The Way of Tea is not simply one about getting the rituals right.
It is also, and largely, one of self-mastery and leadership in the making.
Ancient sages and shamans as well as Zen monks have valued stillness and all cultivation was to move ever closer to that － because they knew where stillness is found, therein lies Dao.
And Dao can be found so simply in this Tea Ceremony.
More powerful than journalling, more than reading words and affirmations, is this very practice that allows stillness to find you － how?
Simply by shutting up any talk, and shutting out external stimulation to dropping into the very present moment of preparing the Tea, steeping in the sacred space of ceremony, of sipping bowls of tea, feeling the qi, the heat emanating from the exterior of the bowl, tasting the liquid coursing through the palate down the throat... you are making space to allow transformation and energy to flow through you.
As Laozi said in Dao De Jing: "It is the empty space inside the house that makes it useful."
Creating empty space through the practice of simply closing down the thinking mind will allow what is true and sacred stillness to awaken behind your every action.
Out in the vast oceans, the deeper you go, the more stillness engulfs you in her underbelly.
Out in the Universe, there are nothingness in the empty spaces between ecstatic motion.
We are the microcosmic versions that empty and empty further to embody the Dao, and in this emptiness, The Way is open for limitless potential to flow through.
More extraordinary moments, even in what could ordinarily be mundane enough, can be felt and experienced.
Get excited for the big fireworks, but never discrediting the little moments.
The magic you experienced in ceremony stays with you through the day, and that carries your true self out in the fullest expression to the world.
Nothing is missing. You don't need to find anything to be whole and complete.
Find that leadership within you and lead yourself into this divine space where you can be supported to cultivate even more of you, your truest, most cosmic, divine you.
I look forward to lighting The Way with you. Blessings and all my love to you. 🪷
·.·
Be you, be free, it's all available for you, 💋
LiYing 📿
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