Matcha green tea enhances creativity and reduces stress.
Numerous people who are are using matcha green tea have reported that it enhances their creativity. A filmmaker friend of mine uses Living Qi matcha before he works and has found it stimulates his ability to tap into a deeply creative state. A psychologist reported that she was able to sustain deep focus and concentration while listening to many patients everyday. Perhaps this is sheds light on the fact that Japanese Zen Buddhist monks used matcha regularly to meditate.
Why do Zen monks meditate with matcha green tea?
During the Heian period of classical Japanese history (794-1185), monks travelled to China to study Zen Buddhism and they learned about the vast influence of tea (Camellia Sinensis) on Chinese culture, art and literature. Enamored with tea culture, and the effects of the tea plant described by Chinese Daoists as “the Elixir of Immortality”, they took plants back to Japan for cultivation. During the next 300 years, the Japanese refined their skills in cultivating the tea plant, though tea was mostly only consumed in monasteries and by aristocrats. Realizing that the tea plant had a profound effect as a meditation tool and aid, the Japanese Zen monks continued their studies and usage of tea.
In the 12th century a Zen Buddhist monk travelled to China and brought back “matcha” or powered green tea. Though the Chinese first invented powdered green tea, the Japanese took matcha cultivation to a high art. From the 12th century onwards, tea became increasingly popular in Japanese art and culture. An early form of the Japanese tea ceremony, chanoyu, was developed, and the tea ceremony was refined over hundreds of years, as an expression of the treasured principles of:
* Wa (harmony)
* kei (respect)
* sei (purity)
* jaku (tranquility)
An amazing example of natural biotechnology, or the cultivation of a food to achieve a specific psychological or nutritional effect, the Japanese began shade growing the tea plant in early spring. Growing the tea plants in shade for a few weeks in spring drove more nutritional content into the leaf, creating a superior matcha. Additionally, the shade growing process increased the chlorophyll content in the leaf, creating the bright, luminescent color characteristic of good matcha. Once the leaves were harvested, they were stone ground by hand into a powder.
Matcha has recently been compared to other green teas and the nutritional content is clearly superior, especially the catechin content. Catechins play a major role in many of the health benefits of green tea, from anti-oxidant power, to blood sugar regulation.
But back to the reason that Zen monks used matcha to meditate. If you are going to meditate successfully, you need to be able to do two things: focus the mind and relax simultaneously. Have you ever tried to relax while you are jittery on coffee? Not happening. Did the monks meditate with coffee?, ummm…no.
So what are the two powerful reasons that make matcha such an extraordinary meditation tool and aid? And how were these Zen monks able to mediate for 3-6 hours straight?
Meditation Aid and Tool #1: L-theanine.
In the 12th century, monks most likely did not know that by shade growing the tea plant and by harvesting the early spring leaves, they were increasing the L-theanine content in their matcha and harvesting the tea when the L-theanine content was highest. L-theanine has been researched and shown to put the brain into alpha state, a relaxed brain wave state associated with feelings of happiness, relaxation and well-being. L-theanine acts as an antagonist to the jittery effects of caffeine by putting the body into a relaxed and grounded state. L-theanine in matcha also has a profound effect on stress.
Meditation Aid and Tool #2: “healthy caffeine”
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.
James Whittle is a healer, a practitioner of energy medicine, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine: www.blueridgeclinic.com, a sought after speaker in alternative and complementary medicine, a writer, and the founder of two companies: for the finest organic matcha green tea in the world visit: www.living-qi.com, to learn about losing weight with Chinese medicine and controlling blood sugar and sugar cravings visit: www.tcmnutra.com
©James Whittle, All Rights Reserved, 2009.
