Farewell dear coffee
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Farewell dear coffee
To spend time in one of my favourite coffee shops was a daily ritual and some sort of ‘highlight’ of the day, as it meant time-out from my duties and troubles. It was my sanctuary – and to have a coffee was my ‘meditation’.
I had never really felt any negative effect when having my one or two latte macchiatos a day – I could still go to sleep without any problem and my stomach never rebelled.
Although I had a tendency to be nervous and for some years I had developed a subtle tremor in my hands, I was quite convinced that there was no connection and that I was immune to the downsides of caffeine.
Nevertheless, there came the day when I wanted to know if coffee was possibly doing any harm to my wellbeing.
I was already quite aware of all the things that were being said about coffee, but it was especially interesting when Serge Benhayon presented in a Universal Medicine workshop, that coffee might stimulate the nervous system in such a way that it numbs your innate sensitivity and overrides the natural messages that your body sends you.
I decided to look into this for myself.
My self-care experiment
For 6 days, every morning before work, I would have a coffee – one day with caffeine and on the other day decaffeinated, and observe any effects – how I was feeling afterwards, how long any effects would last and how I would feel for the rest of the day.
Without being too rigid I made sure that I went to bed around the same time, would sleep for about the same length, do the same kind of work every day and keep all other lifestyle factors such as food, as I normally would have.
As I was used to feeling a bit nervous, thin-skinned, with my hands tending to tremble when excited, I was curious if there would be any relationship between these physical and emotional sensations and having caffeine.
Day 1
I was quite aware of my state of being before having a caffeinated latte on Day 1. About half an hour later as I started to work, I recognised a tingling sensation in my spine like the buzzing of a fridge. My nervousness was raised, my movements became a bit more agitated, my thoughts were less focused on what I was doing, and my hands had an increased tremor. These sensations lasted for about 4 hours with the same intensity before they slowly eased.
Wow, I was quite astounded that there was such a distinct effect after having a coffee. But could it have just been random? I wanted to know with certainty.
Day 2
On Day 2 I had a decaf coffee – no sensations appeared, just feeling steady the whole morning. Interesting, I thought, let's see what happens tomorrow.
The 6 Day Story
To cut a six-day story short, each morning that I drank caffeine the same symptoms occurred lasting for exactly the same amount of time. Not only that, I also recognised even more symptoms, like:
- Exhaustion during the morning
- Decreased ability to concentrate
- Craving for sugar
- A lack of sensitivity and perception with my clients when giving osteopathic treatments
It was a real eye-opener. The effects caffeine had on my body, overall wellbeing and the quality of my work was enormous. On the decaf days I felt so much better, vital, consistent and productive ... why would I ever want to compromise that for a sip of coffee?
The choice I made was not from any rumination, believing, hoping or wanting to better; it came from an absolute knowing that my body had reflected to me.
My self-care experiment was a huge success! I realised that indeed, we are a living science. I have never had caffeine again and never missed it a smidgen.
We are the scientist and the object of our study, and our body is also a living science. Our body is only too willing to participate and offer us test results that are deeply caring, loving and wise.
Do you need or love your coffee?
When we start being honest we see things from a completely different angle.
Since then I love doing these kinds of experiments as they are my best advisor in the matter of self-care. I also did this experiment with dairy, alcohol, sugar and other things.
But that is another story
Filed under
Caffeine, Digestion, Sleep, Exhaustion, Sugar, Human body, Productivity
