Chinese Calligraphy & Tea at Ely Museum

GATHERING SERIES: MILD SUMMER · 小暑

🖌 When the heart is still, coolness comes naturally.

Ely · Sat 11 July 2026 · Ely Museum · 10:30–12:30

Two hours · Small group · £40

There is a teaching in Chinese medicine that belongs to midsummer:

心靜自然涼 — when the heart is still, coolness comes naturally.

Not air conditioning. Not ice. Stillness.

小暑 — Mild Summer — is the solar term of early July. The warmest weeks of the year. The season when the temptation to rush, fill, produce reaches its peak.

And the ancient invitation is the opposite: slow the hand. Quiet the mind. Find the cool at the centre of the heat.

This gathering is for that practice. Two hours of brush, ink and rice paper. The most meditative art tradition in Chinese culture — not to produce beautiful calligraphy, but to discover what happens in the body when the hand moves slowly and deliberately across a page.

Two hours designed around how the nervous system actually settles. Not through information. Through the senses.

🖌 CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY: Slowing the Hand to Still the Mind

Chinese calligraphy (書法) is one of China's most revered art forms — not because of the finished characters, but because of the quality of presence required to make them.

Each stroke demands complete arrival. The brush doesn't forgive rushing. It responds to exactly the pressure, speed and attention you bring.

We'll begin with the simplest, most beautiful characters — noticing how the rhythm of the brush begins to slow the breath and settle the nervous system.

Presence over performance. Attention over outcome.

🍵 The Art of Arriving: A Ceremony of Tea

The Arrival Pour: Cold-Brew Tieguanyin (冷泡鐵觀音) Premium Tieguanyin steeped overnight in cold water — no heat, no bitterness, pure orchid-floral coolness. Served chilled in small cups as you arrive. The coolness on a July morning is itself the teaching — this is what 心靜自然涼 feels like before the brush has even touched the paper.

The Main Ceremony: Genmaicha (玄米茶) Roasted green tea with brown rice — nutty, toasty, deeply grounding. Low caffeine so your hands stay steady. The roasted rice warms the Spleen and settles the body into stillness. Served warm — the contrast between the cool arrival and the warm ceremony creates a gentle somatic shift: arriving cool, settling into warmth, finding your centre.

Cold then warm. Cooling then rooted. The body knows.

You'll Leave With

An experience of what it feels like to slow your hand enough for your mind to follow

A simple calligraphy practice you can recreate at home with any brush, any paper, any surface

THIS GATHERING IS FOR YOU IF

You feel the pull of slowing down and want a practice that actually makes that possible

You've always been curious about Chinese calligraphy and never found the right moment

You want to experience what 心靜自然涼 feels like in your body — not as a concept, but as a felt sense

No calligraphy experience needed. No artistic ability required. Just a willingness to let the brush be slow.

PRACTICAL DETAILS

Small group — maximum 10 women · All materials and premium tea included Ely Museum, CB7 4LS · Saturday 11 July 10:30–12:30

Tickets SpringEly Returns £35 · Standard £40

Everything included: brushes, ink, rice paper · cold-brew Tieguanyin arrival · Genmaicha ceremony · Somatic Tracking Cards 

Your Facilitator

Pauline grew up in Hong Kong learning food as medicine from her Po Po (grandmother) — ginger tea before symptoms appeared, soups for prevention. When eczema taught her to listen to her body's messages, she rediscovered what her culture always knew: the body speaks clearly when we're willing to hear.

Now an ICF Level 2 Body-Oriented Coach (The Somatic School, UK), trained in Polyvagal Theory and nervous system regulation, she bridges East Asian ancestral practices with modern body science — helping women find their way back to themselves, one slow morning at a time. 2,000+ coaching hours, including 500+ with neurodivergent professionals in workplace settings.

Kind Words

"The energy was perfect — calm, warm, and welcoming." — Charlene

"I really enjoyed the tea ceremonies and was amazed about how relaxed I felt afterwards." - Denise

"I left feeling centred and inspired."- Natalie