133: Adaptogens 101 with Lopa of Rasa Koffee

Namaste, it's Sahara Rose. And welcome back to the Highest Self podcast, a place where we discuss what makes you your soul's highest evolvement. Can you believe it's already November? I mean, it's insane how fast this year has just flown by and that we're already going into the holiday seasons. This past month has been so incredible, meeting literally hundreds of you all across the country. And I'm going to be doing a little reflection on that in the next episode. I want to share with you guys this incredible offer I have going on for the next eight days only, but will be available again in January. And that is my Abundance Mindset Masterclass. This program is for you. If you have been yearning to have a thriving business, to have, you know, look in your bank account and not hit the fan out of stress, and to really love what you see, this is for you. If you are ready to tackle your money issues head first and realize that abundance is your birthright. Because all of these incredible things that we want, from the organic food to the adaptogens to the yoga teacher trainings, to the trips to Bali, all of these things take money. And if you really look, money is just energy. It is just currency. It is this intangible thing that if you can just master your mindset around, can take you to all of the places that your soul was meant to go. So don't let playing small hold you back. And it is time to master your abundance mindset. I made this program only $20 and it includes a full one hour masterclass with me plus a live Q and A where you can ask me any of your questions. It's happening November 8th. We'll be doing again in January. But whenever you're listening to this, you can watch the masterclass and you'll still have the webinar replay available for you immediately as well. So head over to abundancemindsetmasterclass.com would love to have you in the program. It's going to be life changing. I mean, I've had so many, so many thousands of you say it was by Far the best $20 you've ever spent in your life. And if you think about it, what is the cost of not adapting an abundance mindset? The cost is millions of dollars on the table and not just money. It is relationships. It is your purpose, it is your highest self that you are not reaching if you do not adapt an Abundance Mindset. So if you really think about that opportunity cost, $20 is not that much for it. So come join me. Abundancemindsetmasterclass.com hit this on pause, write it down, put it in your calendars, make sure you see me there because it is gonna be lit and I'm so excited to just share the work that has really changed my life. I have made it a vow to the universe that anything I learn, anything I master, I will share it to other people. So I am so honored and so excited to share it with you. 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Now, let's talk adaptogens. A lot of you guys have shot me, DMs saying you want to learn more about adaptogens. So I brought on the expert herself, Lopa, to share these powerful plant medicines with you. So if you do not know what adaptogens are, you're gonna find out a lot in this episode. Essentially, they're herbs that adapt with your body, give you exactly what they need, and we're gonna deep dive into them from an Ayurvedic perspective, Chinese medicine perspective. Lopa really knows it all. So if you're not familiar with Lopa, she is the founder of Coffee Coffee with a K because it is not real coffee. She has actually formulated a blend of adaptogens that help give you energy naturally without the caffeine. So she's blended together Ayurveda, Western herbalism and Chinese medicine to create essentially this coffee alternative. And this is really, really helpful for a lot of us because I would say, I mean like 90% of Americans drink coffee. I'm not sure what percentage of Highest Health Podcast listeners It's less, but it's still gonna be. And as you guys may know, from an ayurvedic perspective, coffee is not something that is recommended. I talk about this on the episode with Lopa, but coffee is rajasic. So rajas means it creates rage, irritation in the body. It's the opposite of sattva. Purity, clarity, lightness. So for us to be more clear in our minds, we wanna be more clear in our diets. And what coffee does is it's a stimulant. It makes us more rajasic, angry, on edge, reactive. If you look at that subtle energy, it is a P in balance. Which is why our society is so pitta that we have become obsessed with being more productive, more active, more fast, more going, because we want to be so pitta. And that has created this pitta imbalance.

As a global society.

What's that caused? War, gun violence, irritation, inflammation, us versus them duality. And that starts with our diet, guys. That starts with us. Every time we drink that cup of coffee, we are creating more rajas in the universe. And I know you may be saying, oh, my coffee isn't that big of an issue. I need coffee to wake up. Oh, I'm just having one cup a day. Oh, it's organic coffee. Blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't care what your excuse is. We have to see that coffee is a stimulant. And if you need an outside source to be stimulated, then that means the energy is not coming from inside of yourself. And that's what we need. We need to use our own energy reserves so we can take that true life force that ojas and bring it out into the world. So I'm really excited to be interviewing Lopa and to be sharing rasa coffee with you guys. It is amazing. You can get your rasa coffee by heading over to Rasa coffee with a K R-A S a K-O-F-F-E-E.com. use coupon code Sahara and you will receive 20% off your RASA products. So in this episode, we talk all about what adaptogens are, how you can use them, the various types of them, how to really incorporate into your day, and why this really matters. If I did not explain it enough, you're gonna dive deeper into it in this episode, and I hope you walk away really feeling like an adaptogen pro, because that's really what this is providing you with. So, without further ado, let's welcome Lopa of Rasa Coffee to the highest self podcast. Welcome Lopa to The Highest self podcast. It's so great to have you here.

I'm so delighted to be here. Thanks so far.

So the first question that I would love to ask you is what makes you your highest self?

