Celeste Greene was a kindred spirit from the moment we met. She was making chai barefoot in her house in East Nashville that felt at once like my great aunt’s farmhouse in Finland and a hand-built cabin where I once lived in Alaska.

Since that day, Celeste has impressed and inspired me with the depth and intention that she brings to every edge of her life from her yoga and art practices to her cooking, her home and her relationships. She reminds me that less is more, that simplicity is a luxury and that inner beauty and peace are cultivated through daily ritual and practice.

I am over the moon to share with you some of our conversations on ritual and tea in hopes that you might discover some inspiration from Celeste like I have.

“We forget that nature itself is one vast miracle transcending the reality of night and nothingness,”

Loren Eiseley wrote in The Firmament of Time.

“We forget that each one of us in his personal life repeats that miracle.”

ME: The other day we were talking about making the paradigm shift from controlling life to allowing it and learning to trust in the fact that Nature is continuing to create all the time and that her cycles of birth, death and regeneration are also happening within and around us. 

What are some practices that help steer you towards this perspective?

CG: Yes! I love this topic, because just as you mentioned, the energy of Life is moving, with or without us trying to control it, haha! 

I spent the majority of my young adult life thinking a lot about what I wanted, who I wanted to be, and how I could get there. While all of this is important to ask oneself and become aware of, if spent too much time here it strengthens our idea that we are in charge of our lives.  I’m reminded of being 18 years old and a bored student in Spanish class I designed my first tattoo around the feeling of surrendering my control and letting life be in charge. Its been my prayer ever since. Sometimes its an easier task than others, but I always notice that when I’m resisting letting go, what I’m actually resisting is feeling what I’m feeling - a fear, a grief, an anger, a loss… And once I see this for what it is, I begin the process of becoming free from it. and that is a whole other story:)

We all go through this process of opening over and over and over again in a variety of depths and forms. Entering these places of resistance and surrendering is where we actually meet ourselves. When we begin to step towards trust, we don’t have to make ourselves be who we thought we are supposed to be and we end up with more space to be who we are… which is such a different experience of living life.  

Other than infusing these questions into my meditations, I have many other practices that help align me with this mindset. 

Meditation is somewhat of a room - a still place to watch whats actually going on our my head.  Its a great mirror into the types of thoughts that are running our lives. Meditation was one of the first ways I tangibly began the practice of surrender and got to see results.

My meditation teacher always asks me, “Who is the doer?”. Every action in our day - take a look at what place inside of ourselves is the doing coming from.

You can sit in a quiet place, close your eyes and just rest. Don’t worry about doing anything right here, there’s no such thing! Just begin to notice your thoughts and label them with words that you connect with. Some that I’ve used before are “desire”, “perfection”, “fear”, “loneliness”, “approval”. Make sure that all you do is label. No story or explanation here, this is not the time for that, just label and move on. Try this practice for 15-25 min/day and keep a Writing of what you’ve noticed.

Another Writing exercise I’ve found helpful on this topic is to keep a daily log of how you’ve practiced surrendering to the flow of Life. What came up for you today, where was there a resistance or a realization? 

A Mudra is a hand position that is designed to create a specific internal experience. During the day when you notice yourself trying to figure something out, control it, or make it happen, simply flip your palm (or palms) over as a gesture or offering. Anatomically, when you turn palm over your shoulder externally rotates slightly, so there is a subtle physical feeling of widening and opening through the chest region. This area in the body is called the Prana Vayu and is responsible for our ability to receive. The experience of daily softening here can be so powerful.

Another practice I use and teach often is Mantra. Mantra is often a Sanskrit saying, prayer or chant used in meditation to keep your attention focused in a particular place. Sometimes just using a few simple words does the trick. 

I have used “Only You Mother” (insert any other word you like to use to connect to the force of life itself) for years. I love the reminder that the earth’s energy is creating/birthing and nurturing. You can repeat this in a seated meditation or during a walking meditation. I’ve even posted it in my bathroom at one time so every morning starts off with this reminder. 

There is such a different way of living when you have this as your internal attitude. You do the working. You do the writing. You do the meeting, etc…It connects you to the Divine in every part of your day.

And of course, asana (Yoga poses). In coming back home to Nashville, I saw lots of Yang energy in our yoga classes here. If we are having this approach in our bodies, we are having it in our minds and our lives as well, and my personal opinion is that we already have plenty of this in America, but we’ve lost touch with the yin. When our goal in yoga is to achieve or succeed, we’ve missed the boat, sadly. What then makes this any different than stretching, personal training or sports?

I’m saying this because after many years of practice myself, I found this sense of achievement hiding underneath my motivation. So I began to explore, what if I could notice when I’m moving from this place and put down the sense of achievement here? And when I set it aside, my body softens and because I soften, prana (breath*) can make it’s way more easily through my body. The result is a deep sense of effortlessness. I get to experience the physical embodiment of surrendering and it feels like being in love. It is in the receiving of this yin energy, that teaches my system true internal strength. I become the clay. 

Yoga is about cultivating the qualities we want in our lives and what we want to embody. Yoga can be done with many different goals in mind, but these are my goals: to be soft with myself and others, to be kind with myself and others, to be gentle with myself and others, to trust myself and others, to hold myself (and others) with plenty of space to be just as we are-  everything included, nothing rejected.

Chai

ME: I love to watch you make chai and to hear the way that you speak about it as a daily ritual. Will you share your thoughts on ritual and Chai with me?

CG: For me, a Ritual is another beautiful practice that shifts my attention daily towards what I value. It is a remembering of what I love and how it feels to be in love with it, connecting me to my truest self. Ritual or routine are fundamental concepts to yoga and Ayurveda and play a large role in my life. I have many daily rituals that shift depending on the season. One of my favorites that I’m practicing daily now is called Abhyanga where you apply warm oil to the body then follow with hot shower or steam tent (side note: stem tents are a ridiculously amazing and affordable way to have a steam at home). 

Another ritual I’m enjoying right now is making Chai every morning after my yoga practice. What I love about making Chai is that it puts all of my attention in one place. It is a meditation. Chai is a quick process, you can’t put it on the stove and go call your friend or start the laundry or research something on the computer. You must be present with each step.

The sensory experience begins with the boiling of milk, then the grinding of spices and finally watching the milk’s color change from white to a beautiful caramel tone. In this act, I am claiming that it is important to me to be with the process of creating and doing this helps me stay in that perspective for the rest of the day.