Tea as a Teacher Plant - A Cha Dao Meditative Tea Ceremony by Steve Kokker

Name: Tea as a Teacher Plant - A Cha Dao Meditative Tea Ceremony by Steve Kokker
Start: 2024-11-29T20:45:00+02:00
End: 2024-11-29T23:00:00+02:00
Location: Oslo Hatha Yoga

Schedule

Fri Nov 29 2024 at 08:45 pm to 11:00 pm

UTC+02:00

Location

Oslo Hatha Yoga | Oslo, OS

You are welcome to join in a meditative journey accompanied by an herb which has become humankind’s best friend - tea (Camellia sinensis). Tea is something we take for granted as it is the world’s most consumed beverage and can be found on every street corner and in every cupboard of the planet, and yet, in its wildest, purest form (generally inaccessible to the modern consumer), it can be a powerful teacher plant. It has been so for well over 100 human generations. However, in a world of matcha lattes and earl grey teabags, it can be easy to overlook this plant’s deeper offerings on the level of physical, mental and spiritual balance.
Our tea journey will mostly take place in silence, accompanied by a gentle gong journey by Robert Hagala. We generally tend to receive deeper wisdom only when we quieten down enough to hear what messages are being offered to us. There will also be enough time to discuss aspects of what cha dao (the way of tea) means, and some information about tea itself, as well as offer suggestions about how to begin a simple tea practice at home.
This evening is more about a ceremonial, ritualistic approach to tea rather than a demonstration of ‘the’ tea ceremony - there are many ceremonies around the world, and this one has little to do with, say, ceremonies performed by the various schools of Japanese tea ceremony. In contrast, our evening is more about a reverent, ritual approach to the tea plant which roots itself more in ancient shamanism, Daoist practices and more modern Zen Buddhist approaches rather than a codified ritual for public performance.
Steve will generously share rare, wild-grown and precious teas from his private collection. We will be drinking aged puerh tea (and yes, you will sleep very well afterwards!), and there will be an opportunity to purchase some as well.

Practical:
🍃 The venue is Oslo Hatha Yoga, 8th floor.
🍃 We will sit on the floor on yoga mats and cushions (provided).
🍃 If you'd like a shawl or a blanket to have around you, or your favourite sheepskin to sit on, feel free to bring that.
🍃 A notebook and pen might be handy if you like writing down what you learn.
🍃 Otherwise, only your presence and attention will be needed!
🍃 Tickets are 300 Norwegian Kroner, with a few early-bird tickets available for 250 kroner. Only 22 tickets available!
Tickets are available here:
https://fienta.com/tea-as-a-teacher-plant-a-cha-dao-meditative-tea-ceremony-by-steve-kokker

About Steve:
Steve Kokker is a Canadian-born teashop owner and bodyworker living in his ancestral homeland of Estonia, where he runs a specialized teashop (chado.ee) and a bodywork studio (teaandtouch.com). He has been importing tea into Estonia since 2004 and spent years before that self-educating in tea. His path with the plant was at first quite nerdy, intellectual, health-focused and a bit romantic. After opening his teashop Chado in 2010 he discovered Global Tea Hut in Taiwan, where he has been studying ever since. Their Zen and shamanic approach to tea practice as a ‘way’ towards being a better human has been his guiding light ever since. He’s still quite romantic about tea! Before all this, he was a travel writer for Lonely Planet, a journalist and film critic, photographer, counselor in psychiatric institutions and tried his hand at documentary filmmaking.