That's a great question. Well, I'll go with the first thing that came up, which was I took a nice deep breath. I love that the actual question inspired me to take a break to do the thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that definitely helps. I have worked with breath so much and just have such a relationship with it as a regulating force in my life. And it's, you know, it's the easiest practice, it's the easiest nervous system regulation. It's the easiest way to calm down. It's the easiest way to center and touch myself. Touch in with my. My core self. Yeah, I would say conscious breath is. Makes me my high self.

Love it. Free, affordable, everywhere.

Exactly. Anytime. Everywhere you are, it's there.

Love that. So you created this amazing coffee alternative which I'm drinking right now as I record this, and I'd love to know your why. What inspired you to create a coffee alternative? I mean, most people seem to just be happy drinking their coffee. So what was the reason behind it for you?

Well, I was a new mother and my son was about four months old and I was tired as fuck. And I also knew that coffee wasn't really great in my system and. And you know, it just tended to make me a bit anxious, jittery, not good for my stomach. Vata pizza. So that's, you know, it's basically a recipe for not goodness in my system. You know, it's a central nervous system stimulant, activates all that vata, so aggravating my. My pitta as well. And so I was looking at the coffee alternatives that were out there and I just didn't see anything. I was like, wait a second. Like, it got me thinking, if we're going to drink something every day, like, shouldn't it be amazingly nourishing and fantastic for your health and energizing without a bunch of caffeine? I'd had a affinity for herbs for a long time and through ayurvedic study, also just knew that coffee should be reckoned with carefully and just was like, wow, there's all these amazing herbs out there. Why can't we put all of those into a morning beverage that's coffee, like. And voila. So I saw a market opportunity and got together with an herbalist friend of mine, and she's the one who brought the adaptogens into play. Our herbal coffee alternative is packed with adaptogens. I was familiar with adaptogens since way, way before they were cool. But I was like, oh, wait a second. If the coffee that you drink in the morning is also an avenue for adaptogens, which in my mind are like the nature's antidote for our time, for the stressors of our time, it just makes tons of sense. So, you know, like a completely insane person. I started a business when my son was five months old.

And look where it's brought you. So yeah, that's amazing. And sometimes, you know when, when your life is actually the most chaotic is when I feel like sometimes it's like you're either in this like do, do, do action, action, action or like nothing. So since you were like, like raising a child and all this stuff was going on, you were kind of just moving into the direction of a business too. And I think that's when you have the most. I don't know, I've. But you really have a lot of momentum going. You're learning all these new things. May as well step into that business side of yourself too, because motherhood is a leadership position.

Absolutely, absolutely. And yeah, I always had this sense that there would be kind of a before motherhood and after motherhood marker in my life. And I didn't quite know what it would look like. But there was a huge surge of creative energy after I had my first child. I mean, I literally came out of that and was like wanting to start three businesses which was just, you know, obviously not, not sustainable, not a good idea. But I just had so much creative energy turning in me. And it was also a very tumultuous time of my life as well. So I think that there was an element of, you know, sort of just focusing my attention on something else besides all the chaos that was going on outside of me and creating something that I really believed in.

I love that so much. And we can talk about conscious business too, but really especially for a woman, like your business is such a big place of freedom that it gives you.

Oh yeah, yeah, it's amazing. I feel so self expressed in my business. It's really, really helpful. And as a mother, I feel like that's especially helpful too because we give so much to your children and you lose some of your identity in that, you know, like everything that I used to do, like, has gotten completely redefined. I had somebody once tell me, kids don't change your life, they take your old one and give you a new one. So yeah, having, having Some way where you actually really feel fully self expressed is incredible blessing.

Oh, I, I love that so much. They don't change your life, they take your life, but give you a new one. Like what? An upgraded view of motherhood.

Totally love that.

So a lot of people, I'm assuming listening to this podcast are coffee drinkers because most of the population is and there's a lot of contradicting health advice out there. Some say coffee is good for you, some say it's bad for you. So I'd love to know your views and what effects coffee had on you.

