Itās been a beautiful, contemplative, lovely week on the Oregon and Northern California coastline. We even saw elk hanging out in a field:
Right on the coast has been some of our more uncomfortable camping-in-the-car nights. We just spent a few lovely days with a generous and hospitable friend in her house (A real house! With a bed!) and then immediately switched to camping in these pullouts on the freeway, usually packed in with several other vehicles with people doing the same. With no cell service, no shower, the trip started to drag.
But then, the sun would go down and reveal the most ethereal landscape that only we and the birds witnessed. The special, beautiful natural moments made up for the slightly uncomfortable driving and sleeping conditions.
One evening was completely overcast, but as we sat in our camp chairs on the beach behind our car, for a minute, no more, the setting sun glowed red underneath the cloud cover:
The tides also changed the landscape immensely. Low tide revealed wet rocks covered with mussels and more starfish than Iāve ever seen before:
Big, green anemones sat in shallow tide pools with seaweed, a few hermit crabs and some very elusive fish (?).
On this leg of our journey I returned to a writing project Iāve had on the back burner for a long time. Iāve been wanting to write about the intersection of martial arts and gender. I had an opportunity for some group feedback about my writing, and without thinking about it too much, I submitted a āfirst chapterā of my martial arts and gender story. The feedback I received felt familiar: I hadnāt explained what aikido is. Some scenes were irrelevant. Some parts were missing.
My initial defensive reaction kicked in. People just canāt understand aikido when I write about it, but that sounds like their problem. Arenāt they willing to be confused by a martial art theyāve never seen?
Then I got over it and re-read my excerpt, looking for my explanation of aikido so I could improve it. I didnāt find any explanation of aikido. I had written a few aikido scenes and that was it.
Oh. Now the feedback made sense. I hadnāt actually explained aikido. So no wonder everyone was confused.
I sat down in the library and wrote two or three paragraphs explaining what aikido is, keeping in mind an audience of people who have perhaps never heard of the martial art before.
Aikido is a modern Japanese martial art focusing on self-improvement, community, and self-defense, rather than tournaments. In an aikido demonstration, the first thing you might notice is that the black belts appear to wear skirtsāa traditional Japanese garment, wide pants with pleats, called a hakama. The second thing you might notice is people grabbing and throwing each other down or away, and the people being thrown rolling gracefully away.
Once you get past the weirdnessāpeople wearing skirts? Hauling each other around? Turning? Spinning? Rolling?āyou can start to see the more fundamental tenets of aikido practice.
We have four basic principles in the art of Kokikai Aikido (the specific style of aikido I practice):
Correct Posture
Keep One Point
Relax Progressively
Develop Your Positive Mind
ā¦and I continue from there.
It wasnāt too hard to write something with the goal of educating people about aikido. It was an unusual feeling to just sit down and write something I had been missing in my writing for years. Whether or not this is the best way to explain aikido, I donāt know yet, but I feel like this is something I can do now, but couldnāt do four years ago.
Iām a better writer than I used to be. I write quicker now, usually with a point to what Iām writing, not just meandering through memories and expecting the reader to deduce a point from it. Iām definitely still learning, but so rarely do I see such a direct contrast between my work from today and the similar work from a few years ago.
Itās an exciting feeling, that I can share more of what I always wanted to share!
If youāve enjoyed this issue of Amplify Respect, please, do me a favor - share this with a friend. If any part particularly resonated with you, copy a quote or take a screenshot and share it on social media. Iād love to get the word out.
Thanks so much for reading my newsletter. It means a lot to me.
Take care,
Rey
