I don't get to drink much really old pu erh as it's rather expensive and hard to obtain from trustworthy sources. This is my first excursion into the age of beige and wafty trouser legs, the seventies!
Call me uncouth but I have a harder time sifting through the peat and dark woodiness of aged pu erh for it's finer attributes, I'm putting down to a real lack of experience. So there is no surprise that I jot down the usual superlatives such as peat with sweetness on initial contact with this tea. It's been a hustle bustle sort of a day and suddenly I am pacified. I rarely mention cha qi but there is no mistaking the effect upon myself whilst drinking this tea. I have been rendered quiet and start to enjoy the moment.
With my senses rather more inward I feel a warmth on my ren meridian, a pathway that ascends straight up the forward center line of the body. If I were to choose an acupuncture point it would be radiating from yu tang 玉堂, which is known in English as Jade Hall. Energetically this point helps descend qi in the upper chest cavity and one can easily associate the dynamics of this point with the movement of my mood, for qi is movement at its purest.
What an unexpected surprise this afternoon's session has been. With all the to'ing and fro'ing of my life I have just found a space to reflect. Thank you Nada for a most interesting experience!
Nada does offer some great teas doesn't he? I will have to put forth another order from him, perhaps though when he comes out with his custom pressed cakes in a few months.
ReplyDeleteMakes me wonder what treasures he hides in his secret tea draw..?
ReplyDeletePerhaps a trip to Cornwall once his shop opens is called for..
Ive always been somewhat jealous of people who are capable of feeling a teas cha qi, I wrote it off as my being a westerner (let alone a Texan) was the reason for this handicap. But with this post Ive realized that maybe I have been feeling cha qi all along and didnt realize it. Ive experienced the same feelings you describe. But I suspect I,m still a beginer at cha qi as Ive never felt anything move, shift or pop or anything yet.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding of the movement of qi comes from my study of Chinese medicine, especially the concepts of emotions and mental states being expressions of such movement. Fear is a good example where someone becomes so affected by the emotion that they literally can't move, they freeze over. Fear does this by causing qi to sink violently, this also explains why some people lose control of their bladders when they are scared, everything is forced downwards. The face goes white as fluids head south too!
ReplyDeleteQuite extreme I know but it proves the concept in a way we are familiar. Cha qi though is an order of magnitude more subtle it seems.
ReplyDelete