Sure, sure. I am of the mind. I don't think coffee is the devil and I don't really think that anything is the devil. I really love the old Ayurveda adage, for whom and when. What I like to focus on is the relationship with coffee. So coffee is an intense nervous system stimulant. One way to look at it is it's like the most widely consumed, completely unregulated, socially destigmatized drug. Anybody can have it anytime and it is, it has drug like effects on your body. I mean, it's very powerful. And it's another way to look at it as well as it's, it's an incredible plant medicine. I mean, coffee, it comes from a plant. You know, I look at the herbs that we use in Rasa as powerful plant medicines. I'm really into tea and tea ceremony. I see that as a plant medicine. Coffee is definitely a plant medicine as well. But the way that most of us have tended to, most of our culture anyway, have tended to use it, in my experience, understanding is, you know, we develop. It has definitely a physical addictive dependency side to it and it can cause you to actually override your body's sense of actual tiredness. You wake up, you're tired, maybe you need to rest, maybe you need to slow down your life a little bit, maybe you need a break. You know, all these different things we say, nope, I'm going to have coffee instead. And we just, boom, we cross over that boundary that our body is speaking to us and saying, hey, I have a need. And we're saying, not right now again, this may not be everybody, but this is a pretty common way to relate to coffee. And I think that that relationship is dangerous in actually taking years off of people. And I'm really passionate of recalibrating people's relationship to coffee. You know, it's great to have sometimes it's, you know, and some bodies as well will do better with coffee. Than, than others. You know, Ayurveda will, you know, will be the first to tell you that, you know, coffee is going to be a better medicine for a kapha type than it is for a vata or pitta type. And so, you know, I feel that people being aware of their own body type and what is if coffee is really actually medicinal for them or if it's a way of asking yourself to do more than is what your body really wants to give at this time, maybe it's asking for, you know, for something else. So recalibrating that relationship and having coffee, having intense caffeine like that, having an intense nervous system stimulant like that on a more occasional basis, on a less addictive basis, that's what I think is really where health is. You know, in the same way, if somebody were to require alcohol to get through the day, we would call them an alcoholic. And you know, many people like, you know, quote unquote and actually require coffee to get through the day. And I feel like it should be more in the category of alcohol. It should be considered more in the category of alcohol in terms of how we approach it. Again, you know, like, you can have alcohol sometimes you can have a glass of wine that the Europeans do it, the French, the Italians, you know, they have. There's great studies on that. And it's also in context and it's also not very much. And it's also, you know, not trying to avoid an unhealthy lifestyle. All of these different components are, I think, are important context to consider when somebody's evaluating the relationship to coffee. For me, when I drink coffee, I usually feel really powerful. I feel really like a lot of stuff done. I usually talk pretty fast. My heart rate goes up. Coffee can activate the fight or flight response in your system. So it actually triggers a cortisol release from your adrenals. It actually acts as a stress response to your body. And again, different people are going to respond to that differently. Some bodies, that's not going to be such a big deal. For my body, it's a pretty big deal. And so when I have it, I do feel like kind of fight or flight. I feel pretty powerful and like I've got a nice adrenaline rush. I can really get shit done. I and shaky, vata, aggressive, irritable, all of that stuff. Often my stomach gets a little bit, you know, kind of acidic feeling. Feels like my blood is even a little bit acidic and kind of crunchy. So it's not a great experience for me. It's not like I'm going to have it every day. I did. When I started rasa, I tried to get myself addicted to coffee just to see if I could get myself off of it using rasa. I gave up after like seven days. I was like, this isn't even worth it. I don't want to know. Yeah, coffee is not a great thing for my system. But that's not everyone. Again, there's probably a lot of people listening and being like, well, that's not me and that's great. And that may be that you're in a really healthy relationship to coffee, that maybe that coffee works really well for your body and maybe also that you're very happy with the level of addiction that's going on. And it's kind of a symbiotic, parasitic relationship. You know, it's. Everybody has to decide for their own body and their own desire. We do get a lot of customers that actually add rasa to their coffee. And I do find that when I add them together, it's a much different physical experience for me. I don't get the same jitters. It's much more. I definitely get a strong energy boost, but it's not the same, you know, it's just kind of like without a container, kind of shaky feeling. And so, you know, we have that so much that we're actually going to be coming out with a rasa plus coffee product. So again, I'll iterate like, we don't necessarily think coffee is the devil. It's about having right relationship to coffee. And, you know, if we can get people to have like a little bit less coffee, we often get people that tell us they have rasa with their coffee and then they don't need to drink as much coffee throughout the day. That's amazing. That's fantastic. I think that's they've found a level of caffeine consumption that works really well for them. But yeah, for me, coffee on its own, on a regular basis, not a great fit.

Yeah, I mean, for me, I think that your body can get used to anything. I could take a little bit of cocaine every day and my body would get used to it and I would stop having an effect and then I would need more with the any form of substance. I've gone through phases that I would drink multiple cups of coffee throughout the day and I could drink it before bed and still go to sleep. And now I'm at a point that even a little bit of coffee, let's say it's in a smoothie or it's in something. I get so anxious, so vata and balanced, like scattered jittery, because my body has become more attuned to it and more sensitive to it. So that same person can have such different experiences with that same substance depending on how often they take it. And I think that for most people, they're just so used to drinking such a huge amount that they're like, oh, coffee doesn't do anything for me. But if you get off of it for a month and you drink a cup, you're going to see really how acidic this is. And especially drinking it first thing in the morning when you wake up and your stomach is empty and your stomach is a fire, it's an agni. And you're filling up your agni with more heat, building acid, it's like literally asking for like a wildfire. And then that's how you're gonna feel throughout the day. So that's my view on coffee and from like being a total coffee addict and coming back and forth and for sure, there were times that, for example, when I was writing Idiot's Guide to Ayurveda, that I was on such a short deadline of two months to write and edit 400 pages that I was like, oh my God, I need a crutch of some sort because this is too much for me. So I started to just drink the coffee, coffee again. And then surely enough, I would get jittery and I would keep up with it and then it wouldn't make me jittery and I could drink so much of it. But that doesn't make it that my body has gotten used to it. It means my body has gotten numb the same way if I ate donuts every day, my body would become numb the same way as if you're addicted to junk food. You're like, I don't know, my body feels pretty good, but you don't know what really feeling good feels like.

Exactly, exactly.

Yeah. And it's also rajasic too. The guna of it, the quality of it is rajas, which is irritation, anger, impatience. And if you want to be sattvic, which is purity, clarity, you want to decrease the amounts of rajasic foods that you eat. So it's coffee that's anything that's too stimulating. Sriracha, spicy foods, excess garlic and onion, these things are all going to be too stimulating and the opposite of the yogic path, the satsvik path. So there's so many qualities to coffee. And I think that we can find scientific, quote unquote evidence for anything because when you want to prove something, like I could say fat is good, fat is bad, sugar is good, sugar is bad, coffee is good, coffee's bad. But the reality is it's an acidic drink and if you are to have it, eat something first and then have some and dilute it with like some sort of non dairy milk so you're not just drinking it black.

