When Still Waters Speak: Healing through Tea
Tea leaves. Water. Wood. Fire. Earth. Root in.
My Story
When still waters speak, it serves to illuminate your heart.
Slow down with a sacred tea ceremony
For centuries, Zen monks, taoists and shamans have relied on the Tea Spirit for their healing abilities and ancient wisdom. This is a practice that has been left in the dust of the past as Tea began to be grown and sold as a commodity. In this ritual Tea is honoured as plant medicine and Spirit through creating a sacred space in which our beings can sit in silence, turn inward and reconnect to our hearts, through Nature, through love and gratitude for the simple moments in life. From tea lovers to non-tea drinkers, from those who are familiar with the dance of meditation to those restless ones who fear the silence of the mind, tea ceremony will allow you to drop from your head into your heart, often times in the most unexpected ways. In this practice, we sit as love flows from our hearts into the bowls of tea, and it becomes simply something sacred to behold. The ordinary becomes extraordinary. Gratitude flows. Creativity unlocks. We honour the ancient traditions, tea trees and earth, fire, water, mountains and rain, moon, stars and sun – nature's alchemy that is within us and yet, sadly forgotten in today's busy lives. In this soft gentle heart space, As the saying goes, the brewer defines the taste of the Tea that is served and the energy of a Tea Ceremony. As a devoted student of the Leaf, LiYing holds space for you to reconnect with your Highest Self and enhances the healing energies that flow through Tea with crystals and minerals’ crystalline powers.
As the Sage Lao Tzu once said, "The Dao is a returning", and so it is that with Tea we can turn inward wordlessly, to return to our hearts, our souls.
Registration for the Seven-Week Circle of Cha Dao: Poetry, Presence & Connecton is open now. Last day of registration is October 26. Read more here.
I am currently based in Malaysia and I am delighted to take in-person bookings and offer corporate retreat programmes. I am also available in the virtual space. Explore all bespoke offerings with me here.
Called to serve by Tea Spirit
After a relationship breakdown, years of battling eating disorders and lack of self-love, LiYing first found her spiritual awakening in sound healing bowls, which has subsequently led her to a kundalini awakening and embracing a lifestyle steeped in daily meditation and yoga. When she found tea in 2019 through the lineage of Global Tea Hut in Hong Kong through Fivelements, she found that sitting in reverent silence with tea can take her meditation and manifestations to greater levels. It was inevitable – she answered the call of the Tea Spirit by devoting herself to the teachings of The Way of Tea, Cha Dao, in the Hut tradition. Nowadays, she can be found absorbing the teachings of Master Lin, tea master of Wu De based in Malaysia, as well as the teachings of the Dao and history of Tea Ceremonies.
For musings and her tea journey, read more in her blog.
Features in the media eye...
One chance, one encounter
Some of the many earth-bound benefits of Tea Ceremony:
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You are ready to stop the narrative that doesn't allow you to be the star of your show
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You would like to deepen your intuition
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You desire to awaken to abundance and fullness of life
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You want to be able to mindfully observe your thoughts and cure obsessive thinking for good
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You want to taste clean, "living" Tea leaves that are honoured for their diversity in the environment in which they flourish, biochemical and fertiliser-free, and cultivated in a clean environment with love from the respective farmers. These leaves bridge Heaven and Earth to sharpen our minds while at the same time, awakening our hearts.
There is a saying in Cha Dao (The Way of Tea): ichi go ichie. One encounter, one chance. We all come together in this space and share this Tea, and then we all part and go our own solitary way, each bearing Tea Spirit with us. In life, there will be times when we all feel helplessness, our knees sunk low and deep into the mud of consternation, lost to the wild abandoning winds. We all need guidance. We all seek advice and solicit for help in times when the shadows elongate. It is in this twilight zone that we often find profundity in a broken heart, the light that gets through the shards. We seek God, the Universe, our inner being, our highest self and thrive in our flow in concordance with the Universe, and this flow is the Dao － in the words of our teacher Wu De, "As the Dao leads, we follow."
In ceremony, we set the stage with the chaxi – tea stage – that serves as a mandala that reconnects us all to the cosmos. The way the bowls stand together, shoulder to shoulder, is also a connection, a symbol of our affinity to the universe. In this lineage, we serve tea in silent meditation, without judgement, ego, or identity.
Read about what participants have had to say at the bottom of this page.
"Tea is a great way to awaken our harmony with the Sacred and our fellow beings, and has been for thousands of years. The Tea itself is always present, alive and in harmony with Nature. It is Nature. That is why we can return to our harmony by drinking it into ourselves – becoming one with it"
Wu De
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WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING...
I’ve always pondered the power of our simple being-ness within silence and stillness. To witness this power has been something my soul has longed for since I was young. I got the chance to experience this through my private tea ceremony session with Liying. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I got exactly what my soul has been seeking... absolute presence with another human. Liying is filled with love and compassion and has a keen ability to tap into the energy of others. It felt refreshing to have such beautiful space held for me in the most simple way... I felt truly seen, held, and loved in her unwavering presence for me like never before. There’s so much wisdom that tea has to offer, combined with Liying’s own wisdom (plus her gorgeous playlist), the experience was poetic, grounding, humbling, and enriching. I would highly recommend a private session as well as her group offerings.
— Sarah, New York
— Sarah Cohen, The United States