Earth Day Tea Special

A meditation on Earth day. This track brings awareness to plants, tea, water, and the many elements of nature. You'll be able to tune in and think about your impact on the planet, how you play your part in helping sustainability practices, and connecting with the soil.

Transcript

Okay,

That's fun.

All right.

Yunnan Da Ye with chocolate mint.

Yum!

This is special.

This is quite special.

All right.

Oh,

I love that.

Seven years of loving tea.

What a beautiful gift.

I don't know.

That's all I can think about when I think about how long I've been loving tea and what it means to express this on Earth Day.

What a gift!

I've always cared about Earth Day.

I'm the one kid in the class who tried to make recycling and composting possible within the classroom.

Yelled at fellow students in high school about using the recycle bin and compost rather than throwing everything in the trash at lunchtime.

The looks that I got from people.

I didn't fit in with the regular crowd,

But I'm very happy about it.

About who I've always been.

About how I've always pushed for the environment and caring for nature in some way or another.

Right now,

I think,

Like,

Oh,

Rochelle didn't know what she was doing when she was young.

Hell,

I probably knew what I was doing in that regard more back then than I do now.

But anyway,

I've always been on that path in one way or another.

And the path with tea has amplified that.

How I get to merge with my environment more.

How I get to express that loving care for the Earth.

The simplicity of loving a leaf,

A single plant,

In the entirety of this world.

Everything that I can see around me.

I can't even name all the plants that are in front of me as I'm sitting in my backyard.

And it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter so much to be able to name all of them.

Naming of such things removes them from their nature,

So says the Tao.

But in loving tea,

I can love everything else around me.

I can love every dandelion because now I realize that there's health benefits.

I can love the tree that stands because I realize how it connects to all the other plants underground and how their roots work in harmony with one another.

Because I'm aware of the tea plant and how much she brings into my life.

All the health benefits.

How it helps us to measure the environment year to year.

Understanding the growing conditions because that affects the flavor of the tea.

And that's a beautiful thing.

Because we do recognize the environment from year to year.

What changes.

What pollutions exist.

And what affects the water.

The water that affects the tea.

And so on.

But I adore my journey with tea.

From the bare beginnings,

Walking into a tea shop,

Thinking it's kind of like a coffee shop but different focus.

And my boss telling me,

Yeah,

You know nothing about tea.

But I'll teach you.

With a hint of an insult,

But a grand opening for everything that I was about to learn.

I loved it.

I started working with tea.

Well,

Because I needed a job.

But I didn't realize how much it would bring into my life.

How much it would transform me.

How it would lead me down a path to understanding meditation and self-knowledge.

And the ability to learn and have deep conversations with people through the medium of having tea.

I mean as a young hippie kid,

I was realizing that through the psychedelic experience.

But then realizing that I could not use those substances to facilitate deep conversations.

But really have that over a great cup of tea.

The way you can tune into the leaf and think about its flavor profiles.

And how you're really tuning into your cup.

And the experience goes beyond words.

And you're just in this moment of feeling.

That's something that you can be guided to through meditation.

And then you start to notice your body more.

How it tastes.

The heat on your tongue.

The sensations of the tea going from your lips.

How you're tasting it.

How you're feeling it.

And then how it goes down your throat and into your belly.

And how it warms you.

And all of this can be related to nature.

Because you take that same experience and you sit out in the sun.

And you start to feel your body transform from cool into warm.

And when you've been chilly,

You take that great feeling of gratitude.

It's what warms your toes and your face.

And you start to feel this joy that doesn't exist without the sun.

And then you realize the sun is the reason why you're alive.

Why you have enough warmth to even walk upon this planet.

And live and breathe and be here.

And so all of the plants thrive the same way.

And all the people around you also thrive because of the sun.

And then you get thirsty.

And you often have water available to you.

So you drink the water.

And you realize that's also the life force.

And that's all a part of this planet and part of this earth.

The plants that the waters drink.

What you drink.

Your body being 70% water.

You don't think about that most of the time.

You just know that you have skin.

And you look a certain way.

How much of that is water?

How much of your body is water?

When you look in the mirror and you perceive yourself a certain way.

You see skin.

You see wrinkles.

You see freckles.

You see your eyes.

You see the color,

Your pigmentation.

You don't see the water but it's within you.

You don't see the water but it's within the earth.

That's why the grass is green.

But you might see the water because you live close to a lake or river or the ocean.

And then you realize that's all around you.

You don't always see the sun but it's there.

On the cloudy,

Rainy,

Snowy days.

You might feel trapped in that darkness.

In that coolness.

You might also appreciate it.

I do.

I do succumb to the feeling of the season.

Season of coolness reminds me to retreat and tune into myself.

And be comfortable with being alone.

In a state of hibernation.

Because hibernation is where we find ourselves.

Even the darkness of ourselves.

But recognizing all of the depths of wonder that creates a whole human being.

Every fear that's inside is you.

Every joy that's inside is you.

How complex is it that we humans feel all of these things and we think all of these things.

Imagine the nervous system that is within plants and other animals,

Other creatures walking the earth.

They don't all run with all these complex thoughts.

They just are within the seasons because they're part of this earth so intricately.

The more we move ourselves from the earth.

High rises.

Concrete jungles.

Even the comfort of being within the house.

Hardwood floors.

That's not natural.

We do so much to feel uprooted and privileged and feel like we have luxury and comfort.

Those aren't bad things,

But when I walk outside in the yard,

Barefoot after a broken heel,

I realize I'm walking better on the grass.

On the hardwood floors,

It's not natural.

And you see me swaying and stumbling a little bit.

A little off kilter.

People have noticed that recently and the foot's acted up after eight months of healing and it's like I've gone backwards.

But when I step in the grass,

The comfort of the earth,

I'm walking straight again.

I'm walking naturally.

Yes,

It's uneven.

But it's real.

It's what I'm meant to walk on.

It's what my ancestors walked on.

The forest,

The grass,

The earth.

It's all about where I come from.

It's where you come from,

Where we all do.

Take a second to breathe with me and think about our ancestry.

Does that feel a little better?

Do you feel a little more connected to yourself?

To the earth?

Feel grounded?

Connection to all that is?

The truth is you are never alone.

Never.

Because even if you think you're alone and you walk outside and you see a flower,

Know that it's listening and it responds.

It does respond to your energy.

It loves you just as much as you love it.

It's happy that you're there.

Just don't pluck its head off or else it's not going to respond anymore.

Happy Earth Day.