If you’re still in the mode of New Year’s transformations (actually, it’s always a good state to be in!), a yoga practice is a fantastic way to improve your overall wellbeing. From a physical standpoint, yoga increases your flexibility, stamina, energy, cardiovascular health, athletic performance, and muscle tone. It also balances your metabolism. Yoga offers profound mental and emotional benefits as well, including toning the nervous system, improving focus, increasing blood flow to the brain, and helping with relaxation. And happily, your tea and yoga habits complement one another! In this blog post, we’ll give you our choices for our top three teas for your yoga practice!
Yoga for Brain: An Elephant Never Forgets
Did you know? According to the University of Illinois, a twenty-minute Hatha Yoga flow sequence can improve your focus and memory. In fact, yoga can actually make your smarter (yes, you read that right)! Keeping your brain healthy is more than enough reason to whip out the yoga mat a few times a week! But you can also boost your brainpower alongside your practice with the right tea: An Elephant Never Forgets.
I’m a little partial to this tea, but that’s only because this powerhouse blend of gingko, gotu kola, rosemary, and other herbs make it superbly effective for alertness, memory, focus, and overall mental energy (read: no jitters included!). So if you are practicing yoga to help boost your brain power—with poses such as Downwards Dog and inversions—try adding some Elephant Never Forgets after your routine. Your brain will thank you!
Yoga for Joint Health and Flexibility: Inflammation Relief or Turmeric Fusion
One common reason why people begin a yoga practice is to help heal aching joints. Yoga can help with inflamed joints and reduce the pain of routine movement. Yoga can even help people who suffer from arthritis. If this describes you, then you can gain further benefits with tea.
Our herbal tea pick for joint health and flexibility is none other than our amazing Inflammation Relief blend. With its soothing combination of holy basil, calendula, rose petals, and other herbs, this tea benefits not only aching joints, but also digestion, nerves, allergies, and other kinds of inflammation. In combination with your yoga routine, you will make your joints happy!
If you would like stronger relief for your joints, try Turmeric Fusion. This blend is designed specifically with joints in mind. It’s a smooth-tasting blend that's also really powerful. As a bonus, it’s nourishing for your liver!
Yoga for Relaxation: Daily Calm
It’s no wonder that yoga is often associated with relaxation: it shifts your body out of fight-or-flight mode into rest-and-digest mode. Yoga has been shown to increase happiness-boosting neurotransmitters, including GABA, serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. It also decreases the dreaded stress hormone, cortisol. But do you want to take it to the next level?
If you’re looking for more Zen in your life, make a daily ritual of Daily Calm. This tea tones the nervous system and over time, makes you more resilient to stress. It helps you deal with day-to-day stressors more easily and changes your default mental state to one of calmness and feeling grounded. So, if your practice is about achieving inner peace, Daily Calm is a great addition to a destress yoga routine!
Got other suggestions for your favorite teas for yoga? We love hearing your thoughts—comment below!