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By Jesse Jacobs for Mindful[2]


Over the years that I’ve been running Samovar Tea Lounge in San Francisco, I’ve found that life doesn’t actually get better when we’re distracted -- surfing online, updating our status, checking the news, generally immersed in our devices. Life gets better when we’re connecting with real people in real time. Not to mention that the less time we spend on our devices, the more time we have to actually do something. Write something. Create something. Taste something.


The ritual of tea -- boiling the water, brewing the leaves, and sipping the infusion -- does something that little else in life does these days: It gives us a little hiatus, a break in the action. Compared with the nano-gap we might get while waiting at a stoplight or grabbing a quick espresso, this is time we can actually dive into and enjoy.


We’re not talking hours here. Try 10 minutes and see how you feel. It doesn’t need to be complicated. Pay attention to each step, take your time, and you may find that for the rest of your day you’re a little more relaxed, present, and cheerful.


1. Buy some good tea. Wholeleaf tea is generally fresher and better tasting -- you get more bang for the buck. Look for consistency in size, shape and color. I recommend unflavored tea, because it’s generally better quality. And it’s a fraction of the cost of tea bags or coffee.


2. When you’re boiling the water, just boil the water. Don’t do anything else. If you have a glass kettle, watch the bubbles go from tiny to large to roiling. Notice your breath and allow this experience to set the tone. The Earth is mostly water. You are mostly water. Water is a miracle, and so is heat. Enjoy them.


3. Add about one cup of boiled water to one heaping tablespoon of tea. Steep the leaves for only one minute. I like to use a generous amount of tea leaves to maximize their flavor and caffeine and brew it quickly. Notice the steam wafting up. Notice the aromas arising out of your cup. Breathe easy.



4. Remove the infusion and just sit with the tea for two minutes. Let it cool slightly and notice the color of the brew. Enjoy the aroma in the air. Feel the ceramic in your hand. Appreciate the fact that this infusion was made possible by someone thousands of miles away who picked the leaves.


5. Now is the time to drink your tea. Sip slowly. Pay attention to the temperature. Is it hot, warm or cool? Notice the taste. Is it earthy or grassy or floral? How does the body of the tea feel in your mouth? Creamy and full, dry and thin, heavy or light? You might notice that taking this time to enjoy just one activity enriches all the others in your day. That’s not because the activities have changed. But you have.


For more on meditation, click here[3] .



Also on HuffPost:




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  • Boosts The Immune System


    Green tea boosts the <a href="http://health.oregonstate.edu/synergies/2011/mechanism-discovered-for-health-benefit-of-green-tea/" target="_hplink">number of "regulatory T cells" </a>in the body, which are important for the immune system, according to research from the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.

    "When fully understood, this could provide an easy and safe way to help control autoimmune problems and address various diseases," study researcher Emily Ho, an associate professor at the university, said in a statement. The research was published in the <a href="http://health.oregonstate.edu/synergies/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/EmilyHoPDF.pdf" target="_hplink">journal <em>Immunology Letters</em></a>.

    The researchers specifically focused on the green tea compound EGCG, which is a kind of polyphenol. They said that the compound may <a href="http://health.oregonstate.edu/synergies/2011/mechanism-discovered-for-health-benefit-of-green-tea/" target="_hplink">work via epigenetics</a> -- influencing expression of genes -- rather than "changing the underlying DNA codes," Ho said in the statement.




  • Rehydrates


    If you're thirsty, tea can do the trick for hydration -- even though it contains caffeine, according to a 2006 review in <a href="http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v61/n1/full/1602489a.html" target="_hplink">the <em>European Journal of Clinical Nutrition</em></a>.

    "Studies on caffeine have found very high doses dehydrate and everyone assumes that caffeine-containing beverages dehydrate. But even if you had a really, really strong cup of tea or coffee, which is quite hard to make, you would still have a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5281046.stm" target="_hplink">net gain of fluid</a>," study researcher Carrie Ruxton, of Kings College London, told BBC News.

