Within each of us is the potential to be the best we can be and make a positive difference to our lives and the people we engage with. But it is challenging to reach this potential because we are so overwhelmed by our complex lives. The stressful existence forces us to lose connect with our inherent inner being and we slip into a survival mode. As we scurry along our fast-pace, always-on, high-pressure world, we also lose our ability to respond with clarity, creativity and compassion. It is time to cultivate resilience and resourcefulness, while facilitating calm and clarity in your life.

Monks have been drinking tea for thousands of years to maintain a state of relaxed mindfulness during long periods of meditation. But only in the last few years have studies shed light on why tea has this effect on the mind. The two elements responsible for this are caffeine and L-theanine, and it is the combination of the two that makes tea unique from any other beverage. L-theanine is an amino acid responsible for increasing alpha brain wave activity, which promotes relaxation. In concert with the stimulant caffeine, this allows tea to induce a feeling of increased concentration over a longer period.

Tea as a lifestyle beverage can infuse our lives with wisdom, qualities and practices that support our well-being and nurture our innate human desire to flourish. For centuries, people across the globe have experienced the relaxing and invigorating qualities of tea. The traditional calming effects of the Camellia Sinensis have elevated the beverage, to a role beyond quenching thirst — it is drunk as an aid for meditation, to help soothe the nerves or simply to unwind. But although the mental-health benefits of tea is common knowledge among tea drinkers, scientists are only now beginning to examine how tea exerts its effects on mood and cognition, elevating the social space-filler to a lifestyle beverage!