It can be a daily challenge to find time to just slow down and breathe.
A Guelph author believes a soothing cup of tea can really help people to press pause and savour the moment.
In her first book, Spill the Tea on Meditation: A beginner's guide to mindfulness, healing, meditation, and feeling your best self in the world of tea, Maureen Lowden shares how to turn a cup of tea into a mindful moment.
"Everyone is so rushed and so stressed. Take it easy, take a step back and relax. Take a breather. Take five minutes. Have a cup of tea," Lowden said.
"And just feel the beauty. It can really energize you."
Spill the Tea on Meditation is a reader's digest that offers quick and easy advice for the body and mind to relax and heal, and help people along their spiritual journeys.
The book includes: affirmations, chakras, meditations, journal prompts, nature, photos taken along Lowden's travels aboard the the Rocky Mountaineer Train through B.C. and Alberta, as well as self reflection questions.
"It's a resource book where readers can begin anywhere in the book and discover a variety of ways to quiet their thoughts," Lowden said.
"Meditation and tea are effective in turning a stressful situation into a positive experience."
An avid visitor to the Boathouse Tea Room in Guelph, Lowden said practicing tea meditation can be done at any time of day and can last as long you’d like.
But it is more than just making a cup and drinking it.
Just the process of making tea can be meditative, starting from the moment you pick your tea cup and ending when you finish the last sip.
"I feel calmness when I meditate. When I forget to do it, that's when I get anxious. You have to take the time. I know that when I don't rush, it's just meant to be. When I do rush, everything is out of sequence," Lowden said.
"I'm 74 and I still try to say to myself, 'don't rush.' I hope people do the same."
Lowden is an author, certified primordial sound meditation teacher with the Chopra Group, has her Reiki level II, and is a certified crystal healer practitioner.
Raising a daughter who is now a mother of three children, Lowden said meditation has helped her learn about her own life experiences.
"I dabbled in different spiritualities and churches. Then I got interested in Eastern philosophy," Lowden said.
"I remember my yoga teacher saying to me, 'you just take whatever works for you, from each one and take them on.' That worked really well for me."
Lowden believes people can heal their soul every day when they take the time to offer love, forgiveness and gratitude.
"Life is all about learning new things and getting through it," she said.
"For me, the two major things are learning forgiveness which you really need to understand, because without it, you really can't move on. The other is just life itself."
In her book, Lowden adds recipes including how to make a perfect 'cuppa.'
"I had a mentor once who said every time I think of tea, I come alive. And I thought, well, I love tea. I did always want a tea house but I knew I was not going to start that after I retire," she said.
So, Lowden decided to become a sipologost with a Canadian tea company and since then, she has taste tested a wide variety of teas.
"Tea is a very healing product. And it's good for you. I love that tea brings people together and it's good for conversation. It also brings back memories of my mother and going to tea parties," Lowden said.
"We went to strawberry tea festivals. My sister and I were little at the time."
Lowden said every country has a different ceremony for tea.
"And the type of tea they use at the ceremony is different. A Japanese tea ceremony is a very spiritual. It's all about how you pour the tea," Lowden said.
Lowden first began writing her book three years ago intending it to be for her family's eyes only.
"But then I thought there's some real ideas that I want to convey to people and how important a tea ceremony is. It's not just going to Tim Horton's," she said.
"Even British soldiers, in the middle of battle, sat down together for tea."
Lowden is now working on her second publication, a children's book.
Spill the Tea on Meditation: A beginner's guide to mindfulness, healing, meditation, and feeling your best self in the world of tea is available on paperback at FriesenPress and on Amazon.
"This book holds very special memories for me. I want my grandchildren to read all about them," Lowden said.
Lowden said her book can help people to regulate their heart rate and lower blood pressure, improve focus and memory, increase energy levels, relieve stress, develop a healthier body and mind, and get in touch with your spirituality.
"People often say, I don't have time to sit and meditate. And I say that's not what meditation is. Meditation can be having a cup of tea, having a conversation and enjoying the taste of tea. Meditation is about being in the moment, every day,' Lowden said.
"There's a quote I heard in my 20s, 'when the world is falling around you, there is always time for tea'."
