Even with all its health benefits, green tea, can be the last thing you’ll think about when praying. But, truth be told, the nootropic drink is immensely beneficial when someone is dead serious about making good on a religious obligation. 

It’s no surprise that Buddhist monks in the sixth and seventh centuries made a habit of drinking green tea daily eventually incorporating the nootropic drink in their religious rituals. The zealous abbots found out that the concoction allowed them to go through hours and hours of meditation with relative ease, not to mention give them a quicker way to focus and clear their minds. 

Indeed, religion can put a heavy toll on your physical and mental well-being. Rest easy, however. In this post, we’ll delve deeper into 3 unbelievable ways in which unoxidized green tea can be just the help you need to get closer to God. Read on.

The Heavy Toll of Religion

In the pursuit of greater spirituality, innumerable religious adherents from all corners of the globe sacrifice, abstain from food and water and even inflict bodily harm upon themselves. Indeed, many of these practices are stretching one’s self to the limits. 

• During the Middle Ages, a group of European Christians called flagellants whipped themselves for penance

• Religious Thais in Phuket pierce their faces with knives and swords for vegetarian festival

• Christians fast during Lent while Muslims also do so for Ramadan

• Catholic devotees in the Philippines are nailed to the cross during Holy Week

• Shiite Muslims flagellate themselves to mark Ashoura

Even top religious leaders observe extreme sacrifice regularly. A glorious example is the late Pope John Paul II who flagellate regularly to imitate Christ. 

Then again, the cases presented above are rather extreme. Still, denying one’s self of comfort is a common theme amongst religious practitioners.  

The good news is green tea can help you go through these tough measures. Here’s how.

3 Ways Green Tea Puts You Closer to God

1. Precious energy in long prayers

Long prayers and meditations that last for hours on end are taxing, to say the least. For instance, the practice of “Being Still” is central to Buddhism. The goal is to empty yourself to have no thought, movement or emotion exist. 

While gaining spiritual strength via meditation is laudable, the torments this puts on the body are scary. Just imagine how tiresome the hours of sitting in a lotus position would be. 

• It’s been recorded that some Buddhist sects practice as long as 11 hours of uninterrupted meditation daily. 

Green tea, however, can be a huge lift in long meditations and prayers. 

To boot, green tea is a great source of caffeine. Though possessing not as much caffeine as coffee, the amount is still substantial enough to provide you with needed energy when you’re low on one. 

What’s more, green tea has plenty of L-theanine, an amino acid that keeps you alert and focused. Having L-theanine and caffeine is a killer combination that supplies you with energy. 

While the energy from caffeine can be a little jittery, L-theanine is more stable giving you a level type of energy. 

So effective is L-theanine in speeding up energy expenditure that it has been used to help people lose weight via the process called thermogenesis, helping you lose unwanted fats even while sleeping. 

PRO TIP: 
Should you want to maximize on caffeine but don’t want to rely on coffee, then black tea is your cup of tea. Black tea has more caffeine than either green tea or oolong, the semi-oxidized tea.

2. Better managing hunger in fasting

In many religions, denying one’s self of food or fasting has become a tradition. Christians fast to purify the body and practice self-control. Pentecostal Christians often fast to better equip themselves to experience the Holy Spirit, a divine entity manifested by speaking in tongues. 

Other major religions such as Islam and Hinduism also employ fasting in several of their festivals. It’s safe to say fasting is a common religious practice all over the planet. 

Though fasting has been generally commonly practiced by religious adherents, it has its downside. For starters, studies show short-term fasting can lead to negative effects such as:

• Depression
• Anger
• Anxiety
• Fatigue
• Irritability 
• Tension

Research reveals people who fasted for two consecutive days have higher negative moods and lower positive moods. It can lead to irritability, especially in women. 

But not if green tea can’t help it. 

Green tea is filled to the brim with antioxidants. These so-called polyphenols not only are a big boost in heart health but these compounds have been shown to counter many life-threatening diseases such as cancer and diabetes. 

More importantly for you, you get an energy boost when you drink a cuppa tea when fasting. As discussed above, this is due mainly to the caffeine and L-theanine. 

Plus, you reduce your hunger and cravings when you rely on the nootropic drink when fasting. Caffeine in green tea is a natural appetite suppressant. This helps you curb hunger allowing you to manage fasting better. 

3. Clarity in praying for others

While praying seems a repetitive task for many, it can be challenging when you pray for others. Then, you will have to interact with other people and give guidance to whoever you’re praying over. 

Prayer meetings, for one, need to be as orderly as possible. When not managed properly, these meetings can easily turn into chaos leaving religious adherents at a loss. 

Prayer is a conversation with God, they say. But if everyone starts mumbling words at the same time and each wants to have a go at the microphone, things can go south easily. 

In mass prayer, a lot of weird things could happen such as people collapsing or fainting one by one. This is where green tea can be extremely helpful. 

SIDE NOTE: 
A religious leader who is often reported to drink green tea regularly is Pope Francis. He drinks matcha.

A cuppa green tea can help you attain mental clarity allowing you to manage prayer meetings better and react to eventualities. Specifically, the drink can help improve concentration and focus all thanks to the caffeine and L-theanine. 

Research done in 2017 showed that drinking green tea helps attain better cognition and positive mood at the same time.

In short, you can pray better with a ready sachet of green tea by your side always. And become closer to God in the process.