Listening Lounge & Tea

The rain is starting early tonight, and the full moon barely visible through the clouds shines its white, yellow light through the dark gray layers in the sky. Pedestrians and bikers rush home through the downpour of a neighborhood lined with cherry blossom trees, and as the neon lights of the neighborhood glimmer in the spaces between raindrops so too do the blossoms shimmer on the sidewalk. Their soft pink and white flowers create their own kind of rain as they fall to the ground outside of Nostalgia Listening Bar. Let's escape the weather for the warm world of Nostalgia by starting with a short wind down exercise. Tonight's exercise is a really simple breathing exercise. So when you're ready, let's begin. So first, get yourself comfortable. Now just bringing the attention to the breath, just noticing where you feel it, in the nose, the throat, the chest, the diaphragm. You are nice and relaxed. We're going to be taking a deep breath in for four, holding it for four, and then breathing out for six. So are you ready? Let's begin in for four, two, three, four. Hold it for four, two, three, four. Now breathing out for six, two, three, four, five, six. In for four, two, three, four. Holding for four, two, three, four. Out for six, two, three, four, five, six. In for four, two, three, four. Holding for four, two, three, four. Out for six, two, three, four, five, six. In for four, two, three, four. Holding for four, two, three, four. Out for six, two, three, four, five, six. Great, now returning the breath to normal. At the bar, best friends Ita and Rocco sit in silence, nodding to the dynamic baseline of the record at the same time. They share a pot of tea that reminds them of the day they met all those years ago at this very spot. Sitting alone in two adjacent booths, writing poetry about their lives in small leather-bound notebooks. Once in a while, they would sneak a glance at each other before sipping the same chamomile tea. Until one of them raised their mug in the air to cheers the other. And with the music between them, they wordlessly celebrated the chance of meeting someone else that valued solitude and nostalgia's charm. From that day forward, Ita and Rocco met once a month over a pot of tea to sit side-by-side, write, and listen, speaking the poems they wrote out loud only after they closed the wooden door of the bar for the night. This was their tradition. The booths were designed for comfort, an invitation for the listeners to stay a while, and one regular patron in particular is taking full advantage of the atmosphere. Sitting at a booth alone, Yuki closes his eyes and leans back against the plush fabric. Relaxing in his khaki chinos and high collared jacket, he feels grateful to have caught only a little of the rain on his way home...