“You will feel a tingling sensation
in your hands and arms from
effectively conducting this exercise.
This is the kinetic energy built up
from the force and momentum of the
motions used.

Take your hands and rub them
all over your face, drawing that energy
back into your body.
Do not hold babies or small animals
when doing this on your own
until you have completed all steps.

This is chi. This is extremely important
in your development as a martial artist.
Please allow me to demonstrate.”

He then threw a simple punch
but you felt the exertion of his movement
in the air and
through the floor.

That was power.

Such a calm man
but he was a dragon.
He knew things. When Master spoke
you wanted to listen.

I left his teachings when I picked up the bottle
but I still practice those movements
as a pale, diminutive shadow of what I once was.

Sometimes I can still feel that tingling sensation arise
in my fingertips and up my arms
like a long lost friend from a
far away place.

The power has never left me.
It just lies deep inside
waiting
as it does in all of us.