Tea is a threshold from the everyday world to the divine with Krystal Mack
[Series] On Slow Living #15
...to love life through labor is to be intimate with life's inmost secret. - Khalil Gibran
One of my teachers in Ayurveda told the class, be here, now…be somewhere else later. Is that so hard?
Yes. It was. And frankly, I still find it hard.
She delivered it in how she delivered most things, with so much love and tenderness while also being just a little playful and goofy. This was her nature. I remember she laughed as she said it, aware of its simultaneous truth and irony. Also lodged somewhere in between the words was this message: this is serious, but don’t take yourself too seriously while paying attention.
That evening in the lecture, it wasn’t so much about paying attention, though that was part of it. It was more so reminding us that our energy is our most precious of resources and not to fracture it. At times, be it due to extraneous circumstances, life, self-generated drama, whatever, it can be mindlessly squandered. She wanted us to remember (or better said, know through experience) the value of being in the moment. Fully. Now, after having given it twenty years of thought, I understand its value. Life is truly about being present. And when the next moment arrives, be there.
What happens when we truly take part in the thoughts and actions we’re engaged in? To be right here and nowhere else? It makes me think of what today’s guest Krystal Mack shared in her slow living reflections, “Tea is a threshold from the everyday world to the divine”. If we are able to rest when we are tired, drink tea when we need its medicine to pause and scan our being, or notice the wind’s mood, a plant's taste, the moon’s rhythm, and the bird’s song, we may come to notice a spirit so ancient and wise that is speaking through us, in a language we may only come to recognize, if we are here now….and somewhere else, later.
Thank you for your reflections dear Krystal
PS. If you want to read some of the cool things Krystal has been up to, check out this piece on MOLD, Comestible Symbols of Redlining and Making Baltimore’s Food Web Visible
Yours, Erin
What does slow living mean to you?
To me, slow living means being able to be present in a way that allows me to make conscious decisions that are sustainable and healthy. It has been challenging for me to do so in the past two months but I've come to understand over the years that living in the world doesn't make slow living easy. This is especially true being a Black disabled woman. This being said, I try to give myself grace and remember that rigid perfection is just white supremacy, and I want no part of that.
What's one thing (action, mindset, ritual, habit, etc.) that's essential to maintaining it in your day to day life?
Making tea is the one act that gives me balance and allows me to live more slowly, especially in the winter. My tea blend of choice these days is Elderberry and Tulsi. I make this blend with Tulsi I've grown in my garden from the previous season. The blend is antiviral and adaptogenic, the scent is comforting, and the 15-minute steep requires me to slow down and reflect on my day.
How do you ensure that a little bit of wildness and or nature remains close?
Not to sound like a broken record, but again, it's the tea ritual! I read once that "Tea is a threshold from the everyday world to the divine" and I couldn't agree more. The tea collection in my kitchen is like an archive or garden memorial to me. I can recall the moment that I foraged the shiso for my Shiso Chai blend or the Magnolia blossoms for my tea blend False Spring, which has notes of cacao, ginger, orange peel and coconut. When I brew these teas I am reminded of the days I was out in nature, taking in all of its beauty. That's especially needed when snowy East Coast winters can keep one home bound. Sipping my herbal tea as I watch the snowfall from my window can almost feel like a deeper witnessing of nature that I am always humbled by and thankful for.
Thank you again for your patience, Erin, and for inviting me to participate. This was a much-needed opportunity for a reset, so I'm truly grateful.
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