Amen, Amen to that.

Or just drink rasa coffee and then you won't have to worry about it because it's not real coffee.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Or blend it because the herbs and rasa also have really great nourishing and grounding and adrenal supporting effects as well. So it really does balance that out quite a bit. And yeah, just a note on that sattvic state of mind. I've done a couple of panchakarmas and each time, you know, like, I find that, but it's like one tiny step at a time that you start to step away from that, that state of like a really grounded, nourished, balanced, healthy self. And I often, like, once I get like 10, 15 steps away, I notice that I'm justifying, I'm like, ah, does it really matter if I have another glass of wine? Does it really matter? You know, like, didn't really have that much effect. Right. And then when I've gone to do panchakarmas and I come out of that and I'm in the most balanced, amazing, grounded, nourished state, like incredibly clear, and I just experience how much my mental state and the way that I view the world is completely intertwined with my body and we just, I think it's just easy to forget that, you know, that it's, it's so it can be challenging to maintain the level of health that, you know, and it's, I think it's also good to be flexible in that I'm a big fan of the 8020 rule. But yeah, it's easy to slowly step away and think, maybe it doesn't matter so much. Maybe this coffee that I'm drinking every morning isn't having that big of an effect. But when you really do come back to balance, as you were saying, like if you were to take 30 days off of coffee and then have a cup after that, you might be like, whoa, I can't believe I was completely attenuated to that. And we have a coffee detox program as well. We're finding a lot of people who go through that and then they have their coffee at the end of it to taste it and they're like, like, wow, I don't even want this anymore. In the same way.

Oh, yeah.

Once you hit balance, it's easier to stay in balance.

Totally. And on the adrenal fatigue note. Yeah. After I was drinking all this coffee and I did a cortisol test, I saw my adrenals were shot like they had been up for so high that they were at none. And I've talked about this a lot on the podcast, but the adrenal fatigue is so real and it makes you wake up and you feel exhausted, which is why you think you need coffee. And it's this like, subtle self perpetuating pattern that continues and causes you to gain weight in your midsection, causes your immune system to go down. So many side effects to the adrenal fatigue. And coffee is, I would say, the biggest, besides obviously your stress and your lifestyle. But coffee is a crutch to enable this stressful lifestyle. So when you take away the coffee, then you're gonna have to look at something else which is the real cause.

Right, right. Have to do the hard work of looking at the whole system.

Right. And I think that's why people, people drink it, because it's just easier to not sleep and drink a coffee than it is to sleep an hour earlier.

Yeah, exactly.

So I'd love to talk to you about adaptogens, because in your blend you use a lot of different adaptogens, prebiotics, mushrooms. So can you tell us a little bit about some various adaptogens and their benefits? Just what does adaptogen mean? And then some adaptogens that you use or you like.

Sure, sure. So adaptogens are an amazing class of herbs that, as the word might avail you, it helps your body to adapt. And what they do basically is they work both with your nervous system and your endocrine system to mitigate the stress response. So they are increasing the amount of time that it takes you to have a stress response and reducing the amount of time that it takes you to come back to normal. So you're basically just less of a, of a stress case. My physical experience of that is I literally feel like when I'm taking them regularly, and that's an important thing, to take them regularly, I feel like I actually have like an extra layer in my body between me and stress. Like it's as if I just put on a little fuzzy, warm stress suit. And that doesn't quite get to me quite as much. The little things don't, don't hit me as much. I just feel more resilience. More, bounce back more like, it's cool, man, it's all right. It'll be all right. Great, let's keep going. And they work through two different pathways. The hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis, which is the hormonal pathway that your body communicates to your adrenals that you're under stress. And then the sympathoadrenal system, which is the nervous system way, the neurotransmitter way that your body communicates that you're under stress. In order to be called an adaptogen, they have to have a few different characteristics. They have to be none toxic and normal therapeutic doses. They have to have a non specific response on the body. And this is one of the reasons, like they can be considered a bit of a panacea because they really work holistically with the whole system, your nervous system and your endocrine system. I mean that's, you know, those control everything really. And so, you know, they're working holistically, systemically within the body. And they have to have this overall normalizing, balancing effect. So, you know, they kind of have this inner wisdom, this intuitive balance like with your body, where they if something needs to be revved up, it revs it up a little bit. If it needs to be calmed down, it calms it down a little bit. So you can have a different response to the same adaptogen, which is, which is really interesting. And we do occasionally get people who say, like, hey, I drank rasa and it made me really sleepy. You know, I thought it was supposed to energize me. And the truth is that it does energize most people. And that's because most of us are afflicted by the same kind of culture stresses and we're all kind of living similar lifestyles. And so it's going to affect everybody somewhat similarly in that way. But everybody is different, everybody's going to have different needs and it may affect people in different ways. So that's kind of generally about adaptogens. Each adaptogen of its own has its own specific personality and its own specific qualities. And I also want to say too, adaptogen is a, is a scientific term and not a marketing term. And it is being used much more as a marketing term these days. It's, you know, super trendy and you see it on lots of things. And there's actually quite a lot of herbs that I see and plants out there on the market that are labeled as adaptogens.

