8. Tai-san drinks tea

☴ Tea Time equals Me Time. I get this. I practice it. I promote it. It works for me and countless others as a way to give ourselves the space and time we need to be ourselves again. ☲ I typically write about Tea Time equals Me Time through the medium of martial arts.This is what I know and experience everyday. But is it only relevant to martial artists? ☱ The answer is no. Meditators, Yogis, well-being practitioners and pretty much anybody can benefit from Tea Time equals Me Time. So why the rub? Why the sticking point? ☷ Our lives are chaotic. And for a lot of us unbalanced. And quite frankly tea for most people is boring. And on top of that, when we strip away the wuxia 武俠 and movies and stuff, martial arts is boring too... We are people looking for excitement in a world where there is no excitement. Hence, we make it up and then go chasing the illusion. That is the power of the economic monetary system in place now. Without the chase we have nothing to do. Nowhere to go: Zen 禪. ☰ Recently I was invited, by a friend Tai-san, to partake of 15 minutes of Zazen 座禅 before doing Chado 茶道. The bronze bowl was gonged and I just sat there. All calmness left me as I sensed within me that I was not calm. Infact, my "doingness" around my Baguazhang 八卦掌 and helping others with qigong had left me drained. I was sacrificing my very being for the greater good of all that was around me. ☶ What Tai-san (of samurai heritage) provided me was true Wa 和 so that I could practice my own words for myself. For those on the journey of being samurai 侍 this a truth we all must realize to be in harmony with the Tao 道. All the mountain wishes to be is still. And let go of the "doingness". ☵ So today... I go against the need to do and to have, and just be. ☳ My own experience of Chado 茶道 is always tender. In that moment of drinking the matcha I think about the trips to Japan I have had and all the people I have met and the lessons I have learnt. And most importantly I give grace and thanks to my wife, who while she is not Japanese, she serves matcha 抹茶 every morning just before breakfast: a powerful reminder that being samurai 侍 is more than sword-fighting. It is about serving. And in particular serving ourselves first. Only when that has been done can we move forward again. Domo Arigato 有り難うございます... Liked what you heard & want to connect with me? Join me at… linkedin.com/in/peterhainzl/