The Tsunami of Chi ...

In my morning yoga practice the style of practice in chi free-sparring or "push hands" arose. Many students start with a relaxed and soft technique but when they think they have an advantage, they push with an aggressive thrust, hoping to dislodge their partner.

Instead, one should think of the force of the tsunami. It is generated by a massive shift in the earth's crust and the resultant force travels at great speed, but unseen through the deep ocean until it reaches shallow waters where the energy is compressed and suddenly a massive wave is generated which crashes down onto the shore with destructive force and is just as suddenly dissipated.

Animals like monkeys and birds feel the shift in the atmosphere before the arrival of the tsunami and quickly move to higher ground, out of reach of the water.

The same principle applies in free-sparring; the master intuitively perceives a shift arising in his partner's chi and is ahead of him in, like the monkeys and birds, ready to sway out of the path of the sudden thrust, and assisting the partner in unbalancing him with the gentlest of pushes.

In push-hands practice one should hold the image of the tsunami drawing up energy from the earth and travelling unseen for thousands of miles, effortlessly lifting the heaviest of ships and only as an absolute last resort bringing the energy crashing down.