What is a tea ceremony?
Tea ceremony is an oppurtunity to share silence, evoke stillness and cultivate connection.
Tea can be a lifelong discipline and way of life for those who choose it as a path and daily practice of continual refinement and development of service.
However the accessibility of tea remains open for all to experience. Whether you come each day or it is your very first time, perhaps it is just a casual space to return to every so often and create time for yourself to share tea with others.
Refraining from conceptualising the essence of what ceremony can offer allows curiosity and a natural drawing inwards to unfold.
It is as simple as it can be. Come and drink tea.
One of the greatest tea masters Rikyu shares
“The Way of Tea is naught but this: first you boil water, then you make the tea and drink it.”
Whether it is your hundredth time or first, to arrive with a beginners mind can be beneficial. As each ceremony can invite us into remembering the harmony that exists within nature in which we are apart of and the simplicity in ordinariness of each moment.
During our bowl tea ceremonies which range from 45 to 90 minutes, tea is brewed through traditional methods and rounds of tea come in and out rhythmically.
Whilst sharing tea in ceremony within this brewing method is relaxed and welcoming, there are a few etiquettes which can contribute to the overall experience for yourself and others.
A few main ones are..
• Simply drink as many bowls of tea which feels suitable and take as much time as you like with each bowl. It is ok to miss a round or many if thats what feels right for you.
• Holding your bowl with both hands, often your stronger hand laying flat underneath with your other hand supporting on the side allows a centred posture to be with your bowl of tea mindfully and balanced
• If you are sitting in the front row around the table you may be required to pass bowls back to the person behind you, then return their bowl back onto the table once they have finished. This can be a fluent and smooth process done in one motion. Placing the bowl on the mat in front of the person you are passing to allows them to stay as they are and they will pick their bowl up when they are ready.
• Whilst there is no wrong or right with your approach to sitting in ceremony, it can be respectful to other guests you are sitting with to not add any other practices in which may hinder those around you and draw them away from their own experience. Sharing tea with others can be a beautiful and simple invitation to feel connected without having to add anything on.
• Late arrivals - if by chance you are a few minutes after the selected time and feel it is suitable to still enter the space, please do so mindfully and as seamlessly as you can to respect others who have already entered and are seated in ceremony.
PLEASE NOTE: The door handle is to be pulled up and not down.
We share tea ceremony everyday of the week during an array of times to hopefully accommodate for the many different and unique rhythms of life we all live and have the tea space accessible for all.
We look forward to sharing silence with you.
