Welcome to the Nurture podcast/ blog.
Let’s create the beautiful world our hearts know is possible.
How to Start Your Spring Wellness Garden
Are you hoping to get a little garden going this year? If you are then I'm here to help you get started.
One of the most rewarding things you can do in life is grow a fat ripe tomato- or a 7 foot sunflower -or pick strawberries in your own yard.
There's just no way to quantify the joy that you can get from growing things- even if it's just herbs in pots on your window sill. It's totally addictive and I will admit it- I'm hooked!
When Brigham and I decided to open a wellness center it just felt perfect to me that people who were coming for a massage or sauna walk through my tea and herb gardens on their way to the house.
In lots of ways I think the gardens are a big part of the healing. Just stepping into a garden gives us permission to slow down and enjoy ourselves.
Growing your own garden is a great part spring wellness and it's super easy to do!
I made these 3 seed starting videos during the spring 2020 when I was gardening in quarantine and thought a lot of other folks would need help with their first growing season.
They will give you a great intro into starting your seeds this year and how to take care of them.
I hope it inspires you to plant your wellness garden this year or to keep going on the one you already have.
Jump in and get your hands dirty!
A Day at North Fork 53 Communitea Wellness
We made this little video to show you all the magic of wellness on the farm. Relax in a real wood fired sauna overlooking the river. Then enjoy a 60 or 90 minute massage in our historic art filled farm house. Afterwards sip our farm grown teas in our lounge or out on the trails nearby. Book your appointment on our wellness page: https://www.northfork53.com/book-wellness.
3 Ways Tea Can Help You Keep Your New Year's Resolutions Strong!
2022 is going to be different. This year you are going to crush all those goals you have been wanting to manifest! Yes it will be hard and feel awful at first. New habits take time and energy and your brain will be constantly tempting you with thoughts like “just forget it”, “it won’t work anyways”and that old favorite “you can start tomorrow”. You will need help and support especially in the first 3 weeks of this month to stick to your new plan.
Tea to the rescue!
Below are 3 ways that tea is naturally designed to help you get healthier, be happier and build the life you want.
Resolutions of the Body:
Getting healthy/losing weight
I’ve already written about how tea helps you lose weight and stay healthy in my tea and wellness guide but bottom line is that tea is really a great friend for you when it comes to health. Its full of antioxidants. It has no calories. It has some caffeine, but not too much. It helps keep you hydrated. It lowers cholesterol and boosts good gut flora. The only way tea could be healthier is if it yelled “gimme 10 more” for you at the gym.
Here’s some ways to use tea to stick to those resolutions around your body and health this month.
When you want to reach for a cookie or soda or glass of wine try making a cup of tea instead. Very often we are tempted into our old habits because we want to numb uncomfortable emotional states like boredom, anxiety, shame, guilt, stress etc.
Making a cup of tea and sipping it takes just long enough to take a deep breath let the emotion pass- or to move through. The hot water is comforting. You are hydrating, slowing down and getting nutrients. If there is caffeine in the blend you’ll get a little lift of energy too. Those 5 minutes are all it takes to reset your intention and make a better choice.
Maybe after you have a cup of tea you decide that you are hungry and so can choose an apple instead of a brownie. Maybe you are stressed and realize you need to take a quick walk or do some deep breathing or jumping around to relieve the tension. Maybe you are tired and choose to take a 20 minute nap instead of pushing yourself through it.
Let tea be the friend that reminds you to take a minute before you act. And unlike cigarette breaks, tea breaks are good for you and you can have as many of them as you need through the day!
p.s. I always have my favorite TEAS on standby when I need them- if you need a restock
Shop the For Support Tea Here!
Resolutions of the Mind:
Being Present/Focused/ Calm/Happy
Mindfulness is a big part of being happy. When you realize that circumstances and other people don’t make feel bad but your doing it to yourself with your thoughts, you gain the power to take back your life and start manifesting your goals. This is the work of human evolution and it takes constant practice. The more mindful of you are of your thoughts and how they in turn cause emotional reactions and how those emotions in turn those drive your actions- the more present, focused, calm and happy you will be.
