Hello, my name is Don Boivin and I want to share my love of writing fiction stories, plus my love of graphical arts... I have been doing this most of my life and like martial arts, this website is to share my creativity of things i love to do.

 I will be showing some of my artwork, stories and poems for you to enjoy. I also will list my martial arts store and my graphical arts store below, for people that want to buy some of my products. I will also have a link for my paperback books and e-books, that are also for sale. This page will grow as I add new items to all the ideas I come up with in this the Storytellers Realm... Have a great day!

The Rising Sun

 The morning sun had just begun to rise and the air filled with a cool freshness. The neighborhood karate teacher, owner of the Golden Dragon Dojo just opened the front doors and bowed out of respect for his place of training. As he turned the lights on and removed his shoes, the smell of sweat from the worn gym mats filled the air from the karate classes the night before.

 The teacher centered himself in the middle of the cedar wall Dojo, bowing to the flags of the different cultures that were studied there and then bowing to his Instructor’s picture that was hanging up front between the swords of honor. The bowing was a morning ritual that always ignited an excitement that coursed through his body just before he began his exercises.

 He then kneeled down and set in his meditative position on the floor, placing his hands down on his legs with his palms facing upward and his thumbs together forming a circle. Closing his eyes, he was directing the excitement that was running through his body and channeling it with his breathing. Drawing air in through his nose and slowly exhaling out of his mouth, emptying his mind to any outside thoughts that would interfere with his training.

 He put himself in a place that the mind, body and spirit can start to connect and hard training can help him towards ki. Ki, in training or in life, is the blending of mind, body and spirit.  These three elements working together as one help to achieve enlightenment. His center point of power is two inches below the naval and the calmness of the mind and body interlaced with his spirit in the mediation training. Even though there was a calmness about him, the power of the elements were about to emerge from within him for his training.

 The teacher clapped his hands together and opened his eyes ready to start his stretching exercises. He starting stretching with his head position and worked straight through stretching muscles the full length of his body. With each movement blending into the next movement, like a river flowing down the same path day after day, his heart rate picked up and warmed the body even more.

 After going through his warming up exercises, his energy level rose to a certain peak, he stopped and then bowed.  Controlling his breathing while walking around the Dojo, the teacher circled back to the center of the room and bowed again. Snapping into a ready stance with his eyes looking straight out in front of him, his energy level flowed with the power of a Tiger.

 His basic actions of blocking, punching and kicking, ignited the air around him with the furiously precise movements of his ki that flowed through him. Because of his ranking, this took some time with the variety of basic actions he knew. Performing each movement with the skill of a doctor performing surgery, each individual movement was cutting the air with grace and power. Sweat began to flow with each movement, as he journeyed through his basic actions like a warrior on a quest. Suddenly stopping and coming back to his ready stance that he started with and bowing at the end.

 Circling around the room again catching his breath and letting his energy level build back up to a certain readiness, he centered himself again and slowly bowed. Suddenly snapping back into a ready stance, his eyes stared straight out in front of him. This time going through katas, that are preformed movements resembling fighting a variety of would be attackers.

 The teacher’s eyes scanned from one side of the Dojo to the other side and without warning turned into his first kata with a loud yell that echoed through the Dojo. Defending and attacking with the spirit of the Tiger, performing each movement again with precision, he was flowing through each attacker with the power and speed of pure concentration. Going from one kata into another and yelling that kiap sound of power at different times through out the katas, he ended his dance of death with a bow.

 Again, circling the Dojo to bring his breathing back in control and to let his energy level build, his mind was concentrating on the last workout for the morning and that was sword training.

 Picking up his sword and bringing it to the center of the Dojo. The teacher placed it out in front of him as he was kneeling to the floor; he bowed and picked the sword up tying it to his side. Looking up and centering his eyes out in front of him, he placed his hands on his legs while still in the kneeling position. Even though the morning workout was very strenuous up to this point, the energy again raised to a level that flow through him, but with the control of a Master. Slowly taking his left hand and sliding the sword from its sheath about half an inch, the teacher stopped for a second. Suddenly the right hand drawing the sword joined by the left hand, performing cutting movements that sliced through the air with such speed and power that the sight of the sword was just a blur in movement. Sweat again flowed with each movement that went from stance to stance until his different sword katas were exhausted and he kneeled back down to the floor. He untied the sword from his side placing it back out in front of him and bowing.

 Standing up, the teacher took the sword back to its stand, returning to the center of the floor for the last time and kneeled down to meditate. He closed his eyes and relaxed his breathing, this time focusing on the things he did in practice. The power within his body calmed to a point of peace and fulfillment. After a time of silence, he opened his eyes, stood up, and bowed to the flags, then to his Instructor’s picture.

 Walking over to use a towel that was hanging on the back of a chair, the teacher wiped the sweat of a hard workout from his brow. He put his shoes on and turned off the lights of the Dojo, standing in front of the doors, he bowed deeply for his place of training. Walking outside and locking the doors behind him, he took a deep breath, smelling the fresh air of another beautiful day. As the teacher was walking away, he felt good about completing his practice of the morning that started with the rising sun.

The End

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