My Experience Meeting Tea
Meeting tea was the most pivotal experience of my life thus far. My life changed and started to form into the life I had dreamed of. She has been the greatest teacher and my new way of life. She has forced me out of my comfort zone and brought me back to my true nature. She has invited me to love and support this beautiful earth in a whole new way by asking me to show respect to everything I approach.
I want to invite you into how I got started, and what my journey has looked like. I hope you enjoy and leave knowing a bowl of tea is always waiting to be shared between you and I.
It was 2017, I was living in Brooklyn New York and searching for my way. That search led me to explore many different mediation modalities but I just couldn’t quiet my mind. No matter what it was, my busy mind kept going. Until the day I met tea, that day changed everything. I was invited to a tea ceremony. I always loved tea but had no idea what a tea ceremony was, and I said yes. As I sat there in silence being served bowl after bowl, I finally felt it. My mind quieted and I was right there. I felt the warmth of the bowl, the heat of the tea traveling through my body, the taste enticing me to sip more, there I was… present.
Then the divine synchronicity set in and life began moving quickly. The woman who introduced me to this practice, her teacher was coming to visit New York in one month. I planned to attend as many of his events while he was there. Yet, the final event of his trip was the one that changed everything.
I arrived to Prospect Park to a large group gathered to sit in silence and be served tea. As I sat with a bowl of tea in my hands looking into the surface I saw the reflection of a tree and the sky yet to me this spoke to my heart in a whole new way. Asking me to see that I am drinking nature, this beauty that is all around me, and in that bowl is me. I am nature; I sat silently with each bowl, with this reflection. I knew something profound was shifting inside of me, and what would manifest, was not even in my thoughts yet. After leaving the park and returning home I knew this practice needed to be brought into my everyday life. In this moment in my life I was struggling with finances and knew that buying all these beautiful handmade ceramic tea wares was not in my current path.
I started the simplest way I could. I used a small bowl from my kitchen, a pot with a lid, and beautiful tea leaves. I slowly created a space in my tiny New York apartment, and dedicated to this practice. Lying down a small rug and a pillow to sit on and a small tray from my kitchen as the chaxi (stage). I would return to this place every morning, heating the water on my stove, but the water quickly cooled because it had no way to retain the heat. I would drink just 3 bowls.
For me it was the practice of showing up to be with this plant. In that silent place, then exploring the depth of this truly special plant. I was setting the path of ritual that would continue to evolve. Two weeks after leaving Prospect Park with stars in my eyes and in tea in my belly this practice had become part of my everyday. It was then I knew I had to visit the Tea Sage Hut in Taiwan and so I applied to sit in one of their courses. I was in no place to leave my life and head to Asia for three weeks, taking time off work and investing in the flight across the world, but I knew I had to go.
I received a reply that a space was open and next thing I knew it felt like the universe was working with me and everything just seemed to align. I found the cheapest flight to Taiwan, an amazing eco-hostel in Taipei that was beyond affordable and a month later I set out. Upon arriving it felt as though I was returning home and to loved ones yet we had never met. Each day we sat in meditation and in communion with tea with no outside distractions on how things were supposed to be. Leaving the center was a day I will never forget; we all sat together for one last tea ceremony and I wept. I wept for all the beauty and love we had cultivated and how generous they had been to invite us into this space to be with tea. I wept knowing I was leaving this beautiful family of tea brothers and sisters.
Returning home from this experience left me confused and urging me to go back. I was in this place of true love and passion for this practice I had cultivated. I returned to sitting everyday, and while in Taiwan I purchased tea ware that would help support me in this practice. Too have a deeper relationship with this plant medicine is exactly what I was longing for. For me this means showing up everyday to be present with tea and just be. Knowing that wherever I am, tea can be, I just have to create space to dance with her.
Since the first moments of being led all the way across the world, by tea she has continued to lead the way. Upon returning, my life shifted yet again. A moved across the country to further explore tea, learning from a fellow tea lover in Colorado manifested. I packed up my life and headed west trusting this knowing in my being, a message to follow tea where she guides me. I’ve trusted that knowing ever since.
She led me right here to this moment, and this moment is one I’ve desired for so very long. My life has completely transformed, I have sat with tea nearly everyday for the past five years. I’ve shown myself how consistency can bring so much beauty to your life. Because where you give love, love grows. That love has grown into building a truly magnificent tea sanctuary in my home to share tea with my beloved and others. It has grown into an adventure of bringing tea wherever I go, and giving myself space to listen to her wisdom and the wisdom in my heart. Yet most significantly, it’s grown into sharing tea with a community of women inside Root Home. The women in this community are also experiencing their lives expanding and growing by meeting tea.
Tea is simple, yet in that simplicity you find the beauty in everything. If you are interested in learning about how to start a practice, check out this free guide or join us inside Root Home.