One of the biggest reasons we don’t stick to your New Year’s resolutions is because we think our actions and will power will be enough to create change. But if you don’t clean up those thought patterns that are habitual- eventually your emotions will win out and the old habits will return.
Tea is a superpower in the realm of mindfulness. Green tea and Matcha in particular have both calming and energizing affects on the mind at the same time due to a gentle amount of caffeine, very high levels of an amino acid called L theanine and lots of vitamins and minerals. Research shows that L theanine reduces anxiety and calms us because it increases the number of inhibitory neurotransmitters (which balance our moods) and modulates serotonin and dopamine (which makes make us feel good).
For thousands of years monks have used tea as a means of staying awake, focused, and calm during meditation.
In the times we are living through the mind medicine that the tea plant offers us is needed more than ever before.
We are bombarded daily with information, advertising and demands for our attention by our own phones.
How to Use Tea for the Mind:
Beyond the chemical support that the tea plant provides for your brain and mood, the simple act of brewing and drinking tea can be your first step towards a daily practice of meditation and mindfulness.
The act of making tea requires you to leave behind whatever you were doing for a moment, heat water, add leaves and wait for them to steep before enjoying the sensation of the tea itself.
This simple ritual can be all you need to infuse meditation and mindfulness into your daily life.
How to turn your tea into a daily meditation practice:
To have tea as a meditation, you simply add mindfulness with each step.
Choose your tea. What will it be today? Consider your current mood and your mental and physical needs. Examine the intention behind your choice of tea and how you choose to prepare it.
Select a cup with care. Perhaps it’s your favorite mug that was passed down from a family member, a birthday gift from your friend, or a hand-crafted mug from a local artisan. Choose a cup that speaks to you and lights up your soul with happy memories and associations.
Notice the water boiling. While you’re waiting for the water to boil notice the sound of the water. Hear the pace of the water quicken as it heats up. This might be a long period of waiting, so notice if any thoughts of impatience arise (without judgement). Enjoy the slowness of this process. As the water comes to a rolling boil, see the steam escaping from the kettle, and hear the sound of the kettle’s whistle.
Watch the tea transition. Whether you’re using a bag or an infuser, carefully pour the water into your cup and watch the color change as time passes. See the color becoming darker. If you take your tea with cream, milk, sugar, or honey, add those in with intention. Think about why you enjoy each addition, and consider carefully how much you really need.
Savor each sip. Feel the warmth of the cup or handle in your hands. Feel the solid construction of the cup. Notice the shape of the cup as you hold it. When you’re ready for your first sip, hold the cup up to your nose and breathe in deeply. Enjoy the aroma — what does it smell like? Is it light and floral, or fresh and fruity? Or perhaps it’s earthy and robust. When you're ready for your first sip, take it slowly and intentionally. Let the tea sit in your mouth for a moment and notice the first burst of flavor. What does it taste like? Let the flavor spread across your tongue. Now follow the journey of the tea into your body as you swallow your first sip. Feel it nourish you.
Enjoy the process. As you continue the slow process of savoring your tea, feel where you currently are in space — perhaps standing or sitting — and feel grounded in the moment. Notice all the points where your body contacts the floor. Notice the pace at which you are finishing your tea — do you feel the urge to quicken the pace? What could be causing those feelings? Or perhaps you’re content to stay where you are right now. Without judgement, notice the feelings that arise in the process. Notice the temperature of the tea change as time passes.
Seal your practice with gratitude. As your tea meditation comes to a close, express gratitude to yourself for showing up, gratitude for all the people who put in work to grow, harvest, package, and bring you this tea, and gratitude for this present moment of peace and pleasure.
Resolutions of the Heart:
Spending more time with family & friends/Feeling Connected
It’s no secret that we called our tea brand “Communitea” because we love how tea brings people together to share conversations and connection all over the world. When you invite someone over for tea it’s a physical act of kindness. Tea gives us the time and place we need to relax and connect on a deeper level.
