Ellie was introduced to tea while living in the forests of the Pacific Ocean over 10 years ago, and has been steeping ever since. Ellie drinks tea everyday with his family, alone, with friends or with strangers. His tea practice is a contemporary, coastal California, forest magic adaptation of Gung-Fu style tea. He understands the practice of drinking tea as a way to listen, be still, and be in dialogue with the environment. Tea is an improvisation, tea is a moment together, tea is happening. As well as this practice, Ellie has spent the last 14 years researching somatic movement and dance practices such as Body-Mind Centering, and teaches classes in embodiment and Contact Improvisation. Out of the dance studio he tends native plant ecosystems and connects to place through processing plants and palpating their seasonal stories into medicine and food.