Feb 27

Have you ever woken up from a dream and tried to remember it, only to have it slip back into the recesses of your memory?

Over the years, I have kept many dream journals and consider recording and journaling dreams to be a potent way to connect with the unconscious mind. Another way to say “unconscious mind” is to say “body.” I like to say: the mind is subtle body and the body is denser mind.

Dreaming, active imagination and visualization are activities associated with the right brain, while language and analyses are associated with the left brain.

I personally don’t like to “analyze” dreams, or equate dream symbols with specific, definite interpretations. Analyzing dreams often reduces powerful archetypes and psychic forces and relegates them to left brain reason.

Another option for working with dreams is to consider them poems or paintings…works of psychic art if you will.

I will often journal my dreams in the form of haiku poetry so that I remember the images.

The image itself can be revealing and illuminating.

One summer in 1992 while living on the coast of North Carolina, I discovered a very unique method for remembering dreams quite by accident. It was my morning habit that summer to take an ocean swim before beginning my day.

One morning as I walked to the beach I tried in vain to recall a powerful dream I had the night before. I could not remember the dream and I was frustrated.

As I entered the warm ocean salt water, I began to float on my back. As I did so, once my ears were submerged, the images from last night’s dream came streaming again through my mind’s eye. I was pleasantly surprised by how easily my dream returned to my conscious mind once my ears were submerged in water.

I repeated my experiment every time I forgot a dream, and every time I floated on my back and submerged my ears in water I could remember the images.

I have since done this technique in the bath as well and it never seems to fail! So if you don’t live near the ocean, or have a pool, try using the bathtub to remember your dreams. Simply submerge your ears in water, close your eyes and breathe slowly and let the dream return.

I suspect that submerging the ears in water cuts out ambient noise and puts the brain in a relaxed state that is similar to sleeping. Matcha also puts the brain in a relaxed state, alpha state, because of the theanine. I use matcha to meditate with and I have noticed that matcha facilitates dreaming and visualization techniques.

Feb 25

I want to share with you 12 more reasons why I drink Living Qi matcha everyday:

Potential Health Benefits of Living Qi matcha Green Tea:

1. Significantly increases energy (over 8-10 hours) without the caffeine “jitters”.
2. Improves mental alertness (theanine component).
3. Increases calmness and reduces stress (theanine component).
4. Boosts metabolic rate by 35-40% in regular drinkers, facilitating weight loss.
5. Powerful “anti-aging” activity due to super-charged antioxidants.
6. Lowers blood pressure.
7. Decreases levels of LDL or “bad” cholesterol.
8. Minimizes symptoms of PMS.
9. Super immune-boosting activity due to high levels of polyphenols and catechins.
10. Stabilizes blood sugar levels.
11. Powerful anti-biotic and anti-viral activity.
12. Strong blood cleanser/detoxifyer and alkalyzer due to high chlorophyll content.

One of my missions is to provide superior nutritional products that help the mind and body to function in an optimal state. Our matcha helps the mind to relax and remain calm. Because matcha is so calming, it is the beverage of choice for meditation and relaxation. If you have not tried it, I highly recommend you do so.

To learn more about how we price Living Qi matcha, click here.

Feb 17

One teaspoon of matcha (3 grams) contains about 70mg of caffeine, or about the same as one cup of coffee. I recommend about 1 gram per serving which is one third the amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee.

Of course you can drink matcha to taste and add as much as you like or reduce the water content for a stronger brew.

The caffeine in matcha is not released quickly as it is in coffee, plus in addition to the slow release of caffeine, there is a high amount of theanine content so that these two effects cancel out the coffee “jitters.” Most people feel very relaxed after they drink matcha tea.

I call the caffeine in matcha “healthy caffeine” and like to point out that it is a profound meditation aid and awareness tool.

Zen Budhist monks often meditate for 3 to 6 hours at one sitting and they harnessed the power of matcha to help them stay focused and concentrated for such long periods.

While there is caffeine in matcha, we here at Living Qi call it “the healthy caffeine” because it is absorbed differently than caffeine in other substances such as coffee. Caffeine in matcha binds to the larger catechin molecules, which are also powerful antioxidants, and is released into the bloodstream slowly over time. Matcha also contains theophylline in small amounts which is similar in chemical structure to caffeine and is absorbed slowly and over time into the bloodstream.

As your body assimilates the catechin molecules, the caffeine is slowly absorbed. In this way, the catechins act as carrier molecules for caffeine and the caffeine may play a role in the healthy absorption of the catechin anti-oxidants. The caffeine in matcha therefore is ‘time-released.’

Smaller dosages of caffeine released over longer periods of time can provide sustained energy for up to 6 to 8 hours.  Though I have found the effect of the caffeine to be very subtle and I am able to sleep after drinking matcha. The caffeine in coffee can hit you like a freight train causing coffee jitters and spikes in your adrenaline and cortisol levels. After the adrenaline and cortisol spike, people often feel a low blood sugar depression.

So if you are interested in a most powerful meditation tool, a superior meditation aid to help you stay relaxed and focused at the same time, try our Living Qi organic matcha.

To order the finest organic matcha green tea in the world at an affordable price just click here.