Calming Tea Meditation with a Still Life

On this episode

About this episode

Focus on fully experiencing the moment while you sip on a cup of tea in this relaxing meditation inspired by Jean-Étienne Liotard’s Still Life: Tea Set (1781–83). This painting of a Chinese porcelain tea set shows a scene after use—its contents consumed and the pieces left on the tray in disarray. Liotard captures the tactility of these objects in oil paint, from the gleam of the spoon to the scattered crumbs of bread across the tray. Depicting a social ritual enjoyed by the upper echelons of 18th‑century European society, Liotard directs our attention not to the people, but to the quiet beauty of these inanimate objects, emphasizing their curvaceous forms, precarious arrangement, and…