Lotus Root Tea to Strengthen Lung Energy
In Japan, lotus root tea has been used for centuries to strengthen the lung energy. Use lotus root tea preemptively starting in the season of autumn, which is the season of lung/large intestine energy.
Grandma Davis remarked often how colds had always gone to my chest. Dr. Thomas Duckworth encouraged me to try lotus root tea when I was in my second year of studies and my umpteenth respiratory infection. Traditionally, in Japan, lotus root tea has been used for centuries to strengthen the lung energy. Wisely, I took his advice. And over the years of its use, I have noticed that I experience fewer respiratory challenges. When I am challenged in that way, I remember lotus root tea.
Recently, I experienced a respiratory wind cold invasion. Poor judgment tends to come out of energetic imbalance. Poor judgment also leads to energetic imbalance. Staying up late, eating improperly, and not enough exercise set up the opening for the pathogen. When the first signs of invasion began, I chose denial instead of preemptive action. After the invasion was no longer to be denied, it took several days and a couple of meridian therapy treatments for me to remember lotus root tea.
I share my transgressions so you may learn and perhaps avoid suffering. Get your seasonal "tune ups" with meridian therapy. Use lotus root tea preemptively starting in the season of autumn, which is the season of lung/large intestine energy. Utilize it through the "cold and flu" season as a daily practice. Should a pathogen find a foothold, use lotus root tea throughout the day to fortify your lung energy. Also find your way to a practitioner of meridian therapy.
In the teachings of the Kototama, lung/large intestine energy is the "E" dimension. Kototama medicine speaks of dimensions instead of meridians. Meridians are originally nautical lines of travel on a map. In Traditional Chinese Medicine philosophy, the meridians represent surface pathways of the energies where by they can be accessed for treatment. As the energies involve so much more, I prefer the Kototama method of discussing the energies as dimensions. As I have been taught by Dr. Thomas Duckworth (Doctor of Kototama Medicine), "E" dimension is judgment capacity, life power. As I understand the fundamentals of oriental medicine philosophy, Lung energy governs Ki (Japanese for life energy). Lung energy governs and moves protective Ki. It is protective Ki that guards us from pathogens and expels pathogens.
Find lotus root tea at your local health food store or shop for it online. Eden Foods offers one that I use. It already has a little ginger root added. I add more ginger, as it offers benefits that will be discussed in another article.
My recipe for using Eden's lotus root tea:
1 heaping teaspoon of lotus root tea
1 heaping teaspoon of fresh grated or ground dry ginger root
8 ounces of cold water
Whisk the two roots into the cold water in a glass, ceramic, or stainless steel pot (certain metals can change the properties of herbal preparations). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Simmer 3-5 minutes uncovered. Pour into a cup. Let cool to a comfortably hot temperature and drink. Keep stirring the brew so that you consume all the root. I sometimes vary it by placing an organic green tea bag into the cup while it is cooling, about a minute.
Lotus root tea has a mild flavor that I enjoy. If you must, a drop of honey can be added.