Yeah.

And that is, you know, these are always still like amazing substances to be taking into your body. Like it's not going to hurt you because it's labeled an adaptogen. A label is just a label. But I think it's, I'm really passionate about having people be educated consumers because sometimes you know, a brand and the brands may not know. I think this isn't actually that common of an awareness that, you know, there's a specific set of criteria. It needs to have undergone a lot of scientific, clinical, peer reviewed studies to be considered an adaptogen. But you know, companies may not know that and then they throw the word adaptogen on there because of course it's an awesome herb, it's an adaptogen and then they, you know, possibly increase the price because adaptogens are trending and then, you know, you get a little bit duped as a consumer. So I want people to be smart and understand that there's only nine, maybe 10 depending on who you talk to, like definite adaptogens and then there's about 30 more that are, you know, probable adaptions. They haven't undergone quite enough rigorous scientific testing to be 100% certain that they really do act in all the ways and adaptogen needs to act should be considered an adegen. And then there's a bunch of things like pearl powder, matcha maca, charcoal, cbd, goji, all of these things which are amazing substances in their own right, but not actually adaptogens. So I just want people to be aware of that. We are going to be releasing sort of like here's the definitive list of adaptogens according to science relatively soon as well, just to help educate people on that.

Love that. So can you tell us the nine definitive adaptogens?

Sure, yeah. So American ginseng, Asian ginseng, Ashwagandha, the king of the Ayurveda herbal pharmacology, Cordyceps, an amazing mushroom that grows out of the heads of caterpillars. Like just mind blowing crazy stuff. Eleuthero, which is sometimes also known as Siberian ginseng, which is actually a misnomer. It's Eleuthero Rhodiola schisandra, shilajit, which is actually not an herb or a plant. It's a resin that's excreted from rocks. It's an incredible substance, but it still is definitely adaptogenic. One that's not at all widely known is reponticum and it actually is 10 Tulsi. It has recently been added as a definite adaptogen.

Toshatavari is not on that list.

Shatavari is not on that list. Shastavari is in the probable adaptogens list. And so there's about 30 or so more. And most of these. You can look at some of the different studies. I put Shatavari into the adaptogens list and we say in Rasa that we have seven adaptogens, but I think four of those fall into the probable adaptogens list. No, three. Shatavari is one of them.

It's also so much less known that there aren't funds for studies for these herbs yet. But as they get more popular, then there's going to be more studies on them.

Exactly. Exactly.

Yeah. Cool. So ashwagandha, let's talk about that because everyone is hearing about it. Everyone's like, oh, it's good for you. But like, no one really knows what it is. So can you share with us a little bit about that herb?

Ashwagandha is one of my favorite herbs. Yes, absolutely. So Ashwagandha is a calming adaptogen. It is like a soothing balm for your nervous system. Like, literally, they say it soothes frayed nerves. Like, it just actually like kind of goes in there and just calms your nerves over. It's just deep levels of energy as well. So as you take it over time, it's. It's a tonic herb in that way. And it helps you to both calm and energize at the same time, which is a just a really wonderful feeling. So it gives you this sense of kind of calm, grounded energy. It also. One of the things that we get a lot is people avoid ashwagandha because it's a nightshade. And it is. It does fall in the nightshade family, and it does. People who are on autoimmune protocols often will stay away from ashwagandha. You know, I don't know enough about autoimmune protocols per se and what people are dealing with variously. But I do know ashwagandha is actually an immunomodulator. So it's not just going to jack up your immune system and make it stronger, which is what you don't want. If you have an autoimmune disease and your immune system is actually attacking your own body, but it actually helps to. It has a distinct adaptogenic effect on your immune system. So if your immune system is too high, it'll actually help to bring it down versus if it needs to be boosted up, it'll help to bring it up. And then lastly, ashwagandha is also a classic aphrodisiac sexual organ tonifying herb as well. It's really an amazing herb. I think it's a fantastic. It had panacea like qualities for this day and age, in my opinion. I once spoke with an herbalist and she was like, if I could get every single person on one herb every day for the rest of their life, it would be ashwagandha.

Beautiful, I love that. And in Sanskrit, ashwagandha means strength of a stallion. And it's a. It's supposed to make you strong. And a lot of the men would take it as an aphrodisiac and to make them powerful, which is interesting because we mostly take it for relaxation. But the actual Sanskrit meaning is like the more empowerment benefits of it. So can you tell us a little bit about Shatavari?

Yes, definitely. Shatavari is often seen as a female sexual tonic, although it's actually good for both sexes. Plenty good for both sexes. The name translates to she who has 100 husbands.

Yes, 1,000 husbands. Yeah, even better.

So, yeah, so you can figure out where that might be going. And. And I have found it to distinctly have that effect. And so it really approaches, it works within your system from the place of nourishment. It's a moistening, cooling, calming herb, really soothing. And it builds up your ojas, basically. So your ojas is that rarefied water essence, water element in your body. And as you have more and more ojas, then that starts to seep into your sexual vitality as well. That's the most rarefied of your energy types in your body. So as you have more and more juice in your system, you're going to have more and more juice in your entire system. And Shatavari also, it calms everything down, it balances emotions and it really replenishes depleted vitality stores. So it's a really nice kind of yin complement to some of the other more yang adaptogens. And particularly some of the adaptogenic herbs that we have in Rasa are a little bit more on the Yang side to give you a little bit of that energy for. But citavari comes in and grounds, nourishes, moistens, soothes. It's a really, really beautiful herb.

