I discovered the beauty of tea from my grandmother and my mother.  

Each morning as I was growing up I watched the morning ritual of pouring tea.  

It was a typical tradition : boil the water, grab the tea bag and put it in the mug, pour the water and sit.  They would sip and sit and sip and sit.  

Sometimes my grandmother would see the birds out of the window and make a comment.  Sometimes my mother would look out into the distance and smile.  

Words were not often spoken.  Nothing seemed to be happening.  

In reflection, however,  I witnessed a routine each morning that I have come to know as their own version of contemplative meditation.  

Meditation can take many forms.  And one of my favorite paths of meditation is found in an ancient practice called the Tea Ceremony.

The essence of the Tea Ceremony is to be fully present to your Self and to the process of preparation, pouring and sharing tea.  It is with an open-heart and mindful attention that we serve for the benefit of ourselves and of others.

It is a kind of meditation in action.  And it is a way to bring attention and intention into your daily routine and make it a shared experience, as well as a solo endeavor.  

One of the most delightful things about a Tea Ceremony is that it can be created for your Self or with others and so, the meditation becomes a process of expansion and spaciousness.  A shared experience for guest and host.

Each moment is unique and transient. There is only one moment – this moment. It will never occur again in this way.

Whether you are preparing tea for yourself or for others, it is an opportunity to celebrate the moment and care for yourself and others. 

See the magic in what is ordinary. 

This magic is always available to us when we slow down, pay attention to our ordinary experience and allow ourselves to simply be.

To bring extra joy to my personal tea ceremony, each month I receive a beautiful package of tea, a gift and a magazine about tea from the Global Tea Hut, a tea community in Taiwan, China.  

This month's gift was about honoring the Year of the Sheep and it's lessons on abundance.  And in the spirit of sharing, I share this process with You.

I always look forward to this subscription ~ more than any other mail I receive each month.  The magazine is incredibly thoughtful and educational and insightful.  

The gifts each month are surprisingly generous and the tea is amazing.  

You can subscribe, too, and be a part of the community that serves others so kindly.

In the meantime, whether you are a tea or coffee drinker, please remember to sit, breathe and be still.

Want to learn more about tea + meditation, check out mydailyom.com.  

I discovered iMovie on my iPad and it's been so much fun exploring different elements and aspects of life to share in different ways of mood and temperament that come together in harmony.  This is my second insta-film.  Hope you enjoy it!

This insta-film is about my dear friend, Pitango.  

We met in 2010 on Prince Street where he sold his rings. He was a street vendor there for 20 years and I walked by him for 20 years before I actually "saw" him.  When we met, it was a friendship from the soul and heart that will last forever.  

He is a great teacher of life and love and laughter. 

This is the best practice I know to be done on a daily basis or as often as you can remember.  It has worked wonders in my life and I notice a considerable difference to my personal well-being and to the way my days unfold when I practice these four steps with attention and intention.  Happy planting!

1.  Make a decision of what you wish to have or want to happen for yourself.  
It should be one short sentence. 

Examples : 
"I want an amazing place to live."  "I want a healthy body." I want a loving partner." 
"I want to travel more." 
 "I want help with my business."  "I want more money." 

Be specific and exact.

This step is called Shi in Tibetan.  It basically means "basis".

2.  Find someone who wants something similar to what you want.  
Make a plan to help them get what they wish.

Example :
"I will ask my friend who shares my same desire if she wants to have tea.  
I will listen and see how I can support their desire and give counsel and ideas as they arise.  

This step is called Sampa in Tibetan.  It basically means "intention" or "state of mind".

This work is based on teachings by Geshe Michael Roach and the Diamond Cutter Institute. 

Please share!

I wasn't always a health nut or a yoga "guru".  As a matter of fact, I was a really sick kid. 

From the time I was a baby, I have suffered from allergies and asthma.  Except I was not diagnosed with these conditions until I was about 9 years old. 

Every Spring and every Fall, my mother was told by our family physician that I had bronchitis.  I was put on heavy duty antibiotics for weeks at a time.  Antibiotics my mother came to understand many years later, adults should only be on for a maximum of 3-5 days.  I missed weeks of school every year, stuck in bed watching I Love Lucy and Bewitched and I never really felt "sick". 

