Hi Friends!
I've given this some thought and during May I'd like to celebrate Embrace The Moon's 25 years. On May 25th, 1995 I formally registered my business license as "Embrace The Moon School for Taijiquan and Qigong." I launched myself, full of intention, into the great unknown with no idea what would happen next! We can't have the in-person party I had planned on having, so everyday this month I’ll post a story and photo, from a significant time of that year, over the past 25 years. Please feel free to add a comment or story of your own as you read your own story within mine.
***
My first martial art was Judo, which I started when I was 20 living in Tucson, Arizona. With rare exception, I have been in a dojo most days since then. I studied there for 10 years, earning a black belt. I moved from Tucson and travelled a bit, landing in Portland, Oregon in 1988. I took up Aikido. On the advice of a psychic I also took up Qigong. I began Tai Chi a year later. I was still studying Aikido and doing yoga as well. I did my best to hold down my real estate career but all I really wanted to do was train. I was starting to teach a little and enjoyed it but there was not enough money to stop my other job.
My grandfather knew I had a feeling for Asia. One day he sent me a copy of the Omaha World Herald where there was an advertisement for a job in Japan. I applied and in 1992, off I went. When I lived there I studied Aikido and Iyengar Yoga but did not study Tai Chi or Qigong. After my job finished I travelled around Southeast Asia for a few months and decided to head back to the United States.
I moved to Seattle in October of 1993. I didn’t want to return to any other place I had lived; I wanted a fresh start. A friend lived here so I arrived with little money and no plans. I got an apartment in Belltown and a job at Macrina Bakery, then the beginning of Leslie Mackey’s journey – a small little bread and coffee place in Belltown. Within a few months I was getting bored and depressed and knew I had to do something with my life. I was 37 educated, travelled, but still had not quite found my way. I didn't really care for the real estate work, so had no intention of getting that fire lit again.
I quit the bakery and made arrangements to move out of Seattle and go back to Tucson. On my last day I was saying goodbye to some friends I made there when one, a nurse, said, “what are you going to do?” I replied, “I have no idea!” She said, “well, what did you used to do?” “I taught a little Tai Chi and Yoga in Portland, Oregon before I moved to Japan.” She paused and said, “Well, I know an anesthesiologist at Swedish Hospital’s Pain Clinic who is looking to start a Tai Chi class for his patients in chronic pain.”
I called Dr. Ric Taylor. We met and he hired me on the spot to teach an 8-week class at his clinic. It was a hit with the students. I basically made it up as I went, pulling from whatever I knew and my intuition of what might help. The students were primarily those with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, MS and Cancer. A couple were rehabbing from a stroke. They gave me a lot of feedback about what worked and what did not. Somehow it made the news too and before we knew it, we had a program.
This quilt was made for me by a mother-daughter team, master quilters. For the 8 weeks, they drove from Ocean Shores 2x a week for their classes. On the back it says, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” -LaoTzu