Visualize to Actualize.

Small steps lead to leaps and bounds.

Shihan Roseberry used to say ‘do a little, but do it often,’ to which I might add to ponder it even more  than is physically put into practice.
Olympic Athletes spend A LOT of their time training, but A LOT more of that time is spent visualizing and pondering, which has been shown to have even greater Positive effect on performance.

As a beginning student of Okinawan Ti it is a bit of a change and many things elude me, but the more I delve into it and the more I visualize, the more I ponder things, the more the questions themselves become clear and I find myself on the right track (or the completely wrong track) when I present those questions to my seniors and my Teacher.
It is a bit of an odd sort of training as much of it is done remotely, but there is a great group in Washington from which I can gain experience, but, as I have learned a long time ago, my training is my own and only I can walk that path.

My roots in Karate do help, especially since I still train Karate, but ultimately those are incomplete, so it is new territory and the way has not exactly been tread by a vast majority.
Then again, I have never really been one to travel the beaten path and it has led me to some interesting places with interesting, fierce, and humble people.

This new aspect of my journey has taught me to also remember the little things, those often make the most difference, so I am spending much of my time on every minute detail, from training to visualizing to pondering.
Keeping in mind the context that is relevant, conflict, violence, and beyond that, calm. The questions form in their own time and, often, they are answered before they are even asked.

As I had many years ago when I began my training in Karate there is a feeling that I will ‘never get this,’ but knowing where I have been and where I am now, I know, with persistence, I might gain some little bit of understanding... Even should it take another thirty to forty years... That is life.