Hi!
I’m so happy you’re curious about Tea and want to hear other people’s experiences with
Start Your Own Tea Practice
I started this community because Tea changed my life and I wanted people to experience deep healing for themselves… never in a million years did I think the transformations would be so profound.
Scroll down and see for yourself…
“SYOTP opened the doorway for me to slow down, soften and remember. The reverence in which Mariana holds this container and her connection with Tea is deep medicine for us all as we reconnect to our own hearts, ceremony, and Mother Earth. For me, this was a journey home to Soul."
– Kylie McBeath, @beingisbeautiful
“My intention for this class was for tea to heal my soul and to really be present to what she was bringing into my life and I feel I have done exactly that. I am really blown away at the transformation that's happened for me in such a short amount of time. The healing I have created with Tea has literally transformed my life. It has created so much for me in 22 days. I’m beyond grateful and am really excited to see where my life goes.”
– Elizabeth Baxter, @lizzylivin
“This experience has left me feeling a strong sense of trust. I feel like everything happened in this divine way for Tea to come into my life. It was everything I needed at this moment in time. What I'm taking with me the most is a revived reverence for nature”
– Rachel Brathen, @yoga_girl
“Tea changed my life.”
“I highly recommend this course to everyone. Mariana is a great teacher & an inspired guide. I’ll probably watch the course many more times. It’s juicy! Tea changed my life. I want to say I’m in love with Tea, but maybe it’s too soon for that. Before I began this course I didn’t have a practice, I didn’t have a relationship with Tea or even know Tea was a plant in and of itself. I was in an unfulfilling job and I felt like I was looking for something… looking for a way to enjoy life more, looking for an answer to something. And Tea showed up and was like, “Yo! I’m the answer!” And I trusted it, and I went for it… and Tea was the f***ing answer! Now I have a daily Tea practice and that was probably the most surprising part of this whole thing. I didn’t think it was going to be easy for me. I haven’t missed a day of Tea practice & to me, that speaks for itself.”
– Stephanie Sved, @stephsved
“Life Changing.”
“SYOTP was incredibly amazing & life changing for me. It is hands down the BEST course I have ever invested in. Originally what drew me was the sexy Instagram photos, but I feel like through the course I received such potent, magical wisdom, and it feels like it’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
– Lenore Black, @lenoreblack_
TEA will forever be what my soul thirsts for
“Where do I even begin? No words will ever express the love tea has poured into me and the love I have for Tea now.
Tea has seen me naked in all of my emotions.
She’s held me in ways I never thought tea could hold me. She has been my heart medicine and will forever be what my soul thirsts for. When Tea found me, I was in a liminal space. It had been a year since my breakdown. I was in a state of neither here nor there. I was simply just existing.
My first sip of tea I balled my eyes out uncontrollably. I even turned off my camera so I could curl up in a ball with my bowl. Little did I know this was just the beginning of my new best friend holding space for me — my sweet love Tea.
OMG and the community that comes with tea! I feel ALL of my emotions with my tea sisters and I thank Mariana for this. I’ve realized life isn’t meant to be done alone without a sisterhood. It takes a village to go through all of the seasons. I feel seen. I feel heard. I feel love. I feel joy. I feel grief. I feel alive with our circle and our sweet love Tea. Tea has placed me on a journey home and has led me to healing waters. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Mariana and circle. Like I said, no words will ever amount to my experience with tea. Simply, thank you.”
– Aliana Perez, @alianajperez
“It completely transformed my life.”
“To sum up the 22 days into words is quite difficult, but I’ll try my best. I never could have anticipated what would unfold. I was craving a lot more presence in my life. I wanted to set more time out for myself, but it just wasn’t a priority. I watched two SYOTP courses come and go, and the third time I knew I had to be a part of it. I am so, so glad I did. It really affected my life in such a positive way. Mariana created the most beautiful and safe container for us to be ourselves — to feel it all and to unravel in our own way. It completely transformed my life. I feel like I finally am able to put love into myself in ways that I’ve never done before. Now, I can’t imagine starting my day not sitting with Tea & checking in with myself. I feel more me than I’ve ever felt in my life and that feels really good.”
– Candice Tzeng, @candicetzeng
“I feel more at home in myself.”
“Before starting SYOTP I was having a really hard time loving myself. I was having such a hard time saying yes… and I had said yes to Tea, but I was having a hard time investing in something for myself, out of love for myself. But, I’m so glad I listened because it’s truly transformed my life. I feel so grateful every day that Tea is in my life. One of the main things I learned was just this idea of coming back home to Nature. I feel more at home in myself than I have in my whole life. I felt so held by the container of SYOTP, even after it ended.”
