Drinking Tea (LIVE): Mindfulness Gatha Meditation

This practice invites us back into the present moment through a mindfulness gatha titled, "Drinking Tea", offered in Thich Nhat Hanh's book, "Present Moment, Wonderful Moment." This particular practice consists of a mindfulness gatha, or verse, which we will explore line-by-line and a short meditation. Be welcome to take a few deep breaths and recite this gatha the next time you are drinking tea:
This cup of tea in my two hands,
mindfulness held perfectly.
My mind and body dwell,
in the very here and now.
This was recorded during an Insight Timer LIVE session, so background noises are me typing the gatha into the livechat and sifting through the book. Be welcome to join me in an Insight Timer LIVE practice to explore gathas further.

Transcript

Welcome to this practice.

This is our mindfulness gatha practice where we practice integrating these mindfulness verses into our daily lives.

Mindfulness gathas have come from a book called Present Moment,

Wonderful Moment.

Here it is.

And it is written by Thich Nhat Hanh.

It's a book of almost 100 pages of just gathas that we can recite to ourselves to come back into the present moment.

They can be,

There are gathas for everything from very,

From more routine things such as waking up,

Going to bed.

There are gathas for meditating.

There are gathas for lighting the candle before you actually sit down and meditate.

There are gathas for raking the leaves,

Going to the bathroom,

Mindful eating,

Really,

Really helpful practices for us to engage when we want to just be a little bit more mindful throughout our day.

So really great tools.

And that's what this practice will be dedicated to.

My name is Vanessa.

I'm really grateful to be here with you.

I know there's a few people that commented,

This is your first time being with me.

So thank you so much for trusting me to be a part of your journey.

Super grateful.

And I feel really honored for that.

I've been practicing Buddhism principles for almost seven years now.

A couple years ago,

I wanted to really deepen my practice.

And so I pursued an accreditation program from the Lab of Meditation with Hierodyme Kellies,

Who's quite well known in the space and also a consultant for the United Nations Peace on Purpose Project.

There I completed my certified mindfulness meditation teacher training at the professional level.

And that school is also recognized by the International Mindfulness Teachers Association.

So it's always really great to be here,

To be in community with people and to be able to practice together.

So thank you again for trusting me.

I am based in Robinson Huron Treaty Territory,

Which is the lands of the Anishinabeg,

The Garden River and Batchewana First Nations and Métis people.

I do invite everyone here today to please take a moment to just acknowledge the lands that you're on today.

And if you're not sure,

Please take the time to research and understand and witness some of the colonial impacts that may have taken part in our communities and how maybe we can be supportive with Indigenous communities in our own localities.

I wanted to maybe start this practice with just maybe a bit of a check-in.

I wondered if anyone maybe wanted to offer in the chat just where you're at right now.

And there's no judgments,

No nothing,

Just just wanted to check in and see how we're doing today.

There's a lot happening in the world and maybe it would be a great place to start.

And if you don't want to offer in the chat,

You know,

Of course,

Just be welcome to reflect on that for your own self.

Just just exploring,

Maybe taking a couple deep breaths.

Maybe finding this place of stillness,

Whatever that might look like to you.

And maybe just reflecting where am I at right now?

And just allowing that answer maybe to come up for us.

It doesn't even have to be in words necessarily.

It can just be really tuning into the body and just noticing what's here,

What's present.

The gatha that we will be talking about will be a gatha for drinking tea.

But I do hope if you're not drinking tea,

That is quite all right.

I might invite you to do that just because drinking tea is actually a wonderful practice to to to practice mindfulness.

If you're not,

You can,

You know,

Drink water.

But this is really just a practice for us to to engage in this mindful drinking of of whatever tea,

Water,

Etc.

Again,

This comes from the book Present Moment,

Wonderful Moment by Thich Nhat Hanh.

And I think I will just start off by talking a little bit about what it says here.

This is on page 73,

About the mindfulness of drinking tea.

And so specifically to tea,

This is what it says.

It says breathing mindfully,

We recuperate ourselves and the cup of tea reclaims its highest place.

If we are not mindful,

It is not tea that we are drinking,

But our own illusions and afflictions.

And I want to pause there before continuing just to really allow that to sink in.

Again,

Really just highlighting presence and mindfulness and that just really slowing down to take our sip of tea and really paying attention to that to that sip of tea,

How it can really bring us back into the present moment.

Thich Nhat Hanh continues,

When our mind and body have become one,

And we are awake,

We are ourselves and we can encounter the tea.

If the tea becomes real,

We become real.

When we are able to truly meet the tea at that very moment,

We are alive.

As we drink the tea,

We are well aware that we are drinking the tea.

Drinking tea becomes the most important thing in life at that moment.

This is the practice of mindfulness.

Again,

I'm just going to allow that to sit in,

Allow that to resonate with you in whatever way it does.

And then we will explore the gatha itself.

It's just four simple lines.

And then we will engage in a meditation.

All righty,

Here is the gatha for drinking tea.

So I will offer it into the chat as well.

That is the title,

Drinking Tea.

Okay.

