I had a tumble on my bike yesterday and today I *tried* to enjoy tea in a few sessions throughout the day. I thought of this from a couple of different perspectives:
1) Are there teas with anti-inflammatory properties, or other pain-fighting properties?
2) Can you practice a tea session in a way that helps you to recoup from an injury? I believe this one may have different layers though, such as how bad the injury, how long ago, ability to sit, etc. I can sit at my kitchen table and have tea with only minor pain in the background (unrelated to brewing and drinking tea, thankfully), however, the thoughts about the injury and what it stops you from doing, is a distraction. So, assuming all the movements related to a tea session are not impacted, how can you practice tea in a beneficial way.
Tea: Recovering from an Injury
I'd suggest a tea that is easy to brew, forgiving of mistakes, and appropriate for big pots and big cups.
Liu bao, cooked puer, and old wet-stored puer come to mind; those are the kinds of things that I reach for in the morning if I've been unkind to myself the night before, both because they are easy to brew at a time when I am in no fit state to give them proper attention, and because the good ones can have a calming, grounding, mellow feeling to them.
But I have no idea about the other aspects of your question, unfortunately. Hopefully you'll be back to your usual tea sessions soon.
Andrew
Liu bao, cooked puer, and old wet-stored puer come to mind; those are the kinds of things that I reach for in the morning if I've been unkind to myself the night before, both because they are easy to brew at a time when I am in no fit state to give them proper attention, and because the good ones can have a calming, grounding, mellow feeling to them.
But I have no idea about the other aspects of your question, unfortunately. Hopefully you'll be back to your usual tea sessions soon.
Andrew
Any time I’m making tea is for me a way to calm down after a long day. The what and how are not of importance. Simply focusing on what I do and to look at water drying on nice shapes, the reflections and shadows are enough to have meditative effect on me. But everyone will differ in that regard.
Tea as in camellia xyz, does not have an scientifically proven healing benefits that I’m aware of.
Weed-tea or other tisanes might : )
Tea as in camellia xyz, does not have an scientifically proven healing benefits that I’m aware of.
Weed-tea or other tisanes might : )
This is anecdotal of course. I took a bad fall into a ravine and broke a leg in two places, one of which was a compound fracture. There wasn’t much I could do after the surgery and before PT so I continued drinking tea, lots of tea. Specifically, I would drink DYL gaoshan prepared conventionally, then cold steep the spent leaves overnight in the fridge and drink that as well each day. This was at least two liters of gaoshan a day.
I was told that the bones would take 3 months to fuse but to my doctor’s astonishment my bones had fused in 1 month. There was a shocked look on his face when he put the x-rays on the light. He asked me what I had been doing and when I told him he was dismissive. It couldn’t possibly be tea, after all!
Also, I had strong reactions to some vaccines lately. Exhaustion, fever, headache, joint pain, and myalgia. The joint pain and myalgia were intense at times. Prompted by a friend I drank sencha and it relieved the myalgia and joint pain within 45 minutes each time. I’d say the effect felt about the same as taking 2 acetaminophen. Pain is in the mind but I feel it is possible that the green tea did help chemically.
Lastly, I drink tea almost every evening around sunset. I try to focus on the tea. This includes the changing colors of the sky, the wind and shadows in the trees, the music that is playing, the sounds of the kettle, the characteristics of the tea, etc. This is grounding for me. It helps rest my mind and bookends my day.
I hope you get to feeling better and resuming your activities soon.
I was told that the bones would take 3 months to fuse but to my doctor’s astonishment my bones had fused in 1 month. There was a shocked look on his face when he put the x-rays on the light. He asked me what I had been doing and when I told him he was dismissive. It couldn’t possibly be tea, after all!
Also, I had strong reactions to some vaccines lately. Exhaustion, fever, headache, joint pain, and myalgia. The joint pain and myalgia were intense at times. Prompted by a friend I drank sencha and it relieved the myalgia and joint pain within 45 minutes each time. I’d say the effect felt about the same as taking 2 acetaminophen. Pain is in the mind but I feel it is possible that the green tea did help chemically.
Lastly, I drink tea almost every evening around sunset. I try to focus on the tea. This includes the changing colors of the sky, the wind and shadows in the trees, the music that is playing, the sounds of the kettle, the characteristics of the tea, etc. This is grounding for me. It helps rest my mind and bookends my day.
I hope you get to feeling better and resuming your activities soon.
I guess it all depends on what the 'injury' is and what one hopes to get out of it. A week ago I had a pretty intense oral surgery I had been putting off for years, and the recovery is going about as slow as I could have feared with anything other than soup and smoothies still seeming a ways off. It messes with my sense of taste enough and I can't drink anything super hot, so I see no real point in drinking any of my good stuff until the recovery is a bit further along. That said, having to take antibiotics and not being able to taste normally drinking some heavier fermented or stored shu or liu bao means I can actually taste it and it helps soothe and balance the stomach a bit and is relaxing. I'm usually pretty active, so not being able to do any cycling or climbing for several weeks, and not even being able to do gentle yoga for a while gets frustrating and I need something to relax rather than wake me up.