– Reny Doyle, @renydoyle
“This tea course is life changing. I'm so grateful Mariana brought the sacredness of tea into my life. My morning tea practice is like my active meditation. It wakes me up and fills me with such a delightful energy. I've even transformed my living room into a place for tea ceremonies! I am beyond grateful for my new tea journey and highly recommend starting your own tea practice with Mariana."
– Michael Armstrong, @michaelarmstrong444
“I am blown away by how Tea has changed my life and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. I've had many different spiritual rituals and practices, but tea has simply elevated everything else. It was amazing to learn how to share the magic of tea with others, and the container was so sacred and special. It is so great that this lasts for a lifetime - far beyond the 3 week course! Mariana brings a calming, grounding energy to the practice and really made me feel like I couldn't mess it up - no matter what.”
– Kelly Carlone, @kellyjcarlone
“I am in this remembering process of who I am, coming back home to self and my intention to follow these little breadcrumbs of what lights me up and to follow my heart and this. I didn’t know anything about tea ceremonies. This just kind of plopped into my lap, I signed up and I am so grateful I did.”
– Meggie Woodruff, @mcwoodruf
my heart opens every time I sit for tea
“I instantly felt connected to Mariana. I felt her generosity, authenticity and love towards the practice and how deeply rooted in her it is. As someone who travels a lot for work it matters that I find ways to ground and align wherever I am and
I just intuitively felt this would be a practice I would be sitting with as long as I’m physically able to.
I loved how introspective the course is and then how open and vulnerable in its shares. The balance was perfect. I went through an instant shift and I don’t say these things lightly. I love waking up and having this practice with myself, with tea and spirit. My heart opens every time and I get excited for the clarity. Most importantly I learned to trust myself. I’m so grateful for Mariana for bringing this to us and am looking forward to the next course with her.”
– May Calamawy, @calamawy
“I absolutely loved SYOTP.”
I didn’t know anything about Tea or the Tea plant, even though I’m an herbalist. I felt like something was missing, that spirit side…and I absolutely loved how that came into the practice with Mariana. I got to know Tea on a deep level, I got to learn more about my own Nature & my relationship with Nature, and I especially really enjoyed learning the ceremony of leaves-in-a-bowl. It’s so simple & beautiful & humble. I absolutely loved SYOTP, if you’ve been wanting to start a Tea practice, Mariana is the one to guide you.”
– Abigail Atkinson, @wellwithabigail
“It’s so inspiring.”
“Tea has become my #1 priority since taking this course. What I love and value and respect so much about Mariana’s teachings is that it’s all from her heart. It’s embodied teaching. Her lessons are intuitive & it’s so inspiring, the Tea spirit runs so deeply in her and through her. I am so excited about how I feel after the course, I feel really committed to this practice & really honored to have found it. My intention for taking this course was to have a deeper connection with Nature, and it happened.”
– Natalie Adele
For the first time, I can hear my own inner voice clearly
"When I signed up for SYOTP, I was ill. So ill, as I have been often in my life. I wasn’t sure what it was that called to me. I didn’t know the challenges that would come next but I knew it was right. I’m pretty sure dragging myself up to get my credit card so I could book my spot in the course was the only reason I got out of bed that day.
What I got turned out to be just what I needed, when I needed it, and that was
to be encircled
… the circle of the tea bowl, leaves tracing the circumference and the metaphorical circle encompassing women all over the world that Mariana built and held for us.
It caught me right in my transition from one kind of healing, the physical, to another, the spiritual. From partialness to wholeness.
Like many plant medicines, the experience of ritual tea is often ineffable.
What is discovered is simultaneously mundane and profound, trite and sublime. Like trying to explain the sound of rustling leaves of a tree to a being who has only ever lived underwater. But to try to put it into words: Tea is a guide, a heart medicine. She holds and allows it all, without the judgment. She is gentle. She has quieted me, calibrated me to a greater sensitivity. Allowed me to relinquish to receive. For the first time, I can hear my own inner voice clearly. I have found greater alignment between my internal and external being. I have settled in, rooted in enough to also begin to hear those of non-human kin, to start to learn a language that we in western civilization have long forgotten, The Language of the Heart, and the reciprocity that naturally flows from it.
