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Carlee
Need an alternative to your go to morning coffee? Hi, I'm Carlee Myers, your friendly stress management expert. And this month we're focusing on how to treat yourself. And I've brought on an incredible guest, Louise Carruth. Louise and I met maybe at the beginning of the pandemic back in March. I feel like I'm just going to say almost a year ago, and I think it has been almost a year now. And when I first met her, I was immediately struck by her energy. It was calming and yet silly, yet just this beautiful energy. And we ended up connecting. And I asked her, I said, OK, Louise, you are an expert at tea. I need a caffeine free chai tea option. Do you have anything? And she immediately was like, girl, I got you. Check out this tea. She sent me the tea and I have forever been a fan since. So I am just so excited to have you on the show to share this mind boggling tea, not only the tea, but the mindfulness behind it with my community. And I love for you to just start by sharing a little bit about yourself so we can get to know you a little bit better.
Louise
OK, I am a retired school teacher, elementary school, and I guess you can take the education. You can you can leave education, but education doesn't leave you. So I came to Las Vegas. I thought I could teach one more year and realized I did and now I'm ready to retire. In the meantime, a friend of mine invited me over to her apartment and asked me if I wanted something to drink. And I said sure. And I had. I was expecting a cup of coffee because I know she drank coffee and I knew she drank tea, but I don't didn't drink tea because I don't like tea. And then she said, would you like something to drink? I said sure I'd like some coffee. And she goes, Oh, I'm out of coffee, but I have tea. And I went Oh That's really great. And I was imagining a tea bag and hot water. And then you have to put a lot of stuff in it because tea bags don't have a lot of flavor. And that's not what she did. And I went, oh, my gosh, what is that smell? She goes, and what are you doing? She had mechanical things and measuring things and well what are you doing? She goes up, I'm making us tea. I said, What kind of tea is that? She goes, You've never seen tea? And I went, Oh, I never really paid attention. I'm a coffee drinker. I've been drinking coffee since I was five years old. I didn't like milk. My parents were both coffee drinkers, and they put that my mom knew I had to go to kindergarten with milk and so she put coffee in it. So I went to kindergarten with caffeine flowing through my veins. I'm sure I never took a nap ever
Carlee
Poor teacher.
Louise
Yeah, exactly. I don't remember lying on the mat and falling asleep. And so that was my coffee start at five. So I'd been drinking coffee ever since. So he was something new and that's and I started researching and started doing all that stuff. And that's how I got started.
Carlee
And here we are 13 years later. Wow. OK, so, you know, we've talked I know those of you who follow me in the Stress Less community, you know, I'm not a caffeine drinker. I'm not a coffee drinker. I've talked about on the show how caffeine actually can create a stress response if used out of proportion. Right. And what I love, Louise, about what you do is you have the caffeinated teas for those coffee drinkers. Right. But you also have to have a lot of really delicious caffeine free options that give you that, like, warm and cozy feeling. Let's not ignore that. And they and they really, you know, they can give you that same that same pick me up, but just not through a stimulant. So I'm curious, you know, you talk, Louise, a lot about tea and mindfulness. And so I'm curious if you wouldn't mind sharing a little a few tips around how to be more mindful with your tea, because I know you say I'm going to butcher it, but it's like the tea can be the best eight minutes of your day or the most mindful eight minutes.
Louise
It's it's I tell people it can be the most important eight minutes of your day is your is your tea break. Yes. I kind of stumbled on it. I'm not it I, I don't do meditation, I do yoga, but I do it for the stretching and not necessarily for good for all the mind things that can go on while you're doing yoga. Because I see squirrels all the time, you know, I'm chasing squirrels up and down my steps on an hourly basis, but I noticed that sometimes I know that some of your listeners had the same experience, raise your hands even though you can't see me, how many people have burned out their their tea kettles on the stove because they put the heat on? And
Carlee
I don't want to talk about it.
