Merging

At camp here, an Okinawan/Kyushu karate teacher is the special guest instructor. He was asked to come because his art uses similar principles to Aikido principles to make it effective.
Today I went to my third class with him. We've been doing what are sometimes called 'ki exercises.' These kinds of exercises are not a part of the regular training that I do. They are something of a practice to control your focus, attention, and own sense of quiet confidence. I can't define it exactly.

At one point, the teacher, Ushiro Sensei, mentioned that one of his students also plays the violin. He explained how the basis for a very fundamental technique is very similar to raising an imaginary violin to one's shoulder, while drawing the bow with the other hand. Of course, this was easy for me because I've played violin for a long time but actually doing the technique in this way looked exactly like something else that inspired me when I was a child.
Ha ha, it was only after I purchased my own copy of the Karate Kid that I realized how much the movie had influenced me when I was a child. I was six when it came out. It was possibly my first introduction to the martial arts, and probably when my curiousity started. I was captivated by the story and believed in the transformations of the characters. Today, the raising the violin and pulling the bow looked so much like 'wax-on wax-off' from that movie, but it was real and I understood it.

When I pulled the imaginary bow across the imaginary strings today, I felt the connection between my musical art and the martial arts. I've been looking for this for a long time.

By the way, I forgot to mention that my birthday was on Monday. It was good to be around friends, although I feel strange that I didn't get to talk to some of my family members, including my dad.

Looking forward to next week when I will stay with a wonderful friend.
Really liking where I am now too.

Camp will last until Sunday afternoon.