Tea's Peace Pathways

A Facebook post of a Tea Ceremony described as "The Way of Tea - Aesthetic - Spiritual Tradition of Japan" inspired me to contact its facilitator as well as the Japan America Society of Boston to start working on an idea at a seed stage, Tea's Peace Pathways.

Why?

I am interested in Peace one Day for my grandchildren.  We all love drinking decaffeinated, organic tea.  As we visualize peace, serenity, balance, and absence of fear, my 5-year old grandchild and me, a 66-year old view a serene ocean and a cup of lime-honey organic ginger tea. Could Peace One Day be as easy as sharing a cup of Tea Peace Pathways?  On September 21, 2020 (UN's PEACE DAY), Lipton and the non-profit PEACE ONE DAY sure thought it so with its slogan, Make Tea Time, Peace Time.




Where to start?

As I awaited the reply from Oklahoma, I received an email from the Japan America Society of Boston with an online opportunity to explore Coffee in Japan. I am living 30 minutes from downtown Boston, Mass now, therefore, I wrote an email to them looking for resources and experts on the "way of tea." We will see what develops there.

The reply with resources was immediate.

For resources on tea, Urasenke Boston may be a good place to contact:

In terms of providers of tea, there is a Japanese tea store in NYC:

For local Japanese grocery stores that sell Japanese tea:

If you are looking to co-host an event, unfortunately, our program schedule is set through the first half of 2022.  For programs beyond that, you can contact us after the new year.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Naoko Takayanagi
Operations Manager
info@japansocietyboston.org

MEANWHILE,

I am starting my personal education on the history of tea and its pathways to peace through what the Internet and libraries can provide for me.

The History of tea for 3-5-year-olds





For a grandmother seeking to learn about tea's pathways, " The Book of Tea, by Kakuzo Okakura"








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connecting sounds to energizing times

Image
I love dancing, but I have not been listening to music for a long time. This morning when my grandson called on Alexa to share a song with me, I got re-energized with the songs we listened to and danced together. 1. What was the power of these songs to enter not only my body but also my soul? 2. Why do I feel like the lethargic stage I entered in the last month came to an end after listening to these songs and dancing with my grandchild? 3. What questions will continue to develop as I move with creative movement in my relationship with my grandchildren? 1. Hammer Time  was the first song I suggested first.  Loved to see his dad and him dancing as we were communicating during our almost daily FaceTime minutes.  FaceTime requested by my grandchild as part of his breakfast routine which enables him to wake us up and be with us as when we are with him at his home.  We might want to sleep a little bit more some days as there is an hour difference, but seeing their lovely faces and focusing
Read more

Zoom Connection to Biden's MLK Day of Service 2021

Image
As a service-learning facilitator for a community service requirement for graduation at a private school in Oklahoma City, I have been involved with MLK Day Presidential Service Day for years.  MLK Day National Day of Service 2021 was different as I was keeping safe at home.  I have been retired for almost three years, and I did not have a group of young people to connect their spark to make a difference to a real community need in person.  For the first time, I was away from my grandchildren, I was not frantically learning how to use my sewing machine and making masks for family, friends, and workers in my neighborhood.  I was on my own.  The virus had a new variation that helped spread Covid-19 more rapidly. The vaccine distribution in my state was not optimal.  The political landscape was toxic.  We had domestic terrorism inside the US Congress.  I was at home learning how to play the guitar and how to teach online.   I felt, I needed to do something, no matter how small to honor th
Read more

My CAP 2020-2022 and CAS 2023 Journey

Image
CLIMATE ACTION PROJECT 2020 CAP 2020 We started our CAP (Climate Action Project) journey via FaceTime as a way to have engaging communication between grandparents living in Oklahoma and grandchildren starting preschool in Massachusetts during Covid-19 times.  In our first-six weeks of participation, we worked virtually on the difference between weather and climate. My grandchildren's preschool teacher had a maple tree farm and we connected global warming and climate change to what was happening to the production of my grandchildren's favorite topping for pancakes, maple syrup.   CAP also empowered us to communicate with a preschool teacher from California who shared her CAP plans for her classes and validated my (the grandmother) inexperienced early childhood educator efforts.  We followed Ivette’s suggestions during CAP 2020 and 2021. Our first CAP climate action was simply watching a memorial Japanese maple tree planting at the children's backyard.  We also started making
Read more