It was a kind of nightmare. 

I wanted to play in the leaves in the Fall and smell all the flowers in the Spring. I missed out on Halloween trick-or-treating and fun country flower-picking and frolicking events in the Spring. Every year, it was the same old tune.  


Until one day, my mother, who worked at a hospital bumped into the Allergy Specialist.  Then things started to change for me.

She made an appointment with the Ear, Nose and Throat specialists at the hospital and I started allergy testing. In the 70's allergy testing consisted of making tiny scratches on your back (all over of your back) and putting tiny drops of live allergens onto the scratches. If there was a reaction on the skin, then you were allergic. Guess what happened next?

I was the poster child for allergies! It turned out that I was basically allergic to EVERYTHING enviromental and almost everything animal (especially cats, dogs and horses). And not only was I allergic, I was 10 times the normal patient...whatever THAT meant. As a child, I took it to mean : I had been sufferig for a long time unnecessarily.

And so a new cycle began for me. Oe that included allergy shot 2 times a week and a whole new paradigm of nutrition, supplemeents and education.

As my mom took in all this new information, our lives and circumstances started to make a whole lot more sense.

There was a reason I was getting "sick" and it was allergies. I was allergic to feathers, dust, mold, grass, dogs, cats, horses...you name it...I was allergic to it.

I remember the first morning I ate my cereal before school and I could actually breathe and eat with my mouth shut for the first time. I was 9 years old. Before that, eating was challenging especially when I was trying to follow manners and "eat with your mouth shut." You see, I always wanted to do the right thing but I really struggled with simple tasks. And now not only could I breath and eat simultaneously, I could TASTE food and flavors. WOW!!!!!

It was around this time in my life that I was introducted to my step-father's sister, and then things got really interesting. My step-aunt also had her own existential health crisis and she was a advocate for macrobiotics and all things natural. She was seen as a strange lady who cooked all her own food and brought along with her (outside of the home) all of these teas and tinctures and oils and many other "weird" concoctions for her health and well-being.

As everybody else was making fun of her, I was watching and learning. I believed she had the information and knowledge that I needed to be healthy and grow. She taught me yoga exercises and massage techniques and Qi Gong movements that would be helpful for my asthma. She taught me about foods that created phlegm and discomfort and foods that were better for my body. She tuaght me about cooking and spices and herbs and it was a huge awakening. I was buying everything she was offering. I was ten years old.

At that time my mission was to get healthy and feel better so that I could hang and play with my friends, go to school and not get behind on readings and homework and be "normal" like everybody else. 


Little did I know, this was the beginning of my life's purpose : to learn how to heal myself and help others learn how to do the same.

Since I was ten years old, I have learned supreme self-care because I know the value in being healthy and staying healthy. And as a very small child, I made a secret vow to myself to do whatever I could to keep myself out of hospitals, to stay off of pharmaceuticals, to stay out of a sick bed and to be out in the world : laughing, loving and living.

This commitment I made to myself remains true to this day and my wish is to help others learn how to help themsleves throgh the many techniques and options that are available today that include the disciplines I have known to be of service to me: yoga, reiki, nutrition, meditation, creativity, movement, and essential oils.

There is a time and place for doctors and hospitals and Western medicine. And I am totally in favor of the dedication of our modern world and its advances in medicine. However, I also have experienced that many chronic conditions can best be served through a variety of healing paradigms and that our bodies are powerful and capable of doing the work. Being well-informed and curious and inquisitive about what works for each one of us and what doesn't takes patience, persistence, and presence. Paying attention to what is working and what is not and knowing when to seek Western counsel and when to seek alternative methods and when to combine the two pardigms.

It's up to you. Always. To make the choices for your body and healing. Gather the information and feel out what is best for you. And remember, that was works for somebody else may not work for you and vice versa. Perhaps it is why there are so many different options to explore and it can be comfusing. Using your intuition about what might be best for you and feeling your body and how it works is a really good start.

I love you. 
And care so much about you and what happens to you. 
Please take supremely good care of yourself. 
It's important.