Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shia hangs her head. "You don't need me moping around in here and there are people out there that you know that were near and dear to me. I'd rather not see how they look now... let me remember them as they were... please."

Ari jumps up and runs to her side. "Shia, don't cry."

"I... am... not... crying...." says Shia firmly, scrubbing at her face. "Something was in my eye. Now.. about those meditation lessons... why aren't they working?"

Ari sees the look on her face and staggers back to her chair, feeling very d own and depressed. "I... I don't know... it worked yesterday..."

Shia sits down and begins to tap her chin with her finger tip, thinking. "Ari... what were you thinking of yesterday when you began to catch on?"

The smaller red head shrugs. "Kero was singing about centering and that's the word Daddy uses when he teaches how to defend ourselves."

Shia nods. "I've not heard the song before, but I understand the method. I also know what your Daddy was reaching for, though his is far harder to reach for unless... have you attained it before? That sensation of body and mind in harmony? What sort of drills does he put you through?

Ari smiles shyly at her. "He had to adapt them for us. Mara and I were just cubs, walking on four, rather than two like him... but he used to call it the Salute to the Sun... or something like that... They were very slow and hard to hold, but fun to do."

"But he used a long stick, didn't he?" says Shia grinning back. "And he repeated it three time, twice slow and once really fast... the fast time in between the other two?"

Ari nods again. "Uhuh... we had to join him on the last one... He always did the first two alone."

Ari gives him a funny look. "I thought I did... yesterday... but maybe I didn't. I remember thinking about it, trying it and something snapped... But I couldn't seem to do it today. Your singing kept drawing me away."

"Maybe you should have Daddy show you the moves he makes..." says Ari hopefully. "And I don't know if I can do them all on two feet... I'm more used to being on four."

Shia laughs. "Whoa... hold on you two... It's a good method for finding your center, but not so good for going inward... you'd fall flat on your nose..."

"But..." begins Ari worriedly.

"Like I said, not a good method for what we need to achieve, but if you know the feeling of being one, within and without... then we have a point of reference. Right Uncle Kero?"

Shia nods. "But isn't that her center? That place within her where the body and spirit are in harmony? You just want her to reach it from a different route. I say she knows the goal, it's the methodology that is messing around with her head. Ari, what sounds or sensations does your Daddy use to concentrate?"

Ari scratches her head. "I'm not sure I understand."

Shia sighs. "Ok... in our dojo back home Da used a special incense. He burned it only there and we did our meditations in the dojo garden, near a waterfall... so, when I wish to meditate now... I need only to remember the scent of Da's dojo and the sound of the water and I'm halfway there already. What things are consistantly there when your Daddy was training with you and your sister?"

Ari giggles. "Training sounds so... so importantl... ummm. Well there is this wind chime. It only has three notes and we always did it on this really warm flat rock... Mara and I like to sun ourselves there it's so comfy... and you can smell Mama's flowers. She always had something blooming, no matter the season... or so Daddy said. Mama was asleep most of the time I was little. It made Daddy really sad, so Mara and I tried really hard to be good and make him smile"

She stares at him. "But I... I... I guess I could try to think of them. Feeling and smelling and hearing would be better though. I'm not very good at imagining things ike that."

Shia giggles, a sound Kero has heard for a long time. "I wasn't good at it either, but I'm better now. Practice makes perfect or that's what my Da used to say..."

"Granpapa still says that..." giggles Ari in return, then she grows silent as Shia's smile fades. "Shia, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to make you sad."