Program Tea Meditation

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ7Xxz_YW2yeMM9bYNYaxKI-qtniTv7yTLpmNrT7CfNspEAH_NRpgRrj7laN0Tqk2tGO5T06aYWXFcebGW_yP_X0xDPnIk8WdS04J8ODA78b8Pdf5aMuxx3YGKXrZIoILUX7oZ5aANjwEi/s1600/kettle.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ7Xxz_YW2yeMM9bYNYaxKI-qtniTv7yTLpmNrT7CfNspEAH_NRpgRrj7laN0Tqk2tGO5T06aYWXFcebGW_yP_X0xDPnIk8WdS04J8ODA78b8Pdf5aMuxx3YGKXrZIoILUX7oZ5aANjwEi/s1600/kettle.jpeg" /></a></div> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />1. Make your tea<br /><br />You should do everything- from each step of preparing your tea, to sitting down, to drinking your tea, to finishing, and cleaning up- in mindfulness.<br /><br />No matter how you choose to prepare your tea, what tea you drink, where you drink your tea, do so carefully with a complete awareness of the present moment. Give yourself completely to the entire process of preparing and drinking your tea.<br /><br />Once your tea is made, find a nice quiet place for you to sit and drink it. Once you've sat down, take a moment before starting to "simply sit" with your tea.<br /><br />Notice the aroma of the tea, admire the look and color of the tea, and imagine the delicate balance that had to be kept for the tea to go from being a leaf on a tree (likely from another country) to becoming the delightful cup of tea in front of you.<br />2. Give thanks<br /><br />Before you begin drinking, take a moment to give thanks for the cup of tea in front of you.<br /><br />Contemplate for a moment on the fact that people all around the world don't even have clean drinking water, yet you can sit and enjoy an amazing cup of warm tea whenever you so choose.<br /><br />Appreciate the cup of tea and everything that had to happen, and the careful balance that had to be maintained, for you to experience this amazing cup of tea.<br /><br />Express your gratitude for all those things which helped make your cup of tea a reality, and for a moment expand that thought to yourself and the knowledge that you also depend on infinite living and non-living things to exist as you are now in this moment just as the tea does.<br /><br />Sit with those feelings for a minute or two before beginning.<br />3. Drink your tea<br /><br />This is the main event. Your tea has been prepared, you've expressed your appreciation, and now it's time to drink.<br /><br />All you have to do is drink your tea fully with mindfulness. Take it slow, only drinking very small sips at a time. You should be taking your time and really savoring every sip.<br /><br />Specifically, while you drink, your object of concentration can be various things.<br /><br />I often focus my mindfulness on the raising of my arm, and then of the sip, swallowing, then lowering of the arms, and lastly take a few nice deep breaths before taking another sip. This should be cycled throughout the length of the meditation.<br /><br />And as usual, any thoughts, feelings, or sensations that arise while doing each individual activity simply gets gently acknowledged and I proceed to go back to my object of meditation.<br /><br />Fully commit to the act of drinking your tea, whether you're with someone else or alone. Be fully awake for the practice of drinking your tea, understanding that this moment and this tea will never exist again.<br />4. Give thanks (again)<br /><br />Once you're done (again, the length of your meditation is up to you, it could be 10 minutes and it could be one hour), give thanks once again like you did in the beginning.<br /><br />It's important to finish the practice like we started, helping put the tea, and the meditation, in perspective.<br /><br />____________________________<br /><br />This simple tea meditation, which can be done in as little as 10 minutes and as long as one full hour (it's really up to you), has a whole list of great benefits:<br />Cultivate a sense of gratitude and a deep reverence for life<br />Reduce stress and find greater peace and clarity of mind<br />It's a great morning ritual to start your day off with<br />All the benefits of meditating with mindfulness<br />All the health benefits of drinking tea (depends on what tea you drink, but many types of tea are very healthy)<br />Great preparatory as well as supporting practice for your sitting meditation<br />It's great to invite friends and family in on to show them the same benefits and to nurture your relationships</span>

Program Tea Meditation

1. Make your tea You should do everything- from each step of preparing your tea, to sitting down, to drinking your tea, to finishing, and ...

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