Creating your own Daily Ritual
In Japan, tea is more than just a hot drink. It is a very important ritual that has a lot of meaning within the culture. The tea ceremony represents: Purity...
IN THE TEA-ROOM
In Japan, tea is more than just a hot drink. It is a very important ritual that has a lot of meaning within the culture. The tea ceremony represents:
- Purity
- Tranquillity
- Respect
- Harmony
The Japanese tea ceremony is called Chanoyu, Sado or simply Ocha in Japanese. It is a choreographic ritual of preparing and serving Japanese green tea, together with traditional Japanese sweets to balance the taste of the tea. Preparing tea in this ceremony means pouring all one's attention into the predefined movements. The whole process is not about drinking tea, but is about aesthetics, preparing a cup of tea from one's heart.
CREATING YOUR OWN DAILY RITUAL
There is a way that you can practice the spirit of meditation and mindfulness with a cup of matcha in your own home following the steps below:
- Enter your tea drinking practice intentionality. You can begin your tea ceremony before you even make your tea. Try to be completely in the moment. Everything from preparing your matcha, boiling the water, and even choosing your cup or mug should be done in a spirit of awareness.
- Pay precise attention, moment by moment, to exactly what you are experiencing, separating out your reactions from the raw sensory event. The purpose of the practice of “living in the present moment” is to gain wisdom.
- Once your tea is ready, sit somewhere quiet and peaceful, close your eyes and relax. Enjoy your cup of tea before tasting it, notice all the sights and smells associated with the moment, from the color and aroma of the tea to how you are feeling mentally and physically. Then, begin to drink your tea, uninterrupted, especially from your phone or laptop.
Just enjoy the experience of drinking the warm, earthy tea, allowing yourself to recognize your own feelings, thoughts, and sensations without letting them affect you negatively. Soak in the details of the moment.
Tea: "the adoration of the beautiful among the facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony. It is a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life."
-- Kakuzō Okakura, The Book of Tea
