After drinking tea for a while, including Green Tea, Oolong Tea, Rooibos, Lemongrass, and a wide listing of organic herbal blends, I have found that I don’t really know if I am fighting cancer inside my body. But I do know that tea can greatly help me to balance out a stressful time, and help get rid of and prevent headaches.
Simply drinking tea, especially some of the herbal blends specifically mixed for the occasion, can help with headaches, and you will receive all other benefits from the actual tea itself. But only drinking the tea in itself will not allow you to fully maximize all the potential, especially in regards to headaches and migraines. Because not always, but sometimes, drinking tea is about Drinking Tea.
I drink tea all day long. Cup after cup (Thank you, Tea Stand) I drink with no sense of traditional practice, or religious afterthought. I just drink it. But when I have a headache (from stress, sinus headache, caffeine, or many other reasons), just drinking tea isn’t always best. That is when my tradition comes out.
I don’t use special pots, or time honored traditions. There is nothing wrong with them, but I rarely have time for that, and growing up in the United States, there are no time honored tea drinking traditions. I always used tea bags (low quality as they were my only option, and didn’t know any better).So now, even though I am closer to tradition, I still do not have time for this. My Headache/Stress tea drinking practice takes less than five minutes. Usually, that is all the time I have (which is mostly why I have the headache in the first place).
I begin with the double chamber gourmet tea bag. High quality loose tea, easy to use tea bag, reusable; three of the reasons why. I rough it up a little to make the tea inside spread out, and then I put the bag into my mug. With the tea bag ready I pour steaming hot water over it. A little bit too hot to drink. When the cup is full, I bob the tea bag in and out of the water for a minute or so, and let it site for a minute (maybe, depending on how strong I want the tea, how many times have I used the tea bag already, etc.) When letting the tea bag sit, I wrap the string around the mug handle and anchoring it with the bead at the end. After the tea is ready, I take the tea bag out of the cup, and hang it on my tea stand. With green teas and Oolong teas, this is especially important. If you leave the tea bag in the cup too long it can get very bitter.
Now that my tea is ready ( a process which took maybe two minutes) I am ready to relieve myself from this nagging headache. With the cup still steaming, I cup my hands around the mug and slowly breath in the steam. Slow, deep breathes. I do this three to five times, or until the tea has cooled down a little so that I can begin drinking it. It is still hot, but I won’t burn my tongue or lips if I drink it. Then I take small slurping sips. The hot water is important not only for the steam but also for these first few sips. The hot water slows down your drinking, and also helps to clear out your head. After a couple minutes of this I am generally feeling better.
Maybe this 5 minute practice is loosely based on tradition, and doesn’t sound too complicated, but it helps me. I am sure that all in this hectic world can appreciate 5 minutes where life is slowed down and especially a tradition that is fast, easy, and that really helps to get alleviate life’s little inconveniences; headaches, migraines, and stress.
