Tea InfusiastA few weeks ago, I was lucky to enjoy my first visit to a Buddhist monastery. I spent a weekend at Blue Cliff Monastery in upstate New York. The monastery in the Plum Village Tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.
This post shares a short tea-bubble meditation. You can do it in as few as five minutes.
It uses the bubbles from pouring certain teas–NOT bubble tea–as the focal point of the meditation.
Does a particular tea that you drink tend to make more bubbles when poured? If so, that’s a great tea to choose.
Examples could include chai, Darjeeling, etc.
Make it easy to have restorative and mindful tea sessions this spring: purchase your Spring Rest Kit for Tea Lovers!
Imagine carving out time to enjoy a peaceful, mindful tea session. You spend a few moments using a practice to ground yourself. Then, you mindfully drink your tea and take time to journal. Maybe there is even music playing. At the end, you notice that you feel more at ease and peaceful.
I designed this Spring Rest Kit for Tea Lovers to help you have experiences like this!
Ever wonder what people mean when they refer to “mindful tea” or a “mindful tea session?” This post shares one vision of what that could look like.
You carve out 10 minutes. Or 20 minutes. Or 30.
Imagine sitting down in front of your tea things with resources to help you have a convenient, restful, and mindful tea session. Or, you just have your cup of tea.
Maybe the sun is streaming through a nearby window. Maybe the rain is sliding down it.
Perhaps you’ve arranged your tea space with intention. A smooth rock from a beach vacation is next to your teacup. Blooming flowers are nearby, as is your journal.
Tea, flowers, and happiness (I mean sunshine!) can help me slide more easily into presence. Please allow me to explain.
In my regular meditation practice, I meditate in all kinds of spaces–my living room, a doctor’s office, in a meditation center, and in my car. The list goes on.
One of my favorite places to meditate when I am not practicing with others is at my kitchen table in the morning with my tea things. Taking a few minutes to set up this space is a great enhancer of the experience.
Recently, I led a tea meditation on the campus where I teach. It was an honor. The Mindfulness Center organized the event and invited me to offer it in their serene space. I have experience offering tea meditations online and in person. In person is trickier in the sense that I often have to bring some of the tea things. So, for this event, I needed to think about what items campus had, what I must provide, and what I might also bring to enhance the experience.
A question from another tea lover on Instagram inspired me to write a post about how to get started and get what you need to steep tea gongfu style!
Gongfu cha (skillfully prepared tea) is a style of brewing tea that originated in China over 1,000 years ago. It involves using a higher ratio of tea leaves to water than Western-style tea brewing. Small steeping vessels–teapots or gaiwans–are used with small cups. (A gaiwan is a kind of Chinese bowl with a lid.)
My monthly newsletter, Tea Infusiast News, is subscriber-only AND free.
In the January 2025 edition, No. 25:
The Tea Infusiast News No. 25 edition shares a subscriber-only tea giveaway in honor the second anniversary of the newsletter. It also launches my Winter Rest Kit for Tea Lovers (online kit) and my Tea with Your Inner Critic online workshop. The newsletter is also where I first announced some very exciting new about the Toronto Tea Festival. AND MORE.
The link to subscribe is below!
Make it easy to enjoy restorative and mindful tea sessions with my online Winter Rest Kit for Tea Lovers!
I was blessed to enjoy a spontaneous session of tea with a Buddhist Sister at a recent mindfulness retreat.
Last weekend, I had a profound experience attending a two-day retreat. Adelphi University, near me, organized a program on its campus with monastics from Blue Cliff Monastery. The monastery “is a mindfulness practice center and monastic training center founded by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, author, and peace activist…Thich Nhat Hanh.”
