Qi ? the vital energy.
The word ?Qi?, or ?chi? is a word increasingly bandied around by all manner of people, but often without any understanding of its real meaning.
Defining Qi is extremely difficult - it is a concept entirely foreign to Western thought. Referred to in ancient China as Dragon's Breath, it cannot be seen or measured, but it is present in all things. It is both matter or energy (the Chinese don?t tend to differentiate between the 2 and it comprises and defines all life and all inanimate objects in the universe. Chi has been called ?vital energy? but it is much more than that.
The Chinese word 'Qi' literally translates as ?energy? or ?breath?. In the body it is said to flow through channels called 'meridians' in a similar way to blood flowing through the veins. Traditional Chinese Medicine considers the blockage or incorrect movement of Qi through the body as the cause of mental and physical disease, and internal arts such as meditation aim to increase the amount of Qi in the body.
A person?s Qi can be experienced after training in meditation or the internal arts, and its strength and power in a master is undoubtable. Those with strong Qi have a healthy and youthful appearance, a strong immune system and are full of energy. However, poor diet and hectic modern lifestyles take their toll, and many of us suffer terrible health, tiredness, constant colds and depression due to depletion of our vital energy, or disruption of its normal flow and function. Qi is also manifest in the world around us, it is the life force of the natural world and Qi is strong where there are clear streams, rolling hills and abundant plant life. The Chinese art of geomancy, called 'Feng Shui' is increasingly popular all over the Western world - its practitioners seek to promote a healthy and luck enhancing flow of Qi through their homes with the use of ancient formulae.
There are many interpretations of the concept of 'chi' by Westerners who are attempting to integrate Eastern and Western methodology. Believing the Chinese ideas to be unscientific, they attempt to fit the theory into the biomedical framework, equating Qi with electromagnetic energy and meridians with nerves, for instance. Such theories may lead to interesting new discoveries but the attempt is flawed ? the ancient Chinese world view is not one which can be scrutinised and understood by our logical scientific way of thinking. Qi is an inclusive, holistic concept which describes relations between things as much as the nature of a thing.
"In a single syllable the word Qi proclaims one of the deepest root intuitions of Chinese civilisation... Qi is the thread connecting all being. Qi is the common denominator of all things - from mineral to human."
From 'The Web That Has No Weaver? by Ted Kaptchuk
