Sensei

It is said that a real Sensei appears when the student is ready. I don’t know if I was ready, but he appeared. It was a long time ago, and I had been practicing Judo for many years, but felt that something or someone was not there. One day I met that someone. I found myself literally flying, and there was the someone, my Sensei, who had just executed a perfect technique.

I don’t know what made the difference between him and other teachers I had since I was a child, but there certainly was one. Maybe because he was Judo in every aspect of his life. He pushed me to go beyond my imagination and reach my potential through practical experience. “Don’t think, feel” he use to say. “If you are tired go on and maybe it is just the beginning of your real practice”. Winter or summer, it does not matter, early in the morning or in the night, you always have to be aware. “Destroy the illusion” became a realistic principle. Every movement is here and now, not yesterday or tomorrow.

When he died I felt sorrow, but my heart said “thank you” to my old Sensei. Sometimes we wait for the formal teacher, we imagine it has to be a superhero without defects, and just next to us is the Sensei. Be aware that anyone can teach you, but don’t lose the opportunity when you find the one that awakens you. Anyone can use the clothes or look like a professor, but the Sensei is a touch of magic and brings a soft wind of wisdom that you will never forget.