Simply put, it changed me. Probably forever, often in a way that I can’t put into words. Every day when I sit down for tea, I am grateful for Mariana’s earthbound teaching guidance, for bringing me close to the mother, and for parting the curtain on a new way of being. It cannot be rationalized, simply felt. If you feel that call, as I did, know that it is tea herself calling you. Only she knows why and only you can discover what she has to offer."
– Jordan Kelly, @virulentbliss
“Here I am a month later, feeling so wildly contained and anchored. I am seeing myself for the first time as a rose–a little bud as she likes to tell me. I ultimately feel that I can trust myself and that my longings are valid and worthy.”
– Victoria Gentry, @revolutionaryrose
“I very impulsively decided I wanted to do this and I had zero expectation and I think it was such a great opportunity to just be receptive and be like, I don't know, I am just showing up to see what happens. I really appreciate the way that SYOTP was taught, that Mariana allowed it for us to be our own practice and to really feel into what this meant for us. That was really heartwarming, to just be receptive and see.”
– Anya Kaats, @anya.kaats
“Through tea and through this beautiful group I feel like I have a place and a sense of belonging that I don't think I have really had before.”
– Alicia Fall, @seasonsofalicia
Cultivating a Tea practice provided me with a space to bring my grief.
"I was first introduced to Mariana and Tea while I was in Kylie McBeath’s Anchored container. Tea was so supportive for me during that process, so when Mariana opened up Start Your Own Tea Practice, it was such a yes. I knew I wanted to cultivate a ritual that would allow me to connect more deeply with myself, and with nature, one I could return to every day. I could feel Tea calling me forward, even though I couldn’t quite understand why. I decided to trust the call, and signed up.
Then, 15 minutes before our Opening Ceremony for SYOTP, I received a phone call that rocked my world. My dad had a heart attack, and he was gone. And just like that, my entire life changed, and everything around me came to a screeching halt.
In the weeks and months that followed, I walked through what were the hardest days of my life. Mariana was such a kind and gentle guide for me during that time, in what was my first real experience with grief and death. She lovingly nudged me to come to the Tea table, to allow myself to be supported by Tea, to let Tea in.
There was so much resistance at first. After all, this is not at all the way I expected this journey to go. I knew I wasn't doing it "right", and the roots of perfectionism run deep.
Tea wasn't asking me to get it right, she wasn't expecting me to be perfect. All she was asking was for me to show up to the Tea table, and she could handle the rest.
Cultivating a Tea practice provided me with a space to bring my grief. In the depths of my sorrow, my anger, my rage, my tears, even on the days when I could barely get out of bed, when the weight of it all felt too heavy to carry — Tea was there: when I needed a deeper level of support than any human could reasonably offer, when I allowed myself to show up, Tea met me there, every single time. She showed me that I didn’t have to carry this weight all by myself and I didn’t have to walk through this journey alone.
There’s so much beauty in this practice, in coming back to my Tea table every day, in the consistency of this ritual, in the trust built here. In showing up, and Tea meeting me there. It seems so simple, and yet it’s so much more than I ever could have imagined.
I know my journey with Tea is uniquely my own. But I would say, if you’re in the thick of a grief process or navigating a difficult time in your life, if you’re feeling a desire for a deeper level of support, or if you’re just feeling called by Tea —
trust it, trust her.
Lean into the unseen and surrender to what you can’t yet know. Allow yourself to be loved and held by her - you deserve this level of care and support. Tea is here for you, if you allow yourself to show up with an open heart and receive her medicine.”
– Jess Cummings, @choosing.jess
“Tea is weaving into my being.”
“I was seeking a practice, ritual or modality that would deepen my relationship with self, my relationship with stillness & my relationship with Earth. This little thread of Tea & Tea spirit is weaving into the fabric of my being.”
– Sydney Badik, @sydbad_
“All I need to do is be open.”
“Tea can hold me through the joyous parts of life and through my deepest grief. She knows what I need and all I need to do is be open to receiving her medicine. What I love most about SYOTP is not just the ritual that you’re learning, but also the wisdom that comes through Mariana. She is the guide to bring Tea into your life.”
– Kate Nathan, @katelouisenathan
“I received so much more than I thought I would.”
“For me, SYOTP was more than just exploring Tea. Mariana really provides a space of deep contemplation for how we connect with ourselves, with others & with the natural world around us. I ended up receiving so much more than I thought I would from this journey. I really went in just wanting to develop my own Tea practice, but there was SO MUCH more than that that has spilled into so many parts of my life. My journey has just begun.”
– Nikiita Jackson, @naturally.nikii