The Basics of Ayurveda and Tea
If you've ventured over to our Collections category, you might have noticed an entire collection dedicated to wellness. Some of these wellness blends promote wellness through the principles of Ayurveda. Which begs the question: What is Ayurveda and what does it have to do with tea?
The Basics
Ayurveda is a system of traditional medicine that has been practiced in India for over 5000 years. The name Ayurved translates to “The Science of Life,” and focuses on achieving optimal health through the balance of mind, body, and consciousness.
The Ayurveda principles, which are based on achieving a balanced state of mind, are an important step in achieving a healthy body. There are two types of principles - the Niyamas and the Yamas. Niyamas are principles that are centered around self-care and improvement, like self-awareness and contentment. Yamas are principles concerning the moral way in which you interact with others, like honesty and non-violence.
These Niyamas and Yamas help guide a person to achieve total mental, spiritual, and physical health. Taking the utmost care of our bodies and forging a healthy relationship with one another are some of Ayurveda’s most important teachings.
According to the ancient Ayurvedic texts, the key to obtaining optimum health is maintaining a healthy mind. This means that keeping a positive outlook toward ourselves and other people should encourage spiritual and physical well-being. If we have healthier minds and bodies, we exude confidence and balance and we are able to have close relationships with other people.
Ayurveda and Tea
Ayurveda experts carefully assess a person’s life before recommending treatment, including diet, sleep, relationship aspects, and exercise. After looking closely at these details, the patient’s health emerges. Part of a healthy Ayurvedic diet is experiencing all six Ayurvedic flavors. You'll probably recognize these as the six flavors we often mention when we discuss tasting teas: sweet, salty, sour, pungent, bitter, and astringent. A healthy Ayurvedic diet would allow one to taste all of these flavors in one meal. It's equally important to include a variety of colors in an Ayurvedic diet. Tea provides both of these requirements, with teas delivering a variety of the six Ayurvedic tastes and contributing their vibrantly colored ingredients.
There's also an Ayurvedic connection between the digestion of different types of information, which makes proper digestion of food and drinks even more important. The digestion of emotional, sensory, and food information are all similar, so to hinder the digestion of one, it would hinder the digestion of them all. This is another reason why tea lends itself well to Ayurveda. Many of the botanicals in tea have positive digestive properties.
To try out an Ayurvedic diet yourself, we recommend tasting teas such as Bright Eyed and Feel Better Blend, and herbs such as ginger, neem, as well as other spices.
Living a peaceful life is Ayurveda’s goal. The balance between the mind and body is necessary to achieve its optimal state. Constant and regular application of the principles mentioned above helps create harmony in the mind, body, and spirit. You will be able to enjoy the best of everything life has to give.
The benefits of tea don’t stop here! Learn about all of its useful traits here.