Cathy’s Wealth of Health: Joy – Food For the Heart
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Cathy McNease, Dipl CH, RH
What gives you JOY? That can be a difficult question to answer for the overwhelmed, stressed-out person. One way to navigate hard times is to attend to whatever gives you Joy, little things, easy things, meaningful things. What I have found is that acknowledging my Joy from drinking tea, or the sun on my face, or a singing bird, or a sweet smelling breeze, provides me with an alternative to troubles. We all need comfort, but it is too easy to turn to injurious ways of comfort that further our discomfort instead. Then, those behaviors become mindless activities that keep us stuck in suffering.
Camellia sinensis, or tea, as we know it, is a remarkable plant and medicine for our mental health. All of the teas made from this plant contain caffeine, but also tannic acid, which binds some of the caffeine, making it less available than caffeine from coffee. The amount of caffeine varies in teas, with green varieties often the highest and twig tea, kukicha, being the lowest, with only a trace. White tea, the young white leaves, is also low in caffeine. All of the teas activate the movement of Qi to the head, bringing clarity and a brightness to our minds. For the caffeine sensitive, tea should be avoided, but you may find Peppermint tea or Rooibos tea (a tangy African herb) refreshing and uplifting as well.
In Chinese medicine we look at foods and drinks through the lens of temperature – is it warming or cooling to the body? We have a range of possibilities from this plant. Green tea is cooling, Black tea is warming, Oolong and White tea are close to neutral. This may be useful based on your subjective sensations of hot and cold. People who are always hot probably should use Green or White tea, while those who are cold may benefit more from Black or Oolong teas. My favorite is Green tea with Jasmine blossoms added, which makes it more cooling and mood lifting. This is popular in Japan and China.
Green tea is the dried, unprocessed leaf, from which Matcha tea is made. It is loaded with antioxidents and healing phytonutrients. Black tea has been fermented, which increases the tannins in the end product, and changes the flavor. The British have a fondness for black tea, while in Japan or China, green tea is more popular. Oolong is a delicious, partially fermented tea. White tea comes from the fuzzy white young leaves and is very mild. Kukicha was made popular by the macrobiotic lifestyle of Japanese origin as a substitute for coffee with healing benefits, starting with only a trace of caffeine. It is made from the twigs of the tea plant.
It is folk vernacular to call drinks made from herbs teas also, but technically, they are called tisanes. Only the Camellia sinensis plant makes tea, not to be confused with Tea Tree or Melaleuca, the tree from which we get the anti-fungal Tea Tree oil.
Tisanes* that give me Joy include: Lavender, Holy Basil (Tulsi), Peppermint, Lemon Balm, Ginger, White Peony root (Bai Shao), Ziziphus seed (Suan Zao Ren), Albizzia bark (He Huan Pi), Passionflower vine, Scullcap, and Fennel seed. This group of herbs each has calming and soothing properties for frayed nerves and emotions. Lemon balm is easy to grow and very useful as a cooling, mint family herb that is sweet tasting, mild, and enjoyed by kids. The old herb books describe its benefit for melancholy. Holy Basil has helped me with social anxiety and is usually my drink before a stressful human encounter. Passionflower vine, Scullcap leaf, Chamomile flowers, Holy Basil leaves, Ziziphus seeds and Fennel seeds, are all beneficial for relieving anxiety and insomnia. Bai Shao, Suan Zao Ren and He Huan Pi are several of my favorite Chinese herbs to use in patients’ formulas who have tight and stressed nervous systems. This may be a patient that I suggest some essential oils to start the unwinding. The scent of Bergamot (bitter orange) is often used to initiate change from stubborn old ways. Rose Geranium and Blue Tansy essential oils have also proven helpful for moving stuck emotions and rigid ideas. Put a couple of drops in the palms, rub hands together, then place around the nose. Inhaling these scents for several breaths will help to open new perspectives of thinking.
Gardening is another profound Joy for me. I have a butterfly garden with Lavender, Spearmint, Roses, Alpine Strawberries, Sweet Peas, Milkweed, Mugwort, Mullein, Evening Primrose, Feverfew, Zinnias, Artichokes, and a variety of other local herbs and flowers. Watching the creatures and caring for the plants on this ¼ acre ecosystem for the past forty-six years was the dream of my twenty-year-old self that became reality. It provides a powerful connection to Mother Earth. I walk barefoot on the grass to stay grounded. I plant trees from seeds that I gathered. I stand by the trees and visualize that I too grow roots into the Earth. I am part of the fabric along with Mabel the squirrel, Ruby the cat, Tansy the Maltese-Poodle, Green the praying mantis, and the myriad of birds, butterflies, bugs and lizards, that are also part of the fabric of this little piece of Nature. It is my medicine and my food, my comfort and my Joy.**
* Exciting new plant medicine books to explore:
Energetic Herbalism by Kat Maier
Alchemy of Herbs by Rosalee de la Foret
Wild Remedies by Rosalee de la Foret and Emily Han
The Healing Garden: Cultivating and Hand Crafting Herbal Remedies by Juliet Blankespoor
Medicinal Herbs of California by Lanny Kaufer
** Inspiring spiritual books to explore
Women Healers of the World: The Traditions, History and Geography of Herbal Medicine by Holly Bellebuono, Forward by Rosemary Gladstar (my first incredible Western herb teacher)
Peaceful Heart by Dzigar Kongtrul
108 Ways to Enlighten Your Day by Lisa Berman
The Green Witch by Arin Murphy-Hiscock
This Second Edition of In Harmony with the Seasons includes a new introduction and seven additional chapters offering Tools for Sanity. It brings us current in the author’s life, adding lessons learned and knowledge acquired since the First Edition’s publication.
In Harmony with the Seasons is a collection of writings on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that represents the culmination of a life spent as a teacher and practitioner of this medicine. Practical advice is given about relieving common health complaints, using foods, herbs, and lifestyle adjustments. To be in harmony with the seasons is to be connected to the natural world, and thus, our own bodies. Nature heals. This collection will give you tools to facilitate that process. TCM Practitioners will enjoy the Chinese dietary guidance, based on organ (Zang-Fu) imbalances. Plant lovers and gardeners will be interested in the botanical families of foods and herbs. Using the lens of TCM, these articles are intended to inform and inspire individuals on a quest for better health, physically, emotionally and spiritually.