Silent tea at Beyond care retreat

There are many tea related ceremonies in the world representing and servicing different needs, rituals and traditions. To invite people for a “Silent tea” is neither new nor surprising. However, by understanding how much sensorial overload we get every day and how much stress, panic and anxiety it may put on us, we can choose to create moments of minimal senses and spend those moments together.

"Beauty is an intentional journey without a predicted destination that, in fact, may or may not lead to experiencing the sublime. The journey of beauty does not follow a predetermined path of action or preconceived thought; rather its purpose is to engage in an unfolding emergent process; it is to walk the pathless journey of beauty without assurance or guarantee of rewards." Farouk Y.Seif

I always find it important to start from a story. To bring people’s mind elsewhere, put their attention on imagination, intuition and beauty. I like plants and trees a lot and mostly they provide me the necessary narratives to inspire my self and others. How can you not believe that a Acacia tree can be your financial adviser (just look how much coin shaped leaves hangs on its branches) or that a lonely standing Birch is a pioneer in artist movement known as minimalism (why else it would choose to dress in such minimalistic fashion) ?…

I serve 4 self-made herbal tea mixtures one after the other and give a coloured folded paper with one word written on it each time. I invite to taste the tea, close the eyes and let the sense of flavours lead your mind to guess what word is written on the piece of paper. I invite to write what you sense in your diary. With the last tea I give a single seed and suggest going for a walk to look for a perfect place for this seed to grow. Upon the return I let people read once more what they had written. I encourage not to unfold the pieces of paper. Because it doesn’t matter if they guessed it right. What matters is that their imagination took them somewhere else effortlessly and that they could spend some time relaxed, quiet, yet together.