And the first line is this cup of tea in my two hands.

So again,

When we connect the intention of gathas just to bring us back into the present moment,

That's really that invitation here is just to acknowledge and to witness and to be present,

To come back with the fact that I'm holding this cup of tea in my two hands.

The second line is mindfulness held perfectly.

So we're going a step further.

You're not just acknowledging this cup of tea,

But really finding that place of oneness,

Almost that love for it,

Honoring this cup of tea that we're holding,

Like it's the most important thing in the world.

And the third line says,

My mind and body dwell in the very here and now.

That is our fourth line.

So four lines here,

Really just inviting us back into presence,

Into stillness,

And really into the beauty of the present moment.

And even if you do,

Maybe you do have a cup of tea or any type of anything that you might be drinking.

Maybe you can even take a moment before we get into this gatha practice,

But maybe just getting to know this cup of tea.

You know,

What does it feel like,

Its temperature between your hands,

Maybe the smell,

Maybe the feeling of the steam against the tip of the nose,

All these things,

Just ways to really come back into presence and finding the beauty of it.

And we'll now get into our meditation practice,

And it will invite us to just come into this present moment,

Find that place of stillness,

And then we will recite this gatha.

We will sit together in silent meditation for about five minutes,

And then we will come back for any reflections.

I invite you now just to find your comfortable meditation posture,

Whatever that may look like for you.

That might be lying down on your back with legs and arms extended,

Nice and relaxed.

Those palms facing up towards the skies,

Or maybe you're like myself on the end,

Sitting on the edge of a couch or the bed,

Maybe keeping those feet flat on the floor,

Shoulders relaxed.

And again,

We'll keep those arms down by the sides,

Maybe our hands in the lap or at the knees.

Palms facing up towards the skies.

Or of course,

Be welcome to join us seated on a mat or a meditation cushion,

Cross-legged or in lotus position.

Again,

Inviting those shoulders to relax,

Keeping those hands in the lap or at the knees,

Palms facing up towards the skies.

And we'll tune into the breath here,

Just noticing.

No judgments on how the breath looks,

Sounds or feels,

Just observing.

Maybe even noticing that heart rate.

And as we allow ourselves to arrive,

We'll also allow the eyes just to wander around the room or whatever space we're in,

Taking in our surroundings,

Signaling to the brain that this is a safe space for us to let go.

And maybe allowing the eyes to rest on something that maybe inspires us,

Maybe it's a plant,

Something out the window,

Painting on the wall or a decorative item on the tabletop.

Just honoring,

Maybe breathing in that inspiration,

That joy.

And as we exhale,

We'll bring our eyes back to center.

Maybe at a point at eye level,

But somewhere off into the distance.

Inhaling again,

That inspiration.

And on that exhale,

Allowing the eyes to close.

Tuning into this inner world.

And noticing the breathing again in its natural state.

Maybe again,

Noticing that heart rate.

And noticing that as one slows,

The other slows,

And the mind follows.

Hearing the breath again.

Maybe becoming deeper.

Inhaling into that heart space.

And exhaling.

Inhaling,

Becoming aware of the body.

And exhaling,

Relaxing the body.

Inhaling,

Maybe bringing our awareness to the shoulders.

And exhaling,

Relaxing the shoulders.

Offering a slight tilt in the chin.

Keeping that neck and spine in alignment.

Inhaling,

Noticing the muscles in the face.

And exhaling,

Relaxing the muscles in the face.

Inhaling,

Right to the feet.

And exhaling,

Relaxing the muscles in the feet and toes.

Through the legs and the lower body.

And on our next inhale,

We'll begin to recite this gatha.

Inhaling,

This cup of tea in my two hands.

Exhaling,

Mindfulness held perfectly.

Inhaling,

My mind and body dwell.

Exhaling,

In the very here and now.

Inhaling,

This cup of tea in my two hands.

Exhaling,

Mindfulness held perfectly.

My mind and body dwell.

In the very here and now.

And finishing up this last round of breath.

And bringing our hands together at heart center and prayer position,

If that's comfortable for you.

Or offering one palm to the heart space,

The second palm on top.

We'll pause here in gratitude.

Grateful for this space.

Grateful for this gatha.

And grateful for this invitation back into the present moment.

And when we're ready,

We'll allow the hands to fall wherever they may.

And maybe we'll begin to feel the earth beneath us.

Whether it's underneath us or maybe against our back.

Maybe offer a little wiggle of the fingers,

Wiggle of the toes.

And allowing the eyelids to open when we're ready.

Coming back into this physical space.

Coming back into this present moment.

Maybe reflecting on that experience.

Noticing what may be present.

Noticing if there's anything that we are in understanding of.

Or anything that we are aware of.

Maybe even taking a moment to reflect through a journal.

And of course,

Be welcome back.

If you'd like,

I'm always available on the Insight Timer app.

Be welcome to send me a message there.

I do receive a few and it's always wonderful.

Reviews

This was just lovely I just listened to you live and needed a bit more. I am also a meditation instructor MBSR certified and I just loved your presence the tea was lovely and your ending exquisite thank you 🙏 debra