Tea People…

I didn’t really get it for a long time… I’ll be completely honest. I felt the tea, the meditation, and the gifts of the community drawing me in, but for various reasons too deep for this particular story, I hadn’t yet surrendered to tea. That’s really to say that I hadn’t yet surrendered to community. To support and love from others. I digress.

It took only three days with my darling bliss sister Mikki Sage of Haus of Sages  to really, truly, deeply, totally… get it. I understood in theory – but similar to the teachings of the buddha that we must experience anicca (perpetual change) to release ourselves from attachment and aversion so we may become free and happy – you have to EXPERIENCE tea and tea people to to truly enter into the definition of community.

I get it now.

It took magic for this understanding to take root.There was a profound amount of serendipity that unfolded for Mikki and I in the short three days of our tea adventure that I would like to share here. Partly because it’s still too much for me to wrap my brain around and I’m hoping writing it out will help. Partly because I’m hoping it doesn’t stop. I’m hoping to draw in more Tea. More community. More serendipity. More truth, trust, and love.

Our first visit took us into the city to check out Tea Oasis. This lovely tea house in the middle of the city offered us blissful communal tea with new friends. Filled with inspiration and the willingness to discover truths buried deep within my own mind, we sipped teas, talked empowerment and festival, and emerged from this underground (literally and figuratively) tea house with an incredible sense of welcoming and warmth. Tea Oasis is a place you go to just be. To get offline in order to get online. To disconnect in order to reconnect. To love, live and laugh in your experience of truth. The owner – Travis – brought it all into perspective. As a 27 year old woman witnessing a 27 year old man – it was both exhilarating and awe-inspiring to share tea with him for represents what I hope to be.

On day two, we had an idea of the tea houses we wanted to visit but needed to decompress in Berkeley from a full morning before making our way into the city. We opted to check out Teance – a Berkeley staple so I had heard from a beautiful girl Megan aka Hiero that I had met in a yoga class. About a month ago, Megan popped in for some yoga with me at YogaKula strictly because her good friend Koa – a lovely woman and inspirational photographer I had met by way of the Sages during the summer – had sent her to me. After class, I gave her my contact, but as life goes, didn’t hear from her for a while. It was about a week ago that she shot me an email asking to get tea soon – dropping the Teance name as the best source for tea. As Mikki and I sat for tea at the beautiful and elegant tea bar, none other than Hiero walked in to collect her tea and her partner Lathan – one of two other people sharing the bar with us. Not knowing Mikki and I were friends, it came to pass that the three of us were all unknowingly connected. We shared in the strangeness of this one cosmic encounter over a few bowls of tea.. Who would have thought..

After Teance, Mikki and I made our way into the city in search of Samovar – one of the more popular tea houses in the bay. Fortunately – we trusted google which drove us directly to the wrong location – Morcone Plaza. Though absolutely beautiful, surrounded by gardens and offering an incredible view of the city, it wasn’t what we were after and we left to head to the shop in the Castro. On our way, we spotted a cool looking French eatery that claimed to serve “gossip food”. Now, neither Mikki nor I have ANY idea what a gossip food could possibly be, so we circled back to check it out. As we parked, we looked up to see none other than Travis – owner of Tea Oasis – strutting toward us in the perfect pair of purple shorts. His brand new bike had just been stolen and he was headed deeper into the city to find it… we just happened to be in the right place and gave him a ride to find his bike… I’m actually not sure if he was able to hunt it down.. Travis – did you find it??

Day three took us to Far Leaves Tea in Berkeley. My relationship with this tea house has been beautiful. About a month ago, Mikki found the shop on Instagram and sent me their way. Since, I’ve enjoyed several afternoons at the shop. I recently connected with one of their family members, Adam, via Instagram to put together a tea gathering at Far Leaves. As part of preparation for this event, the visit was two fold. See the shop and meet with Adam and Peter – the owner – to discuss our upcoming gathering. I commented that there was a familiar face was in the shop from my work and Adam suddenly asked if I knew Hiero… He then quickly pointed out that Lathan – Hiero’s partner – was also in the shop. Cosmically enough, Adam and Lathan go way back. Somehow, we’ve all come into orbit.

Are you still here? If so – I ask you to take a minute and recognize the simple truth of life. That what you seek comes to you – unafraid, unadulterated, undefined and unexpected. Serendipity is a powerful reality that is available to us, all the time, no matter what. When we open our eyes to it, our hearts quickly follows and our connection to the truth of the matter tightens. To do this – to see the awe inspiring serendipity of life, one must tap in deeply. We must allow the present moment to be enough – just as it is. We must know what we long requires that we cultivate it for ourselves. You create your orbit – and that energy draws in what you seek.

This was also a blissful highlight of true community. Of finding and honoring support. It got me to thinking so many wild ideas.. tapping into my truth and the beautiful what if..

This is not the end of serendipity. This is only the beginning. As we all revolve to find and face our true north,  we also remember (or learn) over and over that we all require support. We actually – very simply – require each other. I’m really excited to begin putting together community gathers to offer love, head massages, cuddle puddles, tea, yoga and joy to anyone that comes this way. And if you’re like me and not sure if you get it yet, I simply invite you to try it. I’m here to hold space for you to get it… to get community. Get yoga. Get tea. Get love and support by way of various community gatherings throughout the year. This is my offering to yoga, to tea and to community. Keep coming back here – information on the first gathering coming soon – with none other than Far Leaves Tea.

Be sure to go read all about each tea shop and our experience by Mikki Sage over on Haus of Sages!

All are welcome here.   

| namaste |