recall the sound of a child’s laughter, the beauty of a friend’s smile and the taste of your favorite food. No matter how big or small, remember the good within the day.
“There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life”
~ Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living.
This quote says it all. Drinking tea to end your day is a great way to promote mindfulness and become centered. It also helps to ground and calm your spirit before you go to bed, making it the perfect end to your day.