Ma*: In the Water, I Learned to Listen
I learned early in life how to be in the water. When I was six years old, my mother enrolled my siblings and me in swimming lessons after my brother nearly drowned in a pool in Thailand. What began as a protective act by my mother became a path that shaped me as a young…
Keep readingMa: The space that holds and heals us
In Japanese philosophy, there is a concept called Ma. It is often described as the space between—the pause between notes, the silence between words, the stillness that gives meaning to movement. It is not empty. It is alive, relational, and full of possibility. I have come to learn that our deepest work, our deepest healing…
Keep readingPlaying the Space Between: Ma on the Pickleball Court
I first learned about the Japanese philosophy of Ma from my taiko drumming teacher. The first time I watched a taiko performance, I found myself deeply moved at a vibrational level—the power of witnessing Asian women on stage taking up space, being loud in a way that wasn’t noise or chaos. What made it so…
Keep readingTapestry of Grief
It’s September 14th, 2006. I’m at my veterinarian’s office as the dreaded words come out of his mouth, “she may have cancer – cancer of the spleen.” I look at Shen, my 11-year-old collie/shepherd mix. She looks healthy, vibrant even. How could she possibly have cancer? Over the past month she has had occasional episodes of…
Keep readingWisdom, Dreams and Spirits
I am reading and writing more these days. And part of my reading has been returning to some of my old writings and journals. I found the following from January 4, 2023. Wisdom. I read the following from “The Web has no Weaver” right before I fell asleep last night: “Wisdom is not certainty or…
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Ahnung Way 