This week on Create Harmony, join me, Sally Burlington, as we explore the significance and soul-soothing power of tea rituals in our Winter Well-Being series. Whether it's a cherished teapot that graces your shelves or the comfort of a steaming mug cradled in your hands, we'll uncover how these personal practices offer daily restoration. Tea isn't just a beverage—it's a journey through history, a cultural touchstone, and a mindful moment wrapped in warmth.
Together, we'll celebrate the rituals that keep us grounded, sharing stories and insights into how the art of tea can be a vessel for mindfulness and joy. As we navigate the cozy scenes of British historical fiction and the rich traditions of tea ceremonies around the world, I invite you to reflect on your own 'tea rituals'—or any restorative practice that replenishes your spirit. No matter what form they take, these little acts of well-being are the heroes in our quest for peace and contentment. So, steep your preferred blend, cozy up, and let's honor the small, nourishing moments that make life truly delightful.
This week on Create Harmony, join me, Sally Burlington, as we explore the significance and soul-soothing power of tea rituals in our Winter Well-Being series. Whether it's a cherished teapot that graces your shelves or the comfort of a steaming mug cradled in your hands, we'll uncover how these personal practices offer daily restoration. Tea isn't just a beverage—it's a journey through history, a cultural touchstone, and a mindful moment wrapped in warmth.
Together, we'll celebrate the rituals that keep us grounded, sharing stories and insights into how the art of tea can be a vessel for mindfulness and joy. As we navigate the cozy scenes of British historical fiction and the rich traditions of tea ceremonies around the world, I invite you to reflect on your own 'tea rituals'—or any restorative practice that replenishes your spirit. No matter what form they take, these little acts of well-being are the heroes in our quest for peace and contentment. So, steep your preferred blend, cozy up, and let's honor the small, nourishing moments that make life truly delightful.
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Speaker 1:
Welcome back to the Create Harmony podcast. I am Sally Burlington and I am so glad that you joined in with us today. If you are new here, let me tell you what you can expect. So this is a place where we refresh your life, we raise your well-being and refocus you on peace and joy. We spend a lot of time here at Create Harmony discussing how to discover small moments of joy throughout our everyday routines, right where we are, and we use our gratitude practices to celebrate blessings. So we are journeying along through our Winter Well-Being series, and this is Episode 60. And so far during Winter Well-Being, we've discussed house hushing, deep listening, how to create a spa right in your own home as a practice of self-care, and last week we talked about Winter Wellness Tonics. So if you missed any of those, you might want to go back and circle back through and listen to those.
Speaker 1:
But this week, our next topic of Winter Well-Being we're going to talk about tea. Now I might have lost a few of you right there. You were probably saying to yourself did she say tea? And yes, I sure did. I am talking about the kind you drink in a hot cup. What do you use for your tea parties? That kind of tea. You're probably wondering what that has to do with Winter Well-Being, and we will get to that in just a minute.
Speaker 1:
But first of all I'll share that I love tea. It's a deep love of mine. I drink a cup of tea every single day, even when it is not cold. It is not something that I just do in the winter, it can be 105 degrees Fahrenheit and I will still make a cup of hot tea in the afternoon, and I live in the South and we have a lot of hot months. There is something about this ritual that just speaks to me. And also I also love teapots. I have a collection of all sorts of teapots. We put them on shelves in my home. They're not the kind of thing we drink out of, but I just love the way they look. The classic ones, the Asian ones, just love teapots.
Speaker 1:
And now, maybe somewhat related, I'll tell you that I love British historical fiction on TV. I'll call the midwife to Harry Potter, to the crown, to all creatures, great and small. I am usually watching some sort of British story on TV, if I watch TV at all. So now I started out telling you where we're going to talk about ways to find everyday joys and you use gratitude to cherish life. And now we are off to British TV shows. So I know that's a little far afield, but I am going to tie this all back together. Stay with me here. So the reason I bring up British TV is that one thing you notice if you watch a lot of British TV, like I do, is that when they refer to tea, they are talking about more than just a cup of brown liquid with a wet bag inside. They're talking about something that is nourishing, more of an experience. It's closer to a meal, it's a break in the day that they take, that's restorative. And all of that made me think about tea in more broad terms. And then we might be going on a bit of a mental roundabout, but hear me out.
Speaker 1:
Throughout history, tea is really powerful. In some cultures there are whole tea ceremonies and those ceremonies hold sacred value. There is some type of tea in almost every part of the world. Tea is so critical that when the early Americans wanted to send a message about how they felt, they dumped tea into the Boston Harbor. What I'm saying is it is more than a drink. I know we went really far afield for this version of Winter Well-Being.
Speaker 1:
But now, after all of that rambling, I'm going to make this point. Sometimes, little things we do each day are meaningful. Lots of times, little rituals we do each day can be meaningful and we can use them to restore ourselves in deeply substantial ways. For me, it's the ritual of making a cup of tea. It doesn't take but a minute or two, but it helps keep me grounded and it makes me feel good. So now I'll pose the question to you what are your tea rituals? Doesn't have to be just actual tea, but what are your nourishing, restorative rituals? Are you currently doing anything that you love but you've forgotten to even notice it? You've forgotten to give it credibility and notice how it is restoring you. Or could you think of something that you could start doing that might add value to your day?
Speaker 1:
For sure, you have habits that you're doing every single day. Could you elevate any of those into more of a ceremony that would make it more nurturing? It might be your quiet time in the morning or your daily workout. It might be a gentle stretch before bed, or it might be just writing down a few things that you're grateful for. When these days are dark and cold, those are the little things that sustain us. And now we're coming back around to those little joys. Finding a small joy in our daily habits is such a blessing, and we get to do it every day. We can raise our winter well-being if we take the time to cherish them.
Speaker 1:
So think through your daily routine, your morning habits, your midday schedule, what you do each night before bed. How many of those can you expand into a more nurturing ritual? Can you find yourself a special travel mug to pour your coffee into before you ride to work? Or could you notice how good it feels to walk into your house each night after the day is done? Notice those little things and look for ways to elevate them. So, as part of our winter well-being series, each week we've been shifting our attention at the end of the episode to a huger habit for the week, and Huga is, I will remind you, the concept of focusing on comfort and coziness. And because we focused on hot drinks this week with our tea discussion, our Huga habit is going to be called hot cocoa breathing.
Speaker 1:
So in order to do hot cocoa breathing, you begin by picturing yourself holding a mug of cocoa. So let's shift into our more mindful posture. Adjust yourself, make sure you're perfectly comfortable, take a deep breath, breathe in gratitude and breathe out possibilities and then begin. You can close your eyes if that's appropriate for you right now and begin to picture yourself holding a mug of cocoa. Really imagine how this would feel, connect to the warmth of the mug in your hands. Take a deep breath to enjoy the smell of your cocoa. Can you smell it? Now let the breath out and blow the cocoa to cool it down. You can repeat the breathing a few times, breathe in and smell your cocoa and breathe out and cool your cocoa down In and out.
Speaker 1:
Once you've done your hot cocoa breathing for just a few minutes, you can close your practice. You can begin to bring your awareness back to the podcast where we started, bring it back to our winter well-being discussion, and you can open your eyes now, if you closed them earlier, and take one final deep breath, breathe in possibilities and breathe out gratitude. And this is a great exercise for you to do with your children. If you're raising children, you can do this hot cocoa breathing as a way to settle them. It's a great thing you can do over and over again throughout your day as a hugahabit that you can carry forward. So thanks for joining us today as we continue through our winter well-being series. We'll be back next week with another episode on this topic, and you don't want to miss it. So until next time, peace you.