For a mental break and a return to clarity, create your own ritual based on the Japanese Tea Ceremony. It requires little equipment or time. You can modify the procedure to suit your style. The important thing is to have a way to return to a calm center when you are feeling stressed and out of control.
“The Japanese tea ceremony, or Cha-no-yu, meaning ‘hot water for tea,’ is more than an elaborate ritual. It is an interlude in which one leads oneself for the moment to the spirit of beauty, quietude, and politeness toward others. The ceremony may be practiced anywhere, at home or in a teahouse.
“There are 4 principles: harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility (wa, kae, sae, jubuo)
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Harmony: with other people and with nature. The tea ceremony is the way of bringing one’s self into harmony with nature.
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Respect: a harmonious relationship with others.
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Purity: clean yourselves through the five senses—sense of hearing when hearing the sound of water(which remind one of the silence outside), sense of sight when see the flowers, sense of touch when touch the utensils, sense of smell when smell the scent of the flowers, sense of taste when drinking tea.
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Tranquility”
From Asia-Art.net
Copyright © 2008 Runckel & Associates, Inc.
Find out more at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tea_ceremony
