Tea, the magical herb

Tea works miraculously as an energy booster for us. It makes our morning lovely and refreshing. This beverage was first originated in China around 5,000 years ago, by an emperor Shen Nung, who was also a creative scientist. He used to have a good habit of drinking boiled water for hygienic precaution. One day, few dried leaves from a nearly bush fell into his boiled water from a tree branch and made his drink brown in colour. As he was creative, so he became interested in the new liquid and drank some. He felt refreshing and even delighted about its aroma and flavour. Thus, tea was created. At first it became popular in China and then its neighboring country Japan and gradually spread to other countries. In 793 AD, the drinking of tea became so popular that a tax was imposed on it.

Teas are grown in tropical and sub-tropical areas. The processes through which tea are made includes fermentation, heating, drying and addition of other herbs, flowers, spices and fruits. But basically the process is based on what type of tea is going to be made. There are four types of tea, namely white tea, green tea, oolong tea and black tea.

White tea: White tea does not go through the process of fermentation. They are produced from buds that are well hydrated in dry air for a period of time. They neither go through rolling, breaking or bruising process. They have a very delicate flavour and appear pale.

Green tea: Fresh new leaves are plucked for making green tea. After the leaves are plucked, they are dried in air for about 8 to 24 hours for evaporation. To avoid fermentation, these leaves are then pan fried and rolled up in various techniques. Thus result in a fresh flavour with dark green appearance.

Oolong tea: After the leaves are plucked, they go through a partial fermentation. Then the leaves are dried in air for evaporation of water and then they are tossed in baskets so that the edges of the leaves are bruised. It results in dark brown colour.

Black tea: It is the most common type of tea in the West. It goes through a lengthy process of fermentation after the leaves are plucked. The water is evaporated in dried air. Thus it appears deep black in colour.

Tea is great disease fighter. It has magical power to deal with many major diseases, like cancer and heart problem.

Brahmi herb

Another name of brahmi is “the memory enhancer” or “the thinking person’s herb”. It is said to be the best brain tonic among other ayurvedic herbs, which are primarily used as nerve tonic to treat insomnia and nervous tension. It eliminates venoms and blockages within nervous system. Other than improving memory, it even helps in the improvement of concentration. If few fresh leaves are eaten daily, then it helps in rejuvenation of mind. It even helps to concentrate while mediation. This brahmi herb works wonderful to calm heart and helps against heart attack. It is even used for all sorts of skin problems like eczema, psoriasis. The other uses of this multipurpose herb are as follows:
It motivates the growth of skin, hair and nails.
It is good for student as it improves the IQ level and general ability.
It has the ability to possess anticancer activities.
It is effective against the diseases of arthritis, asthma, constipation and rheumatism.
It even helps in preventing hair loss.
Many of the Indian salads use brahmi herbs.

Panchakarma

The Sanskrit term Panchakarma means the five actions take to cleanse the toxic materials form the body. It rejuvenates our body, mind and soul. It is very effective for overall health and wellness. The other benefits are.... panchakarma reduces toxins from the body and mind; strengthens the resisting power; improves energy level, self reliance, vitality and also enhances mental strength.

Five steps:
It consists of Vamana (Emesis), Virechana (Purgation), Vasti(Enema), Nasya(Nasal Application of Herbal Medicines) and Raktomoksha (Blood-letting).

Vamana (Emesis) is a process of therapeutic vomiting. A drink sould be taken which is a mixture of licorice, honey or calamus root tea, cardamom and salt is given to the patient. It helps to eliminate the toxic or waste materials from the stomach.

Virechana (Purgation) is the process of removing the waste substances from the intestine. It also cleans sweat glands, kidneys, colon, liver, stomch and spleen. It cures pitta which controls the diseases. Various types of laxative herbs are used here like dandelion root, prune, castoroil, senna, bran etc. This course is generally used to treat skin disorders, piles, worms, jaundice, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fever, gastrointestinal problems and so on.

Vasti is used to treat several forms of vata diseases like arthritis, gout, sciatica, rheumatism. In addition it also cures constipation, chronic fever, sexual disorders, vomiting, hyper acidity, heart and neck pain, backache etc.

Nasya is the application of medicinal herbs through nose. It is used to heal kapha related ailments like bronchitis, migraine, sinuses. There are few kinds of nasya, ie. Nutritional Nasya, Virechan, Nasal massage, Oil Nasya, Sedative Nasya and Nasya decoctions.

Raktomoksha (Blood-letting) process is used to purify the blood. It removes toxins from the blood flow due to numerous skin disorders such as acne, rash, eczema etc. It also cures liver and spleen enlargement. But blood letting process should not be given to the patients of anemia, edema and weakness.

Pamper your skin in this summer:

Winter so out and summer is knocking on our door. It is always a pleasure to have a sun bath in a beautiful, mesmerizing beach. But just like winter, we should pay enough attention to our skin to keep it gorgeous. So, I thought to pen down some of the essential points, which were told by my grandma, to keep my skin fresh and healthy even in summer times. They are as follows:
1. Make a puree of cucumber and mix it well with some yoghurt, honey, oatmeal and lemon juice (for oily skin) or rose water (for dry skin). Apply evenly on to the face and let it stay for 20 minutes. Rinse off well with lukewarm water after the aforesaid time. If your skin is allergic to cucumber, make use of apricot or papaya instead of making a puree of cucumber.
2. Exfoliate your skin with lemon. Rub your skin with a half lemon and a pinch of sugar granules to remove dead cells and to lighten the skin tan.
3. For reducing skin blemishes, apply raw sliced potato on your skin.
4. Make a blend of egg white and honey. Apply it on to the face. It not only makes the skin soft and smooth, but also helps to reduce wrinkles.
5. Apply a mask of mashed banana and milk. Wash off after 20 minutes. This mask makes the skin smooth and supple.
6. Summer times are high times for skin tans. So, apply a paste of turmeric powder and limejuice. It helps to remove the tans and it even lightens the skin colour.

Other than these above points, we should also drink enough water to hydrate our body; we should wear cotton comfortable clothes. It is always recommended to avoid bright coloured clothes in summer, as because it absorbs sun’s ray. Wear a hat to keep your head away from direct rays of sun. Before stepping out of your home, make sure that you’d applied sunscreen lotion, having an SPF of 15 or above. Eat lots of green vegetables and fruits. Drink fresh fruits juice to skin your body cool. Try to keep yourself away from spicy and junk foods. Always remove the makeup before going to bed at night. Keep your skin well nourished with herbal moisturizer, containing skin-friendly herbs, like turmeric, aloe vera, saffron, apricot, sandalwoods, honey etc. and finally, wash your face with plain water after every few hours.