THE MYSTERY OF QI

 by Phillip Starr

Okay, here we go...into the “forbidden” realm of that most elusive aspect of martial arts; the subject of QI! In traditional Chinese culture, qì or ch'i (pronounced “chee”, and known as ki in Japanese culture) is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Literally, qi translates as "breath, air, or gas”, and figuratively as "energy", or "life force". It is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts. Clearly, there is an important connection between breath and qi. More about that later...

Qi used to be be written 氣 . This is a pictogram of boiling rice. The “simplified” method is 气 , wherein the character for “rice” has been removed, Another version of the simplified method is 気 .

But just what is qi, really? What do we know about it? Is it a real, tangible form of energy or is it just so much mystical mumbo-jumbo? Identical concepts can be found in many cultures; In India there is the concept of prana, in Japanese it is ki, pneuma in Greece, mana in Hawaiian culture, lung in Tibet, and ruakh in the Hebrew language and culture. Even Native American languages had words for it. Indeed, it would seem that all ancients civilizations had words for the same concept! So, the idea of a “life-force” is not peculiar to China or the Orient at all.

Nowadays, we refer to it by its Chinese or Japanese (or Korean) name, or we just call it “vital energy” or any one of a dozen different terms. It is a very real form of energy that has nothing to do with religion, psychology, or philosophy anymore than light or heat has to do with these things.

The real problem, of course, is that as yet, we are unable to measure this “thing” in any way. We simply don't know how. Many people argue that sinc it can't be seen or measured, it cannot exist. I call such people the “Flat Earth” people. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that long ago that our ancestors were utterly convinced that the earth was flat...because all of their “up to date” science said so. The TRUTH, of course, was that they had not yet developed any accurate equipment to find out. They just insisted that their “scientific equipment and methods” were more than adequate to justify their findings. It's the exact same argument that we hear from their more contemporary counterparts...if it can't be seen or measured by the kinds of instruments we now possess, it simply can't exist.

And the earth is flat.

It's time to admit the obvious; science has SOME answers but certainly not ALL of them. Science is not the immovable pillar of truth that we've always thought. Were that so, we'd never have had to change various scientically-proven “facts” so many times! I don't know about you, but much of the “hard science” I learned in high school has since been proven erroneous and replaced with newer, improved, enriched facts that are TRUE for sure...this time. Until they're disproven again. And real TRUTH is immovable. It is always true.

The fact that there are a great many flim-flam scam artists out there doesn't help things. They provide phony demonstrations to fool people into believing that they possess a high level of skill with the mysterious force known as qi. But that doesn't mean that the concept of qi is false. Not by a long shot.

So, what IS it? To be sure, no one knows for certain. But we can witness its presence by what it can do. In so far as martial arts is concerned, some people think of it as a “force” that can be magically applied to one's movements to make them more powerful.   I call this the “star wars” approach. It's a cute idea but it isn't real.

Scientists who are investigating this subject have found that when an internal kung-fu stylist releases his power (fajin), they are able to detect a small electro-magnetic pulse (e.m.p.). Similarly, they have detected an increase in the electro-magnetic field around the body of a qigong practitioner when he/she is engaged in the practice of qigong exercises. But I don't believe that qi can be defined as electro-magnetism; rather, an increase in electro-magnetic activity is a by-product of it.

As I said earlier, there is a clear connection between the breath and qi; after all, “qi” means “breath” or “air”...but it is really more than that. In the Orient, it is believed that when we inhale, we take in more than just oxygen and a few other elements. We also absorb something very subtle. We inhale the life-force of the universe; qi. All living organisms do this. The mind (one's “will”) is used to direct the life-energy. The stronger the mind's ability to direct, the easier it is to do this. Thus, one of the main reasons for training the mind to focus on a single task.