Unless something major happens, life in Jakarta never pauses on its own. Slowing down must be a deliberate and conscious choice.
Across the city, a growing number of activities now present us with an opportunity to be more mindful, offering a moment’s pause from the rush and rhythm of the everyday. From peaceful workshops to spacious gardens, these curated activities are ways you can gear down and return to a more natural rhythm – even if it’s just for a couple of hours.
The Peaceful Pace of Pottery
Pottery asks you to slow your hands before it slows your thoughts. The wheel spins, the clay pushes back, and suddenly the rush of Jakarta seems to slip into the background. With mind and body busy, pottery is an opportunity to keep the phone in the bag and focus at the task at hand.
Founded by sisters Josephine ‘Vina’ Tjandra and Gabriela in 2020, Tanakita’s two ceramic studios – one in Grogol, West Jakarta, and the other in Kemang – sit quietly away from the city’s usual buzz, with classes welcome curious beginners and returning regulars alike. You might start with handbuilding, shaping clay with nothing more than your palms and your attention. Cups, plates, small creatures, whatever the moment wants to become. Or perhaps you step up to the wheel, learning how to centre clay and coax it upward, steadying your mind as well as the spinning clay before you.
Pottery invites you back, whether to finish your pieces or to take on another mindful activity of painting your fired piece for its final vibrant glaze. Either activity is unhurried and at your own pace. Those wanting a deeper practice can join a four-week course, choosing between handbuilding techniques like pinching, coiling and slab work, or the more technically driven wheel-throwing track, where trimming, weight, pressure and feel demand a calmer kind of concentration. It’s slow learning by design.
@tanakitaceramics | tanakitaceramics.com
Embracing the Jamu Lifestyle
“Whilst you may know the ingredients to a jamu, knowing how to prepare them is key,” says Nova Dewi, founder of Suwe Ora Jamu. The process is patient and peaceful, as the preparation is very much a part of what she calls the ‘jamu lifestyle’.
Through the jamu-making workshops by Cerita Jamu (under Suwe Ora Jamu), you’re invited to embrace the natural rhythm of old Java, where the step-by-step processes allow all the senses to slow down and wake up. Gently slicing ginger until its scent rises, slowly grounding turmeric down to a paste with a pestle, measuring each movement by hand and eye rather than time on the clock. This slower rhythm becomes accessible to anyone in Jakarta looking for a brief pause.
The workshops are shaped by the personal history of Nova herself, who grew up with jamu as part of daily life. Her grandmother practised kejawen, Javanese spiritual wisdom that treats nature’s offerings as guides as much as remedies. When Nova moved from Surabaya to Jakarta, she felt the absence of wedangan culture, the quiet communal tradition of gathering over warm herbal drinks that once thrived across Java. Making jamu became her way of rebuilding that sense of grounding, and the workshops grew from that same need to restore a slower form of care.
One will find their jamu workshops available across a range of venues in Jakarta, from MBloc Space to Menteng Huis – though we recommend Suwe Ora Jamu’s own café at Komunitas Salihara Arts Center in South Jakarta. You’ll be taught how to make a range of jamu concoctions from scratch, from ingredient to glass, learning recipes of favourite traditional remedies, including: kunyit asam, wedang jahe, and beras kencur, as well as their beneficial properties. Whilst you’ll take home your own bottles of jamu, the real takeaway is the moment you’ve taken to embrace the slower ‘jamu lifestyle’.
Private groups or larger bookings are available through Cerita Jamu, part of Suwe Ora Jamu – online classes are also available.
Getting Grounded
There’s no better way to get into a natural rhythm than by working with nature herself. At Barnyard Jakarta, you’re invited to roll up your sleeves and get elbows deep in the soil through their organic farming workshop.
Preserving Kemang’s reputation as one of Jakarta’s idyllic, leafy neighbourhoods, Barnyard brings the charms of the countryside into the city featuring an organic farm, farm-to-table restaurant and curated lifestyle experiences. It is a much-welcomed oasis in South Jakarta, where nature and open space are in abundance.
More than just an ‘atmosphere’, the verdant environment at Barnyard isn’t just for show, it’s a working organic farm that not only supplies the on-site restaurant, NOB, but also offers an opportunity to learn the basics of farming through their ‘Farm Fieldtrip & Workshop’ programme. The workshop focuses on urban farming essentials, where you’ll get your hands dirty with natural plant cultivation & care, and harvest fresh organic vegetables straight from the soil. There’s certainly no better way to get grounded! The workshop also includes some take-home souvenirs including the day’s harvest and a starter farming kit, with a baby plant and gardening set. It’s the ultimate crash course to getting your ‘green thumb’.
As mentioned, surrounding the Barnyard farm are other ‘slow’ experiences that complement the overall atmosphere at this Kemang destination, including: Baleton Flowerchef, offering floral arrangement classes; The Body Project pilates studio; ARC Recovery Studio with sauna and ice baths; Tanakita Ceramics, for hands-on pottery workshops; and Atelier Rasa, a place for those who want to learn more about Indonesian culinary culture and hone their cooking skills.
Barnyard offers a pocket of countryside calm where you can step back from the noise and reconnect with what’s real. This farm opens daily from 8am to 8.30pm.
+62 812 83431465 (WA) | @barnyard.jkt
Taking Time for Tea
In Asian tradition, tea is more than a drink. The serving of tea is a discipline, be it as a symbol of respect to elders, as it is with jingcha, Chinese tea ceremonies; or as a structured, aesthetic practice as seen in chanoyu, the Japanese tea-serving culture. As such, tea rituals are moments of mindfulness, etiquette and deliberate gesture, which is precisely what is explored in the special tea experiences offered by CHONTEA & Co.
In Plaza Senayan’s dedicated Japanese dining alley, Yashinoki Yokocho, one will find CHONTEA & Co’s peaceful tea salon where the art, flavour and atmosphere of traditional tea preparation are all celebrated. Enticing Jakarta residents to ‘slow down’ is in fact one of the selling points of this serene tea retreat, inviting guests to experience the patient processes of preparing (and sipping) each drink. Their tasting experiences are rooted in the Japanese philosophy of “Ichi-go Ichi-e”, which means “one lifetime, one meeting.” In practice this means treasuring every fleeting moment by being mindful and deliberate.
Explore a range of omakase-style journeys of tea, matcha and coffee, depending on your preference. ‘The Floating Leaf’ is a tasting experience of unique Japanese teas, highlighting a contrast of flavours and textures, from the ‘shisho wakoucha’ known for its soft grape-like aroma, to the cold brewed ‘kamairicha’, with its light citrus and mineral notes, then onto deep roasted teas of regional tradition. For matcha-enthusiasts, ‘Beyond the Whisk’ is a hands-on workshop that introduces the fundamentals of matcha preparation, etiquette and appreciation – tasting raw tencha, to experimenting with preparations. For the ultimate slowing down, ‘A Refined Tasting of Sencha, Kabusecha, or Gyokuro’ is a tasting journey of brewing methods, from ice-water extraction to orthodox hot infusions, revealing how aroma, umami, and structure change with technique. An immersive hōjicha journey (for those sensitive to caffeine) and a coffee journey (Kōhi no Michi) are also available.
In a modern culture where quick coffees are bought-to-go, CHONTEA & Co brings the ancient art of tea rituals into a contemporary setting, where it is needed most. Through slow preparations, conscious consumption and appreciation, time is deliberately softened through their guided matcha and tea ceremonies.
