Blending Calm: A Garden-Grown Tea Ritual
Over the past few years, I’ve been slowly cultivating a personal ritual that feels as healing as it is grounding: blending herbal teas from plants I’ve grown myself. It began with a sky-garden on a balcony in Penang, before moving to Cambodia where we grew butterfly pea flowers and jasmine in the garden, to lavender I harvested last summer in England. Now my little apothecary has grown to include lemon balm, chamomile, and angelica (all either garden-grown or carefully sourced.) I’ve also added woodland foraged bracket mushrooms to my herbal medicine cabinet (but they require a different sort of brewing- I’ll save that for another time).
I blend these herbs not just for their flavour, but for their properties, both medicinal and energetic.
Lavender is well-known for easing tension and promoting relaxation. Studies even show it can support better sleep by calming the nervous system.
Lemon balm has a long history in European herbalism as a mood lifter and stress reliever, and recent research backs up its mild anxiolytic effects.
Chamomile is a gentle classic: anti-inflammatory, calming to the stomach and the mind, and often used to quiet racing thoughts.
Angelica root, slightly more obscure (one which came to me in a dream and a mediumship reading) was considered a powerful protector in medieval herbal traditions and is still valued today for its grounding, circulatory, and digestive support.
This blend isn’t just functional, it’s a sensory and energetic experience. When I make tea, I pause. I set an intention. I hold the herbs in my hand and ask them to work with me for my highest good.
I’ve learned that when we approach herbs with presence, we don’t just extract their compounds, we receive their spirit.
Here’s my go-to evening recipe:
Calm Blend
1 tsp dried lavender
1 tsp lemon balm
1 tsp chamomile
½ tsp angelica root
Steep for 6-8 minutes, strain, and sip slowly.
Even if you don’t grow your own (yet), you can begin this kind of ritual with a few simple ingredients and a quiet space. The nervous system responds not just to herbs — but to how we hold ourselves when we take them.
More on dream rituals next time...