Louise
OK. And so you get my drift. So I, I noticed that I we're more stressed nowadays, were more anxious nowadays. And this gives us. Your tea break, gives you an opportunity to measure your tea, decide what kind of what kind of tea are you going to drink today. Do you need some caffeine. Do you want something that's just going to be very smooth with no tea leaves in it? We call those signs that you make like tea, but there's no tea leaf in it. Fruit infusions, herbal infusions. Make your choice consciously measure it out, heat the water to whatever you need to. You don't need a thermometer. Tip number one, look at the bubbles and. When the bubbles start to form on the bottom, that's great for white tea. When the little bubbles start to rise to the top, that's green tea. When the little bubbles become bigger bubbles. Right before it starts to boil, that's great for oolongs. All tea has directions, even tea bags have directions. And if you follow them, you're going to enjoy your tea a whole lot more. So then you watch the tea, depending on what kind of infuser you use and even if you use a tea bag. I wonder how many tea bag people notice that when you pour the water over the tea bag, it air forms inside the bag and the bag rises to the top. OK, watch it rise to the top. Watch it filled with water, watch it go back down. Mindfulness is not necessarily meditating where you have to clear your mind of everything and don't think of anything, I am not that person. But you learn to let the thoughts go through your mind, it's OK to think about what you did in the morning, it's OK to think about something about work, but it just kind of go through your mind and bring yourself back to.The tea industry called or China calls it the agony of the leaf. I think that sounds terrible. I call it watching the leaves dance in the water. So sometimes you can see that sometimes the tea will go to the top and it'll stick there... And then the leaves will gradually come back down. And I call back the dance of the leaves.
Carlee
I love that. And even as you're describing it, I feel like you could be like in a similar YouTube channel. Like, so relaxing and just imagining, like, the tea bag float up and then watching it float back and
Louise
watching it. So it's it's you know, you'll find that loose-leaf tea does have more flavor. It's more fun to watch. You can infuse the leaves more. That's a whole other talk and but it's the mindfulness. And then when your tea is ready, you don't want to drink it right away. It's going to be a little too hot. So while you're letting it cool down, if you're lucky enough like me, I can look at my kitchen window and I can see trees. When the weather's good here in Vegas, I can go outside to my side patio drinking tea, look at the blue sky, look at my pine trees. Yes, we have trees in Vegas, even though it's the desert some people think we don't and. And then I'm ready maybe to make a second cup. And then I can work and drink my tea, but I I've come down a couple of degrees from the anxiousness and stress and disorganization that sometimes I have, and so it helps me think things through. Now I'm calm and drinking. I mean, I've I've been known to drink two cups of tea and not know that I drink two cups of tea and I'll go to take the cup. There's nothing in it I didn't even remember. Yeah, that's why mindfulness is so important
Carlee
And it can be such a powerful practice. You know, we've heard on the Stress Less show the thought of the concept that we teach in this in the stress less community, at the stress at my in my community, which is create a stress reduction. This is exactly what we mean. One option that you can take. So for those of you who are listening, we want to know what is your favorite kind of tea or are you a coffee drinker like Louise was?
Louise
And just to remind everybody, I still am a coffee drinker. I drink my coffee in the morning, I grind my beans fresh, I use a coffee press. I'm careful with my coffee, just like I'm careful with my tea. But there's something up about. Coffee in the morning that just starts my day, but the rest of the time I am a tea drinker or my use that time wisely to make my tea.
Carlee
So what kind of tea or coffee do you love? Let us know in the comments we want to know. We're going to do a little poll. Now if you're feeling overworked and exhausted. I've got good news for you. The stress less company works with high achieving executives, business owners and even managers just like you to find that sense of peace and freedom that they desire. And really, as a result of our work together, they learn not only how to deepen their spiritual connection, whatever that means to them, they also learn those tactical tools so that they can properly manage their time, be more efficient and of course, manage that energy and be more prosperous as well. Who doesn't want to be prosperous? So if you're interested, you can apply for a complimentary stress assessment today to start the conversation about working together, visit stress less CO dot COM slash apply for more information and to apply. So this concludes this episode of the Stress Less Show. I want to give Louise one last big shout out. Thank you so much for coming on the show.
Louise
I enjoyed it
Carlee
having you back. Awesome. So if you enjoyed this week's episode, let us know by giving us a big old thumbs up or hitting that follow and subscribe button. Thanks for listening. Share with your friends and we will see you next week bye.