Yes. For me, when I was learning about Ayurveda, that was the herb that I really had to go to because I didn't have my period for so long and my hormones were low. Female hormones, both. But I needed to be more into that womanhood. So for me, Shatavari was like everything and now I take both. Love that. And what other ones are you just crazy about right now?

I really love Eleuthero which again.

Yeah, tell us about that.

That is an herb that is actually frequently prescribed in traditional Chinese medicine for adrenal fatigue. So this is an herb that I feel, you know, just has, it's got a pulse on what humanity needs right now and it's.

Yeah. Can you spell that for us? How do you spell that? I need to order it now. Yeah, yeah.

E L E U T H E.

R O T H E R Eleuthero.

Yes.

Okay, I'll have them in the show notes guys.

Yeah, so this is, it's a really powerful adaptogen. It restores the nervous system and rebuilds the adrenal glands. And what's interesting is that Elutra is also a classic energizing. It really does give a nice boost of energy immediately but also really long term. So there's an herbalist that says, you know, you really start to get to know Eleuthera once you've been taking it for six months. And I really had that experience which was interesting. You know, I've been drinking Rasa a lot and then suddenly I was like, wow, I just have like stable energy all day. Like I have consistent energy and I've got two kids under three and a startup. Like I, there's no reason I should have consistent energy but wow, this is working. And I really, I really credit it to the Eleuthero. There's quite a bit of Eleuthero in the Rasa formula and it gives you that energy through tonifying your adrenals. So instead of Chinese medicine says that you know, coffee is an external source of energy and it's basically taking from your, they say taking from tomorrow to fuel today. So you're borrowing energy from tomorrow to give yourself energy today and eventually you're going to, you've got a debt that's building up and your body's going to come and collect. Whereas Eleuthero is actually tonifying as in like almost. It's like it's exercising your adrenals, it's bringing in circulation, it's bringing in energy area. It's like, it's just, you know, having you go, go through, do some adrenal push ups or whatever and making them stronger. You know, it gives that energy reverse and restores the nervous system instead of frying it, which coffee does. So it's really, it's actually a great herb to blend along with coffee. If you're just Committed to coffee, which is. Is fine, but to have some Eleuthero along with it. And it's one of the important ones that we have in the Rasa blend as well, to give that energy boost as well as provide that adrenal nourishment for the people who need it.

Love that so much. And it's interesting because a lot of us, we take an herb once and we're like, I didn't feel anything. This didn't work.

Yeah.

And you're saying that you really only got to know it six months later. So can you tell us kind of like the time spans of different herbs and how long we can kind of start to notice differences?

Yeah, it really. It depends on the herb a lot. I would say, you know, for a lot of adaptogens, like, these are classic longevity tonic herbs. And it's interesting in Chinese medicine and in Ayurveda, they have much more of a relationship to longevity. I think Chinese medicine really especially, like, focuses on this in the West. Like, we want it yesterday. Like, I want to feel better yesterday. Like, if this doesn't. If this doesn't work immediately, you know, like, I'm not thinking about 10 years from now, I'm not thinking about 20. Like, I can't even think about myself 20 years from now. I'm thinking of solve aging by the time I'm old anyway, you know, that sort of idea. Whereas in Chinese medicine, there's much more of a relationship to, you know, they say it's not the years in your life, it's the life in your years. Chinese medicine would say it's both. It's really both. And they're trying to both extend the amount of years in their life as well as extend how good the quality of life is. So, you know, I bring that up because, you know, they, they often think of taking herbs and like, decadal scales of like, cool, take this herb for 15 years. And, you know, that's hard for us to. To fathom, but that's one of the ways to, to really build a relationship with some of these incredible plant medicines. And these are kind of, you know, exact classic tonic herbs that are meant to be taken for months, even years. Some people say that you're supposed to cycle on and off adaptogens. As far as my understanding goes, that's a myth. But every person, everybody is different. So there may be maybe occasions where that is appropriate. But, you know, certain herbs. Rhodiola is another herb that I love very, very much. It's again, another energizing Herb. And that one has a very immediate. Like, you will, you will notice the effects of it. You know, different people to different extents. Some people, you know, may not notice it right away, but it's more commonly you will really notice that herb. But I caution against taking any adaptogen in a singular formula without either working with a professional or having some ayurvedic knowledge to bring to the mix. Because, for example, rhodiola is like the most drying herb maybe on the planet. Like, it is so drying. And so, like, if you're a vata type and you're taking a bunch of rhodiola that has this amazing mood boost and it gives you energy, like, whoa, that's going to throw you off balance pretty quick. And so it's really good to use some kind of balance formula. We've really worked to balance the elements of the Rasa formula to make sure that it's as tridocious as possible for most people, safe for most bodies. But rhodiola is one that you're going to notice really quickly. Ashwagandha often has a more immediate benefit as well, but again, you're still going to notice. All adaptogens have a cumulative effect. So the longer and more regularly you take them, the more you're really going to notice the effects of them. I find, you know, at 30 days, at 90 days, at six months and at a year, you're going to all like, each time it's kind of you see like a little bit of a bump up, like, oh, wow, like you might have noticed something. Like, we get customers all the time that say, like, I've been taking it for a few days and I already noticed the difference. And that's amazing and may not not be typical, but after 30 days, you're really going to start to notice something. And I think it's really great if you're going to start any kind of new supplement, herbal regimen, whatever, to track it in some way. Like, I just have notes in my phone and I say, like, okay, you know, ashwagandha, starting on September 11, here's how I generally feel today. And then 30 days later, just check in and like, look back and see, you know, what has changed. If there's anything in particular that you're looking for, like, ashwagandha is also fantastic for sleep. And so if you're looking to improve your quality of sleep, then you look back over that 30 days and be like, huh? Has my quality of sleep changed? Because often changes happen. We don't even really notice them. So it's really good to become conscious about those things as well. So I'd say yes. 30 days, 90 days, 6 months. In a year you're gonna really start to have a much better felt sense of what these herbs can do for you.

