Leora’s Healing Chai Elixir

“The elements are your teachers.
Glass holds clarity, wood holds memory, earth holds warmth.”
~ Yoga for Cancer Series, Autumn Edition

A beautiful, potent, and deeply intentional chai, a healing ritual in itself.

Leora’s Healing Chai Elixir

(Ayurvedic Spiced Tea for Strength, Clarity & Calm)

Servings: ~4 mugs
Time: 25–30 minutes (plus 3-boil process)

Ingredients

• 4 cups filtered water
• 2 stars anise
• 1 large handful of fresh ginger, roughly chopped (extra spicy for warmth & circulation)
• 1 small palmful cardamom pods, lightly cracked with a mortar and pestle
• 1 small palmful coriander seeds
• 3–4 strands saffron
• 2 palmfuls high-quality loose black tea
• 1 palmful loose Yerba Mate tea
• 1–2 cups milk (whole milk is preferred, but oat, or almond milk can work depending on preference)
• ½ tsp powdered turmeric
• A pinch black pepper (to activate turmeric’s curcumin)
• ½ tsp each: powdered ashwagandha, brahmi, and cardamom powder
• Raw honey (added after cooling)
• 1 dropper Lion’s Mane tincture
• 1 dropper Ginkgo Biloba tincture

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Directions

1. Boil the base:
   Bring 4 cups of water to a gentle boil. Add ginger, star anise, cardamom pods, coriander seeds, and saffron.
   Simmer for 10 minutes to fully extract the aromatics.
2. Add the teas:
   Add the black tea and yerba mate. Return to a gentle boil and simmer another 5–10 minutes.
   Turn off the heat and steep 5 minutes.
3. Double strain into another pot to remove solids.
4. Add the milk:
   Pour in 1–2 cups milk. Just before it boils, add powdered turmeric, black pepper, ashwagandha, brahmi, and powdered cardamom.
5. Perform the 3-boil process:
   Following Ayurvedic wisdom, bring to a boil, remove from heat for 2 minutes, then repeat 3 times.
   This “awakens” and harmonizes the medicinal properties, enhancing digestibility and prana (life force).
6. Cool & enrich:
   Allow to cool slightly before pouring into a clay mug.
   Once comfortably warm (not hot), stir in raw honey and tinctures of Lion’s Mane and Ginkgo Biloba.

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Why We Wait Before Adding Honey

In Ayurveda, heating honey (above ~104°F/40°C) transforms its natural enzymes and nutrients into a toxic or indigestible form called ama — subtle toxins that can clog the body’s energy channels (srotas).
Allowing your chai to cool before adding honey preserves its living enzymes, antioxidants, and antibacterial properties, supporting gut health, immunity, and gentle nourishment during cancer recovery.

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Ayurvedic & Healing Benefits

Core Spices

• Ginger: Stimulates digestion, warms the body, relieves nausea (excellent during or after chemotherapy), and enhances circulation.
• Cardamom: Calms the nervous system, aids digestion, clears mucus, and uplifts mood.
• Coriander: Cools the liver, aids detoxification, and balances Pitta, useful when the body feels inflamed or overheated from treatments.
• Star Anise: Supports respiratory health and has gentle antiviral and antibacterial properties.
• Saffron: Mood-brightening, antioxidant-rich, supports cell repair and emotional balance.

Medicinal Herbs

• Turmeric: Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant; protects tissue from radiation and oxidative stress.
• Black Pepper: Increases bioavailability of curcumin and other nutrients.
• Ashwagandha: Adaptogen for stress relief, energy renewal, and immune support.
• Brahmi: Calms anxiety, supports focus, enhances cognitive resilience, and soothes nervous system overstimulation.
• Lion’s Mane: Neuroprotective, supports brain repair and nerve regeneration, and may enhance mental clarity.
• Ginkgo Biloba: Improves circulation, oxygenation, and mental focus; helpful for “chemo brain” or brain fog.

Base Teas

• Black Tea: Provides warmth, alertness, and antioxidant properties (polyphenols).
• Yerba Mate: Gentle stimulant, energizing without harshness, rich in vitamins and minerals, ideal for countering fatigue.

Milk & Honey

• Milk: Nourishes tissues (ojas), offers grounding and softness to balance strong herbs.
• Raw Honey: Promotes healing, vitality, and pranic energy — but only when unheated.

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Leora’s Chai as a Ritual

Consider making Chai a moving meditation, not a fixed formula but a dance between intuition and tradition.
The “three boils” method mirror the three gunas (qualities of nature): creation, sustenance, and dissolution. Each rise and rest of the brew mimics the breath, inhale, pause, exhale, a rhythm of life itself.

There’s something profoundly alchemical here:
Fire (Agni) through boiling, Water (Jala) through infusion, Air (Vayu) through steam, Earth (Prithvi) through clay mug, Ether (Akasha) through intention and prayer.

Together, they create medicine that is more than the sum of its parts, a living tea of presence and resilience.

Yoga Through Cancer: A Sacred Return to Self ~ A Companion Series by Leora 

~ Radiation Therapy: Embracing Raw Emotions and Healing ~

~ The Disruption & Decision ~

~ The dharma of survival ~

~ Tears as Medicine ~

~ Ahimsa in Transition ~ A Kind BeginningYoga Through Cancer: A Sacred Return to Self- A Soft Place to Begin ~

~ Rumi’s, The Guest House ~

Living in Yoga

Sitting with It

A Soft Return

Yoga Off the Mat a Gently Guidepost: A Journey of Walking Barefoot on the Path of Yoga

~The Healing Art of Yoga off the Mat ~ Rediscovering my Breath in the Solitude of Spain