The Way of Tea
The Japanese tea ceremony is, to me, a mirror of the mind — a practice of presence disguised as the simple act of making tea. Each gesture, each sound, each breath becomes a path toward awareness. When we focus the mind and soften the heart, even the most ordinary act reveals its sacred nature.
In my ceremonies, I blend meditation, poetry, and art to guide participants into this subtle state of seeing. We begin in stillness — grounding the breath, opening the senses, letting the noise of the world fade. From that quiet center, we enter the ritual of tea. The sound of water boiling becomes the sound of wind through pines. The scent of matcha becomes the scent of earth after rain. Movements that once seemed small begin to shimmer with meaning.
A tea ceremony is not a performance. It is a living artwork we create together — one that exists only once, and then disappears. Every gathering is unique, unrepeatable. The tea, the light, the people, the silences — all combine to reveal a fleeting perfection.
The question at the heart of this practice is simple:
If you can transform the act of making tea into something magical, what else might you transform?
If you can see the infinite in a bowl of tea, you can begin to see it everywhere — in a stranger’s smile, in the rhythm of a city street, in the texture of your own breath. This is the invitation: to awaken to the extraordinary hidden within the everyday, to touch the universe held between your palms.
Let’s connect
When you sit for tea, you’re not just drinking from a bowl — you’re entering a space of quiet attention. We begin with a short meditation to steady the breath and open the senses. Then, through poetry and silence, we prepare the mind to see beauty in the smallest of things. As the tea is made and shared, each gesture becomes a reflection, each sound a doorway into presence.
You’ll taste matcha prepared in the traditional way, learn the simple forms of the ceremony, and experience how stillness can make the world shimmer. My wish is that when you leave, you carry that awareness back into your life — so that every cup of tea, every breath, every moment becomes a small ceremony of its own.
Javier is an artist and educator passionate about bringing ancient wisdom to the present day.
He found in meditation and the Japanese tea ceremony a way to tap into the unlimited potential of the mind and it’s inspired to help others discover that potential too. After experiencing tea ceremony during one of his multiple trips to Japan he is continue to deepen his knowledge studying with Souheki Mori Sensei in New York City.
Whether working on figure drawing, calligraphic abstractions, or analog photography, his work directs our attention to the fragility and infinity of the present moment.