Herbal Tea Meditation:

Herbal allies can be incredible teachers and guides when we are learning to hold an open heart that is also well rooted and protected. Learning how to hold healthy boundaries while also staying open and loving is nuanced and delicate work. Herbal tea meditations are a great way to invite in a helper plant that can show you the state of your heart (both physically and emotionally) and guide you in digesting old feelings in order to emerge into a vital new openness to life and relationship. Choose from the list of herbs below, or pick another plant that you know and love. Try to work with just one single plant, and brew yourself a cup of tea, letting it steep a little longer than normal to get a nice potent brew. Once ready, pick a private place to perform your meditation: start by simply holding the cup of tea between your hands and feel the warmth. Then lift the cup to your nose and breath in the echo of this plant spirit. You can gently dip a finger in your tea and anoint your chest, inviting your heart center to wake up. When ready, begin to sip your tea slowly and invite the plant to move through your body, showing you anything that needs your awareness or teaching you anything that could support your fullest expression of life and loving presence. Stay as long as you like, and come back often to see if the plant continues to show you new things.

Heart-centered herbal allies to try:

• Rose

• Hawthorne leaf & flower

• Damiana

• Cinnamon

• Tulsi