Incense and the Art of Fume

I am preparing for my travel to Japan and I lit an incense tonight. As I was looking at the swirling motion of the fume coming out of it, I was inspired by its beauty to write a blog post and share some pictures with you. So I made this collage. The smoke makes such beautiful patterns that I want later on to reproduce in some of the vitreous enamel jewelry and art that I have been making. I will post about those too, soon. I created some jewelry and paintings that I will bring to me to Japan as gifts to special people I meet there. The themes I am using are from Hungarian folk art, so this way I will be able to share some of the Hungarian culture and the background I am coming from.

Martial Arts in the West

Source: http://benotdefeatedbytherain.blogspot.com/

Recently, a good friend of mine has shared with me an article written by Ellis Amdur about martial arts in the west: Koryu Meets the West. The article provoked a set of different reactions in me. When I started I was like...allright...another long elaboration on martial arts...let's see...huh? wait...he is making a point...oh! interesting! oh, he is so honest, oh! he is funny. Hahhaaaa laughing loud. Then a serious tone, touching words and an even more touching way of wrapping up the article. I have not read such a colorful and good article in a long time. Maybe this first read entertained me, but in the same time there are a lot of things I took away from his text.

Source: http://www.koryu.com/

Teeth

Source: http://dentalish.com/

On this blog talk a lot about the beauty of the skin, hair, etc. In this post I would like to talk a little bit about the importance of keeping your teeth healthy. At first sight it might sound trivial. Of course you brush your teeth daily, more times a day. I also thought that it was enough and fine. But sometimes this is not enough. In my case, the dentist advised me that I should change my routine to the following steps:

• Brush
• Floss
• Mouthwash

Brushing should be not the usual two seconds, I know we all do it to be over it, but the more thorough and focused brushing. Make sure to reach all teeth. The flossing is important for me because there is little space between my teeth where remaining food can get stuck. The mouth water in the last step not only prevents bad breath but also offers a longer protection to the cavity and gums.

So keep on smiling, beauties!

How I Quit my Job to go to Japan

Hi Everyone!

I have some happy news to share with you. I have been planning for a long time to go to Japan to study more in depth about budo. For a long time it seemed like a wild dream, but when I have made the final decision to pursue my goal and talked to the right people, things started working out. Everyone has been really helpful around me. Old teachers whom I have not talked to for more then 5 years helped me with recommendation letters. Even my boss at work wrote a nice recommendation letter so I can apply for a scholarship. So I got accepted to Tsukuba University and will study about budo and practice aikido there. I am really happy right now, and hope that things will continue to work out just right. I have about one more week at my workplace and then I am free to prepare for the trip. Will be flying to Japan in mid September. Stay tuned for more awesome stories! I will keep active on my blog and share my experiences.

Military History of Japan - The Origin of the Japanese

Hello Dear Readers! 

As you might know, after the Warrior's Path Course that I started taking end of last year, I took up another course called The Military History of Japan. This time the only presenter was Szabó Balázs and we covered a lot of topics from Japanese warfare. The course started with talking about the origins of the Japanese, which caught my interest so I started researching a bit by myself. Then I thought why not put together a presentation with the information I have gathered and share with everyone. So I turned it into a prezi! The prezi is now here for you to watch. Enjoy and let me know in a comment what you think and whether you found it useful!

Blogger Friends - Fashionable Finance: The Costs of Trending

Hi Blogger Friends!

I have been mentioning on my blog that I love cooperating with other bloggers and having guest posts. Ella Moss, a blogger friend found me an asked me to share some thoughts about her article. So for those of you who are interested in the financial aspects of fashion industry, I would like to invite you to read her article. I find it is a well documented and neatly structured review of the financial mechanisms behind the fashion industry. She covers topics related to promotion, research and creating, on stage and revivals and wraps up the article with the controversy around cheap fashion. I invite you to read her article more in depth and share your opinions about it here or on the website where she has posted it.

Excerpt from Fashionable Finance: The Costs of Trending by Ella Moss

Fashion enjoys a vast world of inventiveness and diversity, exploring new trends and redefining identities, but this creativity doesn't come cheap! We investigate the cost of keeping on trend.

Fashion has a deeply integrated relationship with commerce and capital and have introduced new spheres of ingenuity through marketing and setting cultural trends.

This compels not only designers but schools of PR teams to establish the latest brand on the wave of a social shift in style.

But what about the cost of these new waves and revivals, and how do they impact on the greater public?

Read more...

Also I would like to remind you that if you are a blogger, a martial artist wishing to share an article about their dojo or a female aikidoka who would like to share her thoughts on how it is to be a woman in aikido feel free to contact me any time.

Presenting Aikido Dojos - Aikido Circle Budapest

Hi Everyone!

If you are a foreigner living in Budapest, you might have difficulty in finding a dojo where the teaching goes on in English. So here is one dojo where the instructor Keni Lynch is holding the training in English. He has contacted me a while ago and I am planning to make an interview some time soon with his wife for the Women in Aikido section of my blog. Her name is Marti Balla, I already talked to her on phone, she is a lovely person, so stay tuned for that. Until then, there is a great offer out here for you!

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Aikido Classes in English. Sign up anytime before the 16th of June and get one month training for a 75% discount.  Send us a text message or call us to secure your place.  Only a few cards left, so be quick!

Contact:

Marti:

Tel: +36 202 77 0761

or 

Keni:

Tel: +36 202 77 0950

E-mail: kenilynch@gmail.com