Day one

Hi all and good day.

It is now time for another update as today marks our first milestone in our Uchideshi journey. It is our first official day as "live-in" students. As we embark on this journey, we remind ourselves of our past and glance into our future. We remember our old memories of before and look forward to our memories to come. It is our honor as a couple to be able to be a part of this program and we feel fortunate to be training under our Sensei, Bernice Tom. Sensei Tom has been dojo cho at sunset cliffs dojo since 1990 and was a direct student of Morihiro Saito Sensei, a direct student and friend of "O'Sensei" Morihei Ueshiba, Aikido's founder.

"The Japanese word Aikido consists of three characters which can be translated as "the way of unity with the fundamental force of the universe."

We will be beginning this journey as we both work normal jobs and attempt to juggle other projects in the middle, such as this blog. We will both be very busy in the next coming months and apologize in advance if you notice a lack of communication. I will do my best to update this blog every other day or so and hope you will follow us. We will officially begin our daily practices tomorrow afternoon and in which will continue daily for as long as we stay. Our daily commitment to this regimen will ultimately bring us closer together as a couple as well as make us stronger individuals with proven discipline and compassion.

"...I felt the universe suddenly quake, and that a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled my body, and changed my body into a golden one. At the same time my body became light. I was able to understand the whispering of the birds, and was clearly aware of the mind of God, the creator of the universe.
At that moment I was enlightened: the source of budo is God's love - the spirit of loving protection for all beings... Budo is not the felling of an opponent by force; nor is it a tool to lead the world to destruction with arms. True Budo is to accept the spirit of the universe, keep the peace of the world, correctly produce, protect and cultivate all beings in nature."

In a time of economic turmoil and despair,
a faulting greed will collapse the air,
we must rise against the glare,
and a pure soul we must share,
for fighting is not the key,
refrain from violence we should be,
to come together as a whole,
while we must take seperate roads,
its not evil we should know
but rather love that we should grow.

Thank you for reading.