I love that because what I used to, used to always do is I'd hear about an herb or a supplement and I would immediately just order like chromium or whatever it was and then I would take it and then like once the bottle would run out, I'm like, I don't really feel any different. And then I would just stop taking it and then I would just end up. I mean, I still. The other day I was clearing out my bathroom and I was like, I have so many supplements that I didn't even finish because I wasn't consistent with it. I didn't know if it was working, I didn't know how to combine it it with the other things. So can you tell us about the pairing and how you've made it tridoshic by pairing them? Because, you know, it's so different. A singular herb is going to be like the really benefit of that one herb. But when you balance it out with other herbs, that's how you can make it work for almost anyone. So can you tell us a little bit about that?

So like I said, each herb has different qualities. And we have a number of herbs in there that are cooling and drying. We have a couple of herbs in there that are heating and moistening and also cooling and moistening as well. And basically we're really looking at those main gunas and making sure that when we have a high proportion of a relatively drying herb, like say Eleuthero, chicory is also pretty drying. Dandelion is pretty drying. So then we increase the amount of burdock that we have in there, which is moistening, and shatavari, which is very moistening. Codaenopsis, this is another phenomenal Chinese medicine herb adaptogen and very, very moistening, very nutritive. And so just finding that balance and also the balance of effects as well, so that we've got energizing herbs in there along with grounding and nourishing herbs. So we say that the rasa formula gives you calm energy and I find that to be very consistently true. You're energized, but you're also grounded. And we've been actually doing rasa ceremonies as part of our like, we start our workday with our team and drink rasa silently in a meditative space and Just really feel what it does to our body kind of in the immediate and the consistent immediate effect that I feel is literally almost like a magnetization between my cells and the ground. Like, I can feel the drawing down and that grounding. And as someone who's very vata and spends a lot of time in my head and, and creative and doing shit and just like, you know, making it happen, that grounding feeling is like medicine. And then the energizing feeling starts to kick in after a few minutes where it's like a little bit of a lifting up. And so having that, that balance of grounding and nourishing, drying and moistening and also not too cold, not too hot. We actually, we have cinnamon in there as well, and that's a very, very heating herb. And we actually adjust the cinnamon levels depending on the season. So we're catering to northern hemisphere here because most of our customers are in the northern hemisphere. But we increase the amount of cinnamon in the cool months and decrease it in the warming months as well. So, you know, just a lot of attention. I know most, your average consumer isn't necessarily thinking about that, but you know, for me, and in terms of having a lot of integrity and feeling like I can really fully stand behind saying, yes, this is a great product to drink every day, even multiple times a day if you want, then we also had to apply that ayurvedic sensibility to it.

I love that. So can you share with us how we can do a little tea ceremony at home?

Sure, sure. So when we do rasa ceremony, I'm, I'm really into tea ceremony as well. And I would say rasa ceremony is a little bit different. I use actual tea plant, Camellia sinensis, for that. But I have used that, what I know from that to inform what I've been doing with rasa and just trying to figure out like, okay, what is the conscious way of that these plants want to be drinked. And usually what we do is it's, you know, it's very simple. We set a little. Some beautiful space. I often put a beautiful cloth down, maybe bring a flower or something from nature outside or a plant, grab a mug that you really love, something that brings you joy, and then take a few moments to just drop into a meditative space, you know, breathe, let go of whatever it took to arrive into this moment, feel your body, feel the points of contact with the floor, allow some conscious breaths, and then have your rasa, your tea, whatever you're going to drink. One of the things that I've been really enjoying lately. You know, each meditation often is a little bit different, but one that I've been really loving is seeing, experiencing there being a bowl in my heart. And then when I drink the rasa or drink whatever I'm drinking, having it go down and fill up the bowl in my heart so that I feel full and nourished and can then pour that bowl into my life. And then also, like, notice when it feels empty and I need to refill it. So, yeah, drink it consciously have a relationship to what you're drinking. So, you know, if it's rasa and these adaptogenic herbs, if it's, you know, a golden milk that you've made, whatever it is, just think about it like it's. If it's tea, if it's herbs, whatever. It's. It's plants, it's nature. These are plants that are actually have disposal, distilled sun and rain and soil and starshine and moonshine and wind and weather and human energy and all of that into what you're drinking in that moment. So having this connection to the bigger nature while you're drinking that and using it as a trigger to just feel that interconnectivity, I feel like that's maybe one of the most important things to do on a daily basis is to have some moment where you're dropping into the sacred and to something bigger than you and bigger than your own life, challenges and opportunities and all of it. And then I always recommend just sitting for a couple of minutes afterwards and just feeling the effects of whatever you just drank.

