My teacher, Robert Nadeau Shihan, told me over the summer that I should watch for any O-Sensei dreams. I didn’t have one until very recently. It was short, but kind of cool. O-Sensei and Einstein were hanging out (I know, it sounds like the beginning of a joke), talking and laughing like kindred spirits. Einstein suddenly turns to O-Sensei and asks, “Really, what is one plus one anyway?” O-Sensei’s eyes light up and with a big smile on his face says, “You decide.” They both got a little chuckle out of it in a way that indicated agreement. That was as much as I could remember, but enough to spark some thought on O-Sensei’s process, especially in regards to alchemy, which he referred to. I have frequent experiences in freestyle when everything slows down and things just happen seamlessly—so seamless it’s like it’s not even me doing it, but rather me seeing it happen. It’s a wonderful feeling. Alchemy? Maybe. I don’t know. I do know, though, that there is harmony, and if it was alchemy then harmony is the path to it. Practice harmony. You don’t need to be doing freestyle to do that. Practice harmony whether you’re uke or nage. Practice harmony whether you’re doing basic ikkyo, or randori. Practice harmony.