Daniel Chopping Ice

	"Pray." Mr. Miyagi put both his hands in front of him in the prayer position. There was something very familiar about it. Then Daniel understood. He knew what he had to do. He nodded at Mr. Miyagi, smiling.

	He stood in front of the blocks of ice. He put his hands in the prayer position, too. He had to return to the basic of life. He remembered how Mr. Miyagi had taught him to breathe. He breathed in and then out, raising his hands. He breathed in again, returning his hands to the prayer position. Then he breathed out, reaching in front of himself. Breathing in, he returned his hands. He performed the exercise again and a final time. By then he had focused all his attention on the ice.

	He really didn't see the people around him. He really didn't hear the noise of the crowd. He could no longer smell the smoky air or feel the heat in the room. The only thing he could see was the ice. The only other thing he was sure of in the whole world was that his hand could break through it.

	He raised his right hand in the air and breathed in. Breathing out, he slashed downward at the ice. Daniel heard the ice cracking before he saw it, and then he saw it before he felt it. He had cut all three cakes of ice in half! Nobody else had been able to do even one.

- The Karate Kid Part II (1986) Chapter 13