Making Time for Friends and Loved Ones
From Victorian parlors, to Buddhist monasteries, to the deserts of Africa, people from all walks of life gather over cups of tea to celebrate honor the ancient tradition of hospitality, to socialize, and to share a pleasant moment with others.
One of the top five most common New Year's Resolutions is to spend more time with family and friends. If that's one of your resolutions this year, here are a few ideas for creating heart felt connections.
Set up a regular teatime.
Life gets busy. Even if you're the most well-meaning friend, it's easy to get distracted by the flurry of the day-to-day hustle. Before you know it time flies by, and you still haven't met up with that old friend you've been meaning to contact.
To keep time from slipping away, try scheduling a regular tea date ahead of time. Whether it's tea with your BFFs once a month, or an annual afternoon tea with your kids, or morning tea time with your partner- schedule you tea times first before your calendar fills up with the “to do” list. Planning ahead also gives you something fun to look forward to!
Get creative with tea times:
● Tea Happy Hour: Have you ever tried tea in a cocktail? The diverse flavors of tea blend wonderfully into all sorts of "grown up" drinks. Or ditch the alcohol and just enjoy tea while you relax, chat and snack with friends.
● Tea Over Zoom: If you have a friend who doesn't live in town, you can still meet for tea. Send your friend some tea you know they'll like, and purchase the same tea for yourself. Then arrange to brew up a pot at the same time and meet "over tea" using zoom or facetime.
● Tea and Sympathy: Invite a friend over for tea and snacks, and take turns deeply listening to one another. Sometimes all we need is to be heard and supported and life feels much easier.
Send a tea care package.
Nothing is as touching as receiving a surprise care package from a friend. It's a beautiful way to reconnect, and let someone know that you're thinking about them.
With tea gifts, it's truly the thought that counts.
● If your friend is under the weather, create a Wellness Kit with some Immunitea, a bottle of honey and fresh fruit (perhaps a lemon to add to the tea!).
● If your friend is going through a difficult time, leave a surprise basket at the door with their favorite tea, some homemade cookies, and a card letting them know you're there for them anytime they need support or want to chat.
● Send a "thinking of you" card in the mail, and slip in a gift card for their favorite tea shop. You can include a message saying, "This gift card is for us to use the next time we meet for tea!"
These ideas are just a few to get you started. Your tea traditions may look different than someone else's, but the opportunity is always the same: tea provides a way for people to connect with each other.
If you’ve already thought about your Resolutions and written them down, you’ve made a great beginning to your year!
Let me know what Resolution you made this year so I can write more posts to help you to reach your goals!
Please share in the comments below!
xoxo
Ginger
How to make Pumpkin Spice Chai
Our Pumpkin Spice Chai mix is made with real air dried pumpkin powder and fresh tea and spices. It is much easier when you see how to make it on this short and fun little video!
Order Your Pumpkin Chai Here!
The Fall Equinox. Finding Balance
Finding Balance
I used to think of balance as the toe point of a ballet dancer. One leg in the air while the other finds it’s mark on the ground- holding her body in exquisite control and balance.
There’s no doubt that we have these moments in life. When our hard work and sweat come together for the applause of a crowd.
It may take suffering to get there, but damn it feels amazing.
Those peaks moments are often followed by valleys, which is another a form of balance, though that part rarely gets praised.
Balance is something we’re always striving towards yet find impossible to keep.
We all want a balanced life, relationship and bank account.
Yet try as we might, at what point do we actually have our all parts of life “in balance”?
And why do we care?
Who determines what balance really means after all?
Enter the Fall Equinox
The Equinox is moment in time when we are in a kind of cosmic balance, whether we realize it or not.
The Sun is shining directly on the Earth’s equator, resulting in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres experiencing exactly the same amount of day and night.
This moment of balance between the our planet and our Sun only happens twice a year (the other being at the Spring Equinox in March).