So beautiful. And oh, my gosh, I think everyone, if they just started their day like that, even like, how long do you guys do it as your rasa ceremony?

Between five and 15 minutes.

Yeah, that's. That's so doable, you know, because, you know, traditional. How long is a traditional tea ceremony?

Depends on if you're talking Japanese or Chinese. I tend to do Chinese tea ceremony, which is a bit more informal than the Japanese style. The Japanese style, the true long one is eight hours. Wow. And the short version is two hours. We often do. I do a tea ceremony with my husband and my family. And, you know, we can. We can drink tea in 30 minutes. We often tend to do it in about an hour. For going a little bit more deeply, we'll do maybe an hour and a half. But, you know, 30 minutes is kind of. Kind of the minimum.

So beautiful. I think that's such a great way to, you know, get together with your friends, chat, get everything you want to say. Out and then just sit in each other's company and feel each other's energy and just drink the tea in silence. And I think you'll have, you'll create such a bond that is unspoken.

Exactly, exactly. Tea has become one of my favorite ways to be social. I mean we just. And if you think about it, tea has that association. Like how many times have you heard or said, come on in, have a cup of tea? And you know, the whole world over, people are inviting people in for tea. It's associated with hospitality and bringing this silence into it. I mean, I find that's actually just some of the deepest relationships, the deepest connection actually happens through silence. And tea brewed ceremonially and drunk ceremonially also really, really lends itself to that effect. My experience with tea is it drops me right into a meditative state and all I have to do is show up for it.

And also for those of you who have a tough time just in a seated meditation doing nothing, I think the act of like holding the tea, feeling the tea. Last night actually on my SoundCloud it was like recommended for you and it was Thich Nhat Thanh and he was giving a talk about tea and seeing the cloud in your tea and he's like, just like, there are clouds in your sky. If you look close enough, there's clouds in your tea. And every day I smile when I see this cloud. And if you look at anything with enough precision and gaze, even your ice cream will have a cloud in it. So he says, every morning when I drink my tea, I first look for that cloud. I just thought that was really beautiful.

Beautiful, beautiful. And if you're listening to this and you are interested in learning more about tea ceremony, there's an amazing organization called the Global Teacher Tea Hut that has tons of free resources and a donation based magazine and they teach you know lots and lots about how to bring tea ceremony into your life. So that's a great resource there.

Amazing. Well, we'll definitely check that out. Well, where can listeners connect with you? And more importantly, try some Rasa coffee.

Awesome. Well, we are on the Instagram Rasacoffee R A S a coffee with a K and also on our website rasacoffee with a K.com and we are also on Amazon as well. But if you go through our website, we have a special discount for you. Use the code SAHARA10 and you'll get 10% off your first order plus free shipping.

Yes, so exciting. And I'll have the exact link in the show notes for all of you. Who want to try it out. Well, thank you so much for sharing all of your wisdom with us for, you know, in the most busy and chaotic time in your life, to create this amazing product that, you know, sometimes we hear about all of these, like, great adaptations, great this, great that, but then we're stuck at like, how do I take them? So thank you for making something that is Tridocik that will work for so many people out there and for creating coffee detox programs too, because I do think coffee is the drug stimulant that everyone is taking and addicted to and not aware of and a problem that we need to solve. So thank you so much for stepping up to the plate and doing it.

My pleasure. And we do have. You can take a quiz on our website and it shows your kind of coffee personality and then there's a personalized detox plan for you that you can get from there.

Oh, I love that. So that's also Rasacoffee with a k dot com, right?

Yep. You got it.

Cool. Well, I'll post that in the show notes too. And thank you again for joining us, Lopa.

Thank you so much, Sahar. It was really lovely to chat with you today.

Namaste.

Namaste.

How amazing was that episode? Lopa knows so much about adaptogens and it really just inspires all of us to to look within plants for the solution to our problems. So if you are curious, you want more adaptogens in your life, maybe you want to make the switch from coffee to coffee with a K, then head over to Rasa R a s a coffee k o f f e-e.com use coupon code SAHARA and you will receive 20% off your order. And if you love this episode, I would love for you to leave a review in the the podcast store. So all you do is head to itunes, scroll to the bottom click, write a review, take a screenshot that you've left a review and email it over to me and I will send you the first half of my unreleased book, Eat right for your mind body type. Absolutely free. This book is not available for sale anywhere. It is now part of my Eat right for your mind body type program. So the only way to get it free is to just simply leave a beautiful review for this this podcast. So email that review or a screenshot that just that you've left your Review over to SaharaetFeelFresh.com and I will send you back that book. I look forward to joining forces with you guys, to becoming a leader with you guys. To helping you guys walk this path to freedom while empowering the planet, helping put plants in the hands of the people where they belong, and allowing our society to move back to Earth as our form of healing. I honor you. I love you. Namaste.

Ram.