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Many people are running scared regarding the recent global turbulence, so its logical the Brits are meeting these times with feelgood escapism. They are also according to William Gorman, executive chairman of the UK Tea Council, "coming back to tea in their droves".
In America, we take a back seat to no one, so many plan to face these economic conditions remembering that it's the challenging times that define us as individuals and as a society. Let's push forward remembering to be strong, trusting our instincts again, and never flinching. Fear kills positivity.
Our advice for writing this new chapter?
Brace yourself. Live your life. Never give up on tea.
One of the lesser known facts about Japanese tea gardens is that location is not paramount. Whereas the Chinese give significant weight to a tea's origins, Japan concerns itself with precision processing. The reasoning is Japan's mountainous geography encourages efficient use of her land. Our train adventures through Japan reveal countless tea gardens playing Twister gymnastics with residential areas with precious space as the prize.
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My first cupping experience was at a high-end spa in Beijing before jumping on a flight to Kunming. Call me mental, but I swear it made for one of my most enjoyable flights ever. For some reason I just felt lighter, more dynamic, refreshed. I didn't know why, I didn't care, I just felt great. Back in New York, obsessed with finding a decent practitioner, I decided to do a little research as to the mechanism behind the therapy. In a nutshell, here's what I discovered:
First off, for those of you who don't know, cupping is the application of cups using heat or suction on key acupuncture points or tissue affected by pain for on average, 20 minutes. Circular marks usually form over time, the darker apparently indicating stagnation, which translates to the amount of toxins in the blood.
This is done as a treatment of pain, gastro-intestinal disorders, lung conditions (such as the common cold, pneumonia, and bronchitis), and musculoskeletal pain. The resulting Xue Yu (blood stasis) forms and localized healing occurs.
Within a broader context, cupping opens the 'Meridians' of the body. These Meridians serve as pathways around the body, that carry vital energy, or "qi". Energy hindrance is thought to cause physical and emotional illness.
While cupping appears to have originated in China with the Taoist alchemist and herbalist, Ge Hong (281–341 A.D.), similar therapies can be found in several counties including Southeast asia, modern Greece, Mexico, and even Jewish populations in Eastern Europe. Other Chinese therapies such as Gua Sha (scraping), massage, and acupuncture tap into the core mechanism of action.
A full run-down of illnesses suitable for cupping are after the break:
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Coming off of another wonderful Asian journey in search of quality tea resources, engaging interactions with so many attractive souls along the way (not to mention succulent food), I made it back just in time to experience the U.S. Open. Oh did I mention we also set into our new 5th Avenue office in between all this?
Travel log summary:
Beijing > Kunming > Dali > Lijiang > Shanghai > Hong Kong > Sayan > Denpasar (Bali) > Ho Chi Minh > Nha Trang > Hanoi > Luang Prabang (Laos) > Bangkok > Seoul, Pusan > Osaka > Kyoto > Hakone > Tokyo
Distance does makes the heart grow fonder. God I love New York, and I love the U.S.A.!
Thomas Sullivan's British tea invention celebrates its 100th birthday this month. The accidental tea staple born as a cost-effective method for sending tea samples now serves up 130 million cups of tea in Britain alone.
A new study conducted by Dr. David Gozal and colleagues at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky suggests the catechin polyphenols in green tea help protect the brain from neurological damage attributed the the breathing disorder sleep apnea (or pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep).
Gozal's team's finding show that oxidative stress resulting from induced oxygen deprivation over 14 days are avoided when given green tea polyphenols.
Although the results have yet to be seen in human patients, the findings do look exciting for those who suffer from the effects of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
SOURCE: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, May 15, 2008
"Yet for many families in the remote reaches of Yunnan, tea-picking remains outside the realm of commerce. It's something they do for themselves and is so tightly intertwined with their daily lives that harvesting tea is a routine household chore like putting the laundry out to dry."
--Thomas Fuller
How beautiful...
Source: Thomas Fuller's IHT article, "Tea, wild or not, enriches Chinese province"
Image credit: Ateava (Taken while trekking through Southern China's Yunnan Province. The bottom one was taken with permission inside a beautiful family's residence.)
See you in two years...
The Whitney Biennial 2008 just wrapped up and being a critical barometer of the American contemporary art scene, Ateava chose to brief review the event. For those of you who don't know, the biennial is a well regarded contemporary American exhibition held in New York City highlighting relatively unknown artists.
This year's biennial was raw and focused. It's also my favorite one of the past four. No gimmicks were present here, and if they existed, were well hidden. The chief curators, Chrissie Iles and Philippe Vergne managed to capture how relevant art is in these restless, discontented times. I'm usually turned off by art as social commentary, but found many of the underlying themes that did pay homage to the ills or times interestingly relevant. Found objects installations and videos were prevalent, while painting was a rarity.
Understandably, there may be some who will tag this year's exhibition as mediocre, but this sentiment most likely stems from their expectations of what art should be. If you choose to look at the biennial (and art in general) in terms of "ideas", then it should be a success. Clearly the show struggles to make sense of current social, political and economic contexts vis-à-vis a non preachy, raw, conceptual vocabulary. Those looking for meticulously crafted, tangible installations, that speaks to subjects such form and color should look elsewhere.
Unhappy, unglamorous, and restless yes, but this show is also more alive and optimistic about art since the wave of american pioneers beginning the the 60s and 70s.
(More images and photo credits after the jump...)
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