Learning more about Japanese Tea Ceremony was very high on my list of things to do when I learnt that I was going to be getting the opportunity to live in Japan once again. So, being a firm believer in #WORDSOUNDPOWER, when I arrived in Nagasaki Japan and the local community volunteer group asked me what aspects of Japanese culture I was interested of course my answer was Sado please!

After getting a taste of Tea Ceremony I did some research and learnt that this region (in fact in a town very near to where I live) had its own special style of Tea Ceremony specifically performed by Samurai called Chinshin-Ryu. So the next mission was to find a teacher willing to take on a foreign student with limited Japanese language capabilities but an eager spirit.

I am so excited to absorb all there is to know about this special Samurai way of Tea Ceremony. I have already learnt that the way of greeting and entering the room are slightly different from the more popular methods of Tea Ceremony. I still haven't figured out how to make a perfect bowl of tea but this is where training begins. I am intrigued and excited to learn and grow.

Tea Ceremony is all about ritual; silencing the mind and getting into the movements and placements and all the intricate details of the present moment. Committing to a weekly Tea Ceremony (okeiko) ritual has become integral to developing not just physical and mental alacrity but also, and most importantly, spiritual discipline. I give thanks for all the lessons being learnt on this journey.

One of the hardest things for me is sitting in seiza (i.e. the Japanese traditional formal way of sitting, with knees bent, legs folded under thigh and buttocks resting on the ankles.) Lucky for me, my teacher -- ever sympathetic to my plight -- has offered me an alternative to seiza called Ryuurei style of Tea Ceremony where both host and guest sit on stools/chairs and the tea in prepared on a table instead of directly on the tatami mat. Give thanks. Training continues.

Ichi go Ichi e is my favourite Japanese proverb, so much so that I have it tattooed on my left arm. So when I saw this sign -- Ichi go Ichi e -- at the entrance to my teacher's Tea Room it was only confirmation that I was in the right place at the right time. The concept of ichi-go ichi-e is the philosophy that each meeting should be treasured, for it can never be reproduced. It is said to have been an integral theme in the creation of Tea Ceremony in the 16th Century.

I begin every Tea Ceremony (otemae) session a small room where the tea bowls (chawan), bamboo ladles (hishaku) and chasen (bamboo whisk) are cleaned, prepared and kept before and after each ceremony. It has a basin and a pipe for washing the utensils as well as shelves and hooks for storing them after use. Additionally, there is a specific way in which we must leave and enter this room before during and after each otemae.

These are just a few of the essential items used in a typical tea ceremony. Bamboo is a very popular natural resource used in the Japanese Tea Ceremony. The water ladle, Tea Scoop, Tea Whisk and sometimes even the water container is made from bamboo. Simplicity.

For a while I thought that there was only one way of preparing tea for Tea Ceremony. Boy, was I wrong. Usucha (or thin tea) was the only method of preparation I had seen and it was the first type I was introduced to. Apparently, this was only the tip of the Tea Ceremony iceberg. There is so much more left for me to learn. For example, koicha (or thick tea) is another method of preparing matcha for Tea Ceremony and is typical done before a full-course meal (kaiseki).