Video: Stress ReLeaf: Weekly Tea Workshop Offers a Place for Students to Relax, Unwind
Launched last year, the program has proven a hit with students
Stress ReLeaf: Weekly Tea Workshop Offers a Place for Students to Relax, Unwind
Stress ReLeaf: Weekly Tea Workshop Offers a Place for Students to Relax, Unwind
Tea has been a lifelong passion for Kim Santo. She began sipping Lipton tea, then moved on to Earl Grey teas (courtesy of Star Trek: The Next Generation), before discovering loose leaf and herbal teas. Santo, assistant director of Judicial Affairs and Off-Campus Services, began making the connection between tea and mindfulness in 2017, when she discovered an ancient brewing technique called gong fu cha, which translates to “making tea with skill.”
“This method creates a space for the tea drinker to fully focus on tea preparation and the nuances that evolve steep after steep,” Santo says. “The preparation of the tea, coupled with the chemical compounds in the tea, take tea-drinking to another level of enjoyment and contemplation.”
Last year, she came up with the idea of offering a tea workshop for students that would support their overall well-being, help reduce stress and anxiety, and support their academic endeavors.
With a grant from Student Wellbeing and an offer by the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground (HTC) to host the event, Santo launched Stress ReLeaf in Fall 2022. Workshops, held Mondays on the HTC’s first floor, are kept to small groups to give participants as much hands-on experience as possible and foster a sense of mindful reflection.
Santo begins each session by introducing students to the gong fu cha brewing method, where a large amount of loose tea is steeped in a small vessel called a gaiwan, before it is decanted, then poured into small cups. Each workshop features a different tea, and Santo talks about the tea’s terroir, flavor palette, and where it’s grown. She also talks about other brewing techniques, the science behind the leaf, as well as various teaware.
“In the process of brewing the tea, you become more mindful,” Santo says. “You’re focusing on preparing the tea, measuring it out, heating the water, timing the steeps, pouring it out, and ultimately drinking it. It’s a full sensory experience—the smell, the taste, the texture of the leaves.”
The program has proven so successful that what began in 2022 as a biweekly workshop became weekly in Fall 2023. It returns in spring 2024, beginning January 22. The hour-long workshops run from 4 to 5 p.m. Registration is required, as capacity is limited to help foster a sense of calm intentionality, as well as to provide ample opportunities for students to try their hands at gong fu brewing without feeling intimidated.”
At the end of each session, Santo gives students a small package of that week’s featured tea with instructions on how they can steep it simply, without any fancy paraphernalia, to bring some of that mindfulness into their daily lives.
“One of my best friends from college likes to say, ‘Life gets lifey,” Santo says. “Anxiety, stress, uncertainty—it’s a lot for any of us to handle. The more outlets we have for self-care the better. I’m so grateful to BU Wellbeing and the Howard Thurman Center for supporting a program that fosters mindfulness and community for our students.
“As I like to say at each workshop, “Let’s get steeping!”
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