When I am tired or stressed, I do tea ceremony for myself. I am a host and a guest. I have served tea a lot for others in the States but I have not had opportunities to be served. In Japan once in a week I went to practice after work. At the tea room of my teacher was a completley different world. Once I enterd the room, the atomosphere was clean and I could humblemyself there. My teacher Sachiko was also so modest and she bought a best tea for our practice.
These days I was writing ebook about Ikebana and a little stressed. I have a passoin to share in the joy of Ikebana: the Japanese art of flower arranging and I have been writing for over a year. I would like to publish in September. More stress, more self tea ceremony is needed to calm and relax myself.
Even self tea ceremony, it is so effective. I focus on right procedure and I don’t have to think of anything else. I have to. While I am making tea, as if there were a guest in front of me. I need a little sense of formality. Then when I make tea, I becomea guest. I drink tea, as is someone served tea for me. I bow and enjoy tea, then appreciate bowls.
Then I become a host againg to clean the tea bowl and the tools. After self tea ceremony, Ifeel refreshed and forget about the stress.
Drinking something hot makes our mind calm, I think. I choose to drink hot, especially when I am nerevous or tired or pressured. If you drink cold all the time, please try hot drinks. It takes you to drink and you feel warmth from a cup or tea bowl. It;s a happy moment for me!