    The researchers <a href="http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v61/n1/full/1602489a.html" target="_hplink">wrote in the review</a>:

    <blockquote>It is a common perception is that caffeine-containing drinks cause a net loss in fluid and may lead to dehydration. Again, many of the studies investigating this have used high doses of caffeine, often as a bolus. When caffeine is given in this way, there is indeed evidence of a diuretic effect but this is not relevant to normal use of caffeine-containing beverages where the caffeine would be consumed with 200-250 ml of fluid.</blockquote>




  • May Lower Risk Of Heart Disease


    The same <em>European Journal of Clinical Nutrition</em> review showed that drinking three or more cups of tea per day is linked with a <a href="http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v61/n1/full/1602489a.html" target="_hplink">lower risk of coronary heart disease</a>, potentially because of the amount of antioxidants found in tea.

    The University of Maryland Medical Center also reported that research has shown that green tea and black tea have <a href="http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/green-tea-000255.htm" target="_hplink">atherosclerosis-preventing effects</a>, although the FDA has yet to allow teamakers to claim that green tea can affect heart disease risk.




  • Could Shrink Tumors


    Scottish researchers found that applying a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/08/22/green-tea-benefits_n_1821929.html" target="_hplink">compound in green tea</a> shrinks tumors in lab tests. The compound is a flavanoid, called epigallocatechin gallate.

    "When we used our method, the <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-08/uos-gtc082212.php" target="_hplink">green tea extract</a> reduced the size of many of the tumors every day, in some cases removing them altogether," study researcher Dr. Christine Dufes, senior lecturer at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, said in a statement. "By contrast, the extract had no effect at all when it was delivered by other means, as every one of these tumours continued to grow."




  • Potential Prostate Cancer Treatment


    Who knew that green tea and gold could be so powerful against cancer?

    University of Missouri researchers found that the two worked in tandem to <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/07/16/green-tea-and-gold-to-treat-prostate-cancer/" target="_hplink">fight prostate cancer tumor cells</a>. Green tea compounds were the delivery mechanism, bringing the radioactive gold nanoparticles to the tumors. The gold was then able to kill the cancer cells, ABC News reported.

    The research, published in the journal <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>, showed that this method was able to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/07/16/mens-health-green-tea-prostate-cancer-treatment_n_1678141.html?just_reloaded=1" target="_hplink">reduce tumor size</a> by 80 percent in mice, HuffPost UK reported.




  • Boost Functioning In Old Age


    Drinking green tea could help you <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/green-tea-functioning-old-age_n_1258028.html" target="_hplink">function better</a> -- meaning you don't need help doing basic activities like bathing or dressing -- as you get older, according to a study in the <em>American Journal of Clinical Nutrition</em>.

    The research, which included 14,000 adults ages 65 and older over a three-year period, showed that the ones who <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/green-tea-functioning-old-age_n_1258028.html" target="_hplink">drank the most green tea </a>had the best functioning in old age compared with those who drank the least.

    "Green tea consumption is significantly associated with a lower risk of incident functional disability, even after adjustment for possible confounding factors," researchers concluded in the study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.




  • Lowers Blood Pressure


    Drinking black tea could slightly <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/01/26/drinking-black-tea-may-cut-blood-pressure/" target="_hplink">decrease blood pressure</a>, according to a study in the <em>Archives of Internal Medicine</em>.

    Reuters reported that participants drank either black tea, or a non-tea beverage that had similar caffeine levels and taste, for six months, thrice daily. The researchers found that those assigned to drink the black tea had a <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/01/26/drinking-black-tea-may-cut-blood-pressure/" target="_hplink">slight decrease in blood pressure</a>, though not enough to bring someone with hypertension back into a safe zone, Reuters reported.

    "Those are small changes and are nothing like what you would see if you took a blood pressure lowering medication," Dr. Joseph Vita, of the Boston University School of Medicine (who was not involved in the study), told Reuters.




  • Aids Weight Loss


    Drinking green tea could help you reach your weight loss goals, according to a study in the <em>Journal of Nutrition</em>.

    Researchers found that <a href="http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20409937,00.html" target="_hplink">drinking five cups a day</a> is linked with weight loss, particularly in decreasing belly fat, Health.com reported.




  • The Health Benefits of Tea


    Learn how tea can help you lose weight, fight disease and beautify your feet!