Explore Japanese Chado and 12-Step Sangha Recovery program as appropriated by Americans to facilitate recovery and practicing ritual presence.

1. Japanese Influenced
Healing Practices
Chado, the Japanese Way of Tea
12-Step Sangha

2. How do you take your tea?
 Matsuri 2016:
 Kabuki, Akido, Taiko (drumming) Iadio (sword), Chado (tea)
 Convention center, performance based
 Chado- most authentic and enlightening experience of
the day.
 "The frenzied world and our myriad stresses of life in
the 21st century leave our minds and bodies weary. It
is then that we may seek a place where we can find
peace."

3. Chado: the Japanese Way of Tea
 400 year old discipline. Unbroken tradition.
 Means of learning a way with nature, inner spirit and others.
 Bowl of tea satisfies both physical and spiritual thirst.
 Zen Buddhism, aesthetics of Japan, attunement with seasonal change, social
etiquette, the opportunity to be present in the moment.

4. Preparing a Bowl of Matcha
 Regimented, intentional, studied process.
 Specific instruments, whisk (chasen), cold water pot, cast
iron lost wax technique kettle, ladle, bowls.
 Eat small sweet, rice cookie and sugar gelatin candy to
prepare palate. Flavor of matcha paired with sweet flavor in
mouth.
 Drinking, both hands on bowl, drink fairly quickly.
Best flavor with in 2 min of whisking.

6. My Personal Awareness of Privilege
at Chado
 Feeling of ignorance and deference.
 Striking awareness of my cultural tendencies to rush. My lack of tradition.
 Oppressiveness felt by being White, in a group of affluent Whites, some being
disrespectful.
 Asking annoying questions, complaining about taste, kid running around.
 Extreme privilege to be able to sample other cultures, to be generously invited to
be a part of a ceremony for free.
 The recipient of extreme cultural patience.

7. Non-verbal Behavior
HC/LC
 Proxemics:
 Intimate 1.5 ft. Personal 1.5- 4 ft.
 Edward Hall (1959) 4 Interpersonal distance zones.
 Kinesics:
 Chado is a cultural ritual and tradition of conscientious kinesics. Scripted.
(body movement, facial expression, posture, gestures, eye contact)
 "For Japanese restrain of strong feelings are a sign of maturity". (Sue, p.260)
 Paralanguage:
 Meditative pace of speech. Language as humble and polite as possible. Would be all in
Japanese. Held the silence. Hushed.
 High Context:
 Extremely non-verbal. One of the main purposes is group identification. The ceremony is
centered around the guest.
 Low Context:
 Very little reliance on the verbal message.

8. My Assumptions About Recovery Support
Groups
 "Them" "Others" "Broken"
 Dean. The complexity of his addiction on my life.
 My fortune to be able to put down substances.
 My reservations about going and self-disclosure
 Pulling up to the building

9. What Really Happened
 Warmly greeted. Invited to breakfast.
 All walks of life
 What happens:
 Ananimity Statement
 5 min meditation –
 Reading from The Zen of Recovery Mel Ash – p. 172
 15 min meditation on the subject –
 Sharing. Hi my name is Reagon. Hi Reagon. Only stereotypical part.
 Serenity Prayer
 Informal discussion/ wrap up.

10. 12-Step Sangha
 Buddhist Recovery Movement
 A companion to other 12-Step Programs. Expands on the 11th Step to "keep contact
with a Higher Power"
 Threefold structure:
 Buddhism:
 1- Buddha (teacher)
 2- Dharma (teaching)
 3- Sangha (community of believers)
 Recovery: "Our disease is threefold"
1-mental
2-physical
3-spiritual
Each of those areas need equally tended to recover

11. Synchronicity
 Inner child meditation.
 Discussion on anger.
 Seed Consciousness – Store Consciousness (Unconscious)
 Goal of mindfulness and concentration in your 'living room'
 Healing
"Addiction is not special or different from the suffering of so-called normal people. All
beings are afflicted with the disease of life and death and dualistic thinking.
Our diseases merely act as amplifiers for our human nature, turning up the volume of our
attachments and suffering. We are fortunate. We have to recover our true selves or die."
-Ash, The Zen of Recovery

12. My Personal Awareness of Privilege
at Sangha
 Awareness of Power/Privilege/Oppression:
 Choosing to be there.
 Feeling intrusive. Voyeuristic.
 Did not self-disclose. Makes it easy, emphasis on anonymity.
 Mixed racial group, slight majority white. Older people.
 Donation only. Consuming services I'm not entitled to.
 Continuing to go? Still unsure about self-disclosure.

13. • Non-verbal Behavior
HC/LC
 Proxemics:
 Personal (1.5-4), Social (4-12). Seated, on floor, small space.
 Kinesics is culturally conditioned.
 Caught between two worlds (East and West). Respect for privacy. Deferential atmosphere.
(body movement, facial expression, posture, gestures, eye contact)
 Paralanguage:
 More "rowdy" than other meditative experiences. Encouraged to share. Individuals for varied
backgrounds coming together. Very different from Chado.
 High Context:
 In the sense of the recovery community. Serenity prayer all memorized. Some of that structure.
 Low Context:
 Very Western in terms of how people shared their experiences.
 Heavily reliant on verbal communication. Structured, timed, rushed.