Tea Practice: Steeping Presence, Harvesting Gratitude
Gratitude is the heart of a realized Earth Element. It’s the recognition that every breath, every cup of tea, every moment of presence is a gift. While it might sound simple—or even trite—the real transformation happens when gratitude reshapes your entire worldview, encouraging deeper attention, care, and generosity.
This week, make it tangible: write down three things you are grateful for every day. Let your tea table become a small altar of awareness. Notice the weight and texture of your cup, the aroma of the leaves, and the way warmth travels through your body. Observe how this mindful practice changes not just your mind, but the quality of your presence in the world.
Gratitude is not limited to the tea table—it extends outward. Even small gestures—a note of thanks, a patient smile, a pause before responding—become amplified when rooted in practice. Over time, these small acts accumulate into a broader habit of noticing abundance, patience, and connection. Your tea is your training ground: a daily laboratory for practicing attention, care, and awareness. By observing subtle changes in your own energy, you begin to see how mindfulness in the small moments grows into generosity and presence in all areas of life.
Elemental Reflection: Cultivating Integrity Through Action
"As one day all must be given up, why not dedicate it now to universal happiness?" – Lonny Jarret
The deepest motivation for inner work is not self-interest—it is the wish to be whole for others. Earth asks us to extend this care beyond our immediate circle, beyond family, to recognize that every interaction carries the potential for transformation. This is the essence of living in harmony with the Earth Element: grounding our actions in generosity, integrity, and presence, and recognizing that our inner cultivation affects the world around us.
Ask yourself: what must be resolved before you can fully embrace being whole? How much of your inner work is done for comfort, habit, or self-improvement, and how much is aimed at cultivating integrity, compassion, and presence for the people and communities you touch? Consider the parent who changes a habit not for themselves, but to model better behavior for their child. The same principle applies to friends, colleagues, strangers—even the world at large: inner work is most potent when it becomes service.
Liberating the Earth Element is inseparable from generosity and care. It is reflected in the small, often unseen actions that create safety, nourishment, and trust. By recognizing how our attention and presence affect others, we begin to understand that growth and wholeness are not solitary pursuits—they are relational. Each act of mindfulness, each decision made with awareness, is a seed that can blossom into a more compassionate, grounded, and connected life.
What We're Drinking: Ananda – Ancient Tree Lao Cha Tou Ripe Puerh 2025
For Shou Puerh lovers, Ananda is unlike anything you’ve tasted before. If you’ve tried it already, you know—its reputation is well-earned. And if you haven’t, it’s a tea you simply must experience.
Patient, complex, and elegant, Ananda unfolds flavors of hazelnut, pie crust, and fresh bread. It is frank, clean, and penetrating, with a structured bite that surprises and delights—unexpected in a Shou, yet perfectly balanced. Its Qi is mildly yang, moving gently through the body while uplifting the spirit, leaving a subtle warmth that encourages presence and reflection.
What sets Ananda apart is its origin: the Lao Cha Tou nuggets formed during the wet-piling fermentation process, where heat, weight, and moisture concentrate the tea juices. Combined with leaves harvested from ancient trees 200–400 years old, this creates a long-lasting, sweet, and deeply satisfying aftertaste—the true essence of Shou Puerh. Each sip reveals layers of flavor and texture that deepen with attention, rewarding both patience and curiosity.
The name Ananda points to a deeper, timeless dimension of happiness—eternal bliss that accompanies the recognition of the present moment. Drinking this tea is an invitation to slow down, observe, and notice that nothing more is needed beyond this cup, beyond this moment. It is a tea that lingers—not just on the palate, but in the awareness it cultivates, reminding us that simplicity and presence are the greatest luxuries.
Creative Inspiration: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring
Set in the serene Korean wilderness, this film follows a Buddhist master raising a young boy, imparting wisdom and compassion through patient, symbolic actions that unfold over decades. The narrative is divided into five seasonal segments, each representing a stage in the boy’s life and reflecting the natural rhythms of growth, change, and impermanence.
The simplicity of the characters’ actions belies their depth; every gesture, ritual, and interaction carries layers of meaning, often highlighted through Buddhist iconography and the quiet beauty of the surrounding landscape. The cyclical passage of time, captured through the changing seasons, mirrors the cycles of human life, illustrating lessons in patience, presence, and the cultivation of inner balance.
Watching the film is like observing a meditative practice in motion. The careful attention to rhythm, detail, and subtle cause-and-effect offers a cinematic meditation on mindfulness, echoing the qualities we nurture in our tea practice—awareness, reflection, and the gentle cultivation of gratitude. It invites viewers to slow down, witness the unfolding of life’s small moments, and recognize that true wisdom often emerges from patience, observation, and the willingness to be present.
Find where to watch the film →
Friends of Living Tea: Mel Nahas – Conscious City Guide
Mel Nahas, a long-time tea drinker, is the co-founder of Conscious City Guide, a global platform connecting people to transformational events, workshops, and experiences in wellness, sustainability, and spiritual growth. Over 4,000 creators contribute, helping individuals discover conscious living practices—from retreats and farm-to-table dinners to meditation and human design workshops.
Mel’s path has been shaped by courage and curiosity: moving countries, changing careers, and embracing risk as co-creation. She believes that consciousness is meant to be accessible, and that intentional connection can transform communities.
Through her work, Mel helps people not just discover events—but find experiences that shift perspectives, nurture integrity, and deepen presence.