While not a direct physical injury, but rather some sort of illness with intense physical ramifications I can say in the past tea helped me enormously. Many factors combined with a very nasty flu some years ago resulted in a major health crash and years of debilitating chronic fatigue and pain. Tea directly helped me overcome the fatigue in many situations and gave me that extra energy that would actually make it possible for me to get out and do what I wanted/needed to do and being able to slowly increase and push my activity level until I was able to feel closer to my original self again physically. Being so sensitive to things like diet and other outside influences to my system at that time made it pretty easy for me to feel and figure out what teas affected me in what ways - finding that fermented teas not only gave me energy but also were relaxing in a way that I would experience less joint pain, almost as if taking anti-inflammatory medication. My brain fog would clear so I could actually think again, stomach became less aggravated, pain would be lessened or temporarily relieved - it really enabled me to function in a way I couldn't without it. Aside from just extra energy I was learning a lot about tea in that time - what it did and how it felt in my body with different teas, lots of sampling and drinking, so on... so on the mental side it was also an important part of recovering in that it gave me something to do and feel happy and excited and engaged about at a time when it felt like a lot of other things had been taken away from me. So... did tea help me recover - no, not specifically - but also in a very big way yes it did
While not a direct physical injury, but rather some sort of illness with intense physical ramifications I can say in the past tea helped me enormously. Many factors combined with a very nasty flu some years ago resulted in a major health crash and years of debilitating chronic fatigue and pain. Tea directly helped me overcome the fatigue in many situations and gave me that extra energy that would actually make it possible for me to get out and do what I wanted/needed to do and being able to slowly increase and push my activity level until I was able to feel closer to my original self again physically. Being so sensitive to things like diet and other outside influences to my system at that time made it pretty easy for me to feel and figure out what teas affected me in what ways - finding that fermented teas not only gave me energy but also were relaxing in a way that I would experience less joint pain, almost as if taking anti-inflammatory medication. My brain fog would clear so I could actually think again, stomach became less aggravated, pain would be lessened or temporarily relieved - it really enabled me to function in a way I couldn't without it. Aside from just extra energy I was learning a lot about tea in that time - what it did and how it felt in my body with different teas, lots of sampling and drinking, so on... so on the mental side it was also an important part of recovering in that it gave me something to do and feel happy and excited and engaged about at a time when it felt like a lot of other things had been taken away from me. So... did tea help me recover - no, not specifically - but also in a very big way yes it did
Thanks all for the well wishes and sharing of experiences.
This morning’s Shu was an enjoyable session!
In addition to Shu in the morning, I ha e either Sencha or Goashan in the afternoon and then either an aged Sheng, or another Shu (aged) after dinner. Tea has, I believe, always had positive effects on me in a number of ways, so I’m hoping it will help with my recovery
This morning’s Shu was an enjoyable session!
In addition to Shu in the morning, I ha e either Sencha or Goashan in the afternoon and then either an aged Sheng, or another Shu (aged) after dinner. Tea has, I believe, always had positive effects on me in a number of ways, so I’m hoping it will help with my recovery
Hope you get feeling better and heal soon. I am recovering from a couple broken places in my spine. Finally back to work but was a hard road to start with.
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BriarOcelot
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I don't think of tea as a medicine personally. But I can agree with what @Bok says. I find it mentally both stimulates and relaxes which, in itself, can help a lot when times are rough. It forces one to slow down, concentrate and focus. Sometimes that's what we (and our body and mind) need.
Good luck @Noonie with your recovery - to you too @mrmopu back's are no joke. I have two fused vertebrae after a motorcycle accident in my 20's - it took a lot of rehab to get back on two feet.
Good luck @Noonie with your recovery - to you too @mrmopu back's are no joke. I have two fused vertebrae after a motorcycle accident in my 20's - it took a lot of rehab to get back on two feet.
I discovered gong fu style brewing while recovering from a fractured elbow (resulting from a bike accident as well
). I was doing PT sessions every day and the pain was almost overbearing - during the sessions and afterwards, also also to a point where I was feeling quite anxious a few hours before each session.For me, the process of learning to appreciate tea in this amazing new way was a good help in the sense that it distracted me from the recovery process, the pain, and the fear that I had about not being able to ride my bike again. It was almost like a meditative process where, for an hour or two, I was able to get my mind out of everything related to the injury and just focus on appreciating some lovely tasting tea. I also found that during these sessions my mood lightened and improved quite a bit, as felt more positive and serene!
Thanks for sharing!prcr wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 4:21 pmI discovered gong fu style brewing while recovering from a fractured elbow (resulting from a bike accident as well
For me, the process of learning to appreciate tea in this amazing new way was a good help in the sense that it distracted me from the recovery process, the pain, and the fear that I had about not being able to ride my bike again. It was almost like a meditative process where, for an hour or two, I was able to get my mind out of everything related to the injury and just focus on appreciating some lovely tasting tea. I also found that during these sessions my mood lightened and improved quite a bit, as felt more positive and serene!