Tea Practice: Anchor in Your Body
The tail end of Earth season invites us to pause and reconnect with our center before the subtle pull of autumn begins. This practice is about coming home to your body, grounding your energy, and noticing what feels steady and nourishing.
Step 1: Prepare your space
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Choose a quiet corner, a small table, or even a windowsill where you can sit comfortably.
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Gather your tea, cup, and any simple touches that feel grounding—a cloth, a small bowl, a candle.
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Let the space feel intentionally yours for this moment, even if only for five minutes.
Step 2: Connect to your body
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Sit upright, feet on the floor, hands resting lightly on your knees or in your lap.
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Close your eyes briefly and take a few breaths, noticing the weight of your body, the points of contact with chair or floor.
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Sense the low belly—the center of Earth energy—as a soft anchor, gently holding your attention.
Step 3: Engage the senses with tea
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Slowly pour your water over the leaves, noticing the sound, movement, and aroma.
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Watch the leaves unfurl or the color deepen in the cup, letting your attention rest here.
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Lift the cup, feel its warmth in your hands, and take a mindful sip, noticing taste, texture, and sensation.
Step 4: Notice your grounding
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With each sip, allow yourself to feel heavier, more rooted, as though your energy is settling into your body like the Earth itself.
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Let this be a moment of replenishment, noticing where you feel supported, nourished, and whole.
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There’s no need to solve, plan, or release—simply anchor and receive.
Step 5: Carry this presence forward
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Before you return to your day, take one last deep breath and feel your connection to the floor beneath you, to your body, and to the richness of this season.
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Let this grounded awareness guide your actions, conversations, and inner pace as the season slowly shifts.
Elemental Insight: End of Earth Season
As Earth season draws to a close, it’s a moment to pause and check in with your inner foundation. You’ve anchored your body with tea—now turn your attention to the quality of your energy, your boundaries, and your inner structure.
Journal Prompts:
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What in my life currently feels solid, grounded, and supported?
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Where do I feel centered, and where could I use more stability?
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How do I nurture myself as the seasons begin to shift?
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What small daily practices help me carry Earth energy into the next season?
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If I imagine the upcoming Metal season, what qualities do I want to bring with me—clarity, discernment, stillness—without letting go too soon?
Reflection:
Take a few quiet moments to write freely. There are no right or wrong answers—just notice what your body, mind, and energy are telling you. This is about acknowledging fullness and cultivating inner strength, letting you step into the next season from a place of stability and awareness.
What We’re Drinking:
Intuition: Mountain-Stored Shou Puerh 2012
This elegant tea from Gongguan Township has mellowed beautifully over the past decade, offering a smooth, harmonious cup that invites patience and presence. Stored in the mountains in a friend’s collection, it has developed a depth and maturity reminiscent of late 1990s aged sheng puerh. Any initial hint of mustiness washes away after a steep or two, leaving a clean, complex cup.
Flavors evolve across multiple infusions, moving from hay and winter spice to toasted almonds, pie crust, and warm, crusty French bread. Each sip reveals subtle shifts, rewarding a slow, attentive brewing session. The tea’s energy is warming, moving, and slightly uplifting—perfect for settling into a reflective, unhurried moment.
Intuition is more than a flavor profile; it’s a companion for inner knowing and gentle reflection. Its maturity speaks to allowing things as they are, cultivating patience, and grounding yourself at the tail end of Earth season. Brew slowly, notice how the leaves unfold, and let this tea anchor you in a quiet, steady awareness as the seasons shift.
Art We’re Loving: Braiding Sweetgrass
Braiding Sweetgrass is a meditation on attention, reciprocity, and gratitude, weaving science, indigenous wisdom, and personal story into a gentle, grounding rhythm. We love it for the way it invites you to notice the abundance around you: the subtle gifts of plants, the quiet cycles of seasons, and the ways we can respond with care and presence.
This is a book to read slowly, with tea in hand, letting each chapter settle like the warmth of a cup through your body. It encourages mindful observation, curiosity, and a deeper connection to both the world outside and the wisdom within. Perfect for these last days of Earth season, it reminds us to pause, breathe, and anchor in the fullness before the subtle pull of autumn begins.
Friend of Living Tea:
Hansa Devi & The International Flag of Planet Earth
This week, we’re honored to highlight Hansa Devi, our longtime friend and Executive Director of the nonprofit International Flag of Planet Earth Organization (IFOPE-O). Hansa and her team are sharing a bold vision: a flag that represents our shared home, Earth. It’s a reminder that no matter nationality, ideology, or belief, we live together on this planet and have a responsibility to care for one another.
Through educational outreach, cultural collaborations, and global advocacy, IFOPE-O is inspiring communities, institutions, and creators worldwide to adopt the flag as a symbol of unity, stewardship, and hope. From classrooms to embassies, music videos to space missions, their work invites all of us to recognize our interconnectedness and to take small, intentional actions for the well-being of the planet and each other.
Hansa’s leadership blends vision, practicality, and deep care—a living example of how awareness and action can ripple out to the wider world.