The Equinox is different from a ballerina.
One is a result of the natural rhythm of the universe. The other is a moment created by physical effort and control.
If we strive for perfection in life- it takes large amounts of energy.
If we relax and flow with nature- life gets easier.
Which will you choose: Be the Equinox or the Ballerina?
Letting Go
Fall Equinox signals the edge of the winter season. From this point forward the nights will be longer than the days. Night continues to deepen until the longest night of the year at the Winter Solstice in December.
This is the harvest time.
When the crops that grew from seeds we planted in spring have reached their maturity.
Nature balances it’s growth with the ebb and flow of sunlight. Our lives are determined by this rhythm of seasons.
Balance in the Northern Hemisphere means that life slows down in response to less sunlight.
Trees drop their leaves and rest. Animals hibernate or migrate. Plants drop seeds and die back.
To escape being affected by the seasons- we’ve designed lighting, fuel, entertainment and food systems that act the same year round.
We call this stability and balance.
But like the ballerina, this act of balance takes a tremendous amount of effort and control over resources and people to produce.
Imagine what could be brought into larger ecological balance if we acknowledged and worked with nature’s cycles and slowed down in the fall?
Consume less.
Conserve energy.
Rest and restore our bodies, minds and spirits.
The Scales & The Spiral
The Fall Equinox is also when we enter the astrological sign of LIbra. The symbol of Libra is the scales- which are used to weigh things in balance.
Because of this Libras are normally seen as being well rounded and easy to get along with. They are good at keeping things in life balanced and tend to value rest as much as work and the arts as much as the science.
Libra reveals another way to perceive balance.
The 50/50 rule.
Using the Scales- a balanced life would be equal parts good days and equal parts bad ones.
This way of looking at things allows for half of our lives to fall into the “this sucks” category.
If we accepted this as balance how would life feel different?
Imagine living through your hard days and not judging them as “bad” but simply as balance to your easy days.
In fact, your days are just a series of events and emotions unfolding. Your mind is the one that categorizes them as good or bad.
What if every set back, illness, fight and disappointment is necessary for you to experience a jump forward, health, calm and happiness?
What if when you looked back on your life you discovered that there probably were equal parts “good and bad” times -and that even the bad times eventually led to good ones, until new bad times came along restored life to balance.
What if that is all life is really about?
Just scales tipping back and forth, a natural ebb and flow of known and unknown, struggle and growth.
It would take no effort on your part and there would be no way to do it right or wrong.
You could trust that all things balance out in the end.
The Spiral
In the ancient world they thought of balance beyond equal amounts. They felt balance as rhythm; expansion and contraction, ebb and flow. They used a symbol that repeats itself in nature, the spiral, to represent balance in a moving and changing world.
In truth-the Fall Equinox is not a fixed point on the calendar but a dynamic dance between two cosmic bodies hurtling through space inside of a swirling galaxy in an ever expanding universe.
In that sense, humanity is but a teeny part of a much larger picture.
All of our worries: pandemics, climate change, war, politics, health, injustices are playing out in balance with the larger laws of the universe.
Even our resistance and our struggles to change things are a part of it- as is our indifference and failure to change.
In the spiral there is no beginning or end. It’s creation and destruction in endless motion.
Life is rhythm and we are part of the dance. Not like a ballerina performing but like an ancient Goddess dancing life into creation.
In the spiral- we are the creators.
We don’t have to focus on balancing the scales in our favor because in the spiral every action has a dynamic balance. Every thought and action shape the whole.
No act is too small to create spirals of kindness. No loving thought or vision is lost.
You can let go and trust that you are enough.
Your being exists in perfect balance to what is and what will be.
Happy Fall Equinox!
I hope this helped expand your idea of having a balanced life:)
Stir vortexes in your tea, peel spirals of apple skins, watch leaves dance in the wind,
xoxo
Ginger
ps- please leave me a comment about your reflections of balance!
Does it help you to think of it in other ways?
Are you a ballerina or scales or a spiral today?