building Chi

[Jack Straw]

I am still fairly new to martial arts. I started for (what I feel to be) typical reasons. Mostly exercise and flexibility. After being in for a short period, I started looking at the more philisophical side of the arts. I am interested in learning how to cultivate Chi and how to learn to use it. I live in the middle of no where and have been looking for a teacher, but have yet to find one. Any suggestions on websites, books or other tools to at least help me get started?

[Taryn P.]

I'm sure some will disagree with me.....

Everybody taps into chi in some fashion, they just don't always see/term it in that way. Anything that inspires you, juices you up, gives you a "rush". Learn what does that for you, recognize it, feel the way it flows. Visualize it- colorful auras, sparkles... then use that visualization to attempt to infuse that "rush" into your exercises. There are lots of simple exercises out there to use as frameworks, but it's all about the visualization and intent.

[mawali]

Jack Straw said

I am still fairly new to martial arts. I started for (what I feel to be) typical reasons. Mostly exercise and flexibility. After being in for a short period, I started looking at the more philisophical side of the arts. I am interested in learning how to cultivate Chi and how to learn to use it. I live in the middle of no where and have been looking for a teacher, but have yet to find one. Any suggestions on websites, books or other tools to at least help me get started?

People's past experiences colour how they perceive qi.
Qi is multi-dimensional and goes beyong the 'daoyin' routines/exercises to nuture and build it. The root (san bao-three treasures) are jing, qi and shen.

jing-what we get from our parents. your present vitality comes from them and includes heredity.
qi; generally breath. it also includes your present state of health, age and nutrititive status
shen: generally spirit. it is a combination of jing and qi as expressent in your present 'animus'.

One of the best ways is zhanzhuang (post standing) along with walking 1-2 miles a day fo rthe rest of your life. Less things to learn, less things to remember!
Post standing is essentially holding specific postures for an extended period of time so start small. 3-5 minutes and do ending routine (shougong) of dry washing face, neck, rubbing hands and letting stay at navel for 10 minutes. Take a short walk. This is as simple as I can get.

I will try to post some zhanzhuang postures as examples!

[Baxian]

mawali,

I have heard the term Jingshen used as a single term for example in listing the rules for a school. Do you know if this has relation to the list you gave or is it like house...fly.....housefly and means different things?

Hope I am not hijacking the thread.

Baxian

[mawali]

You are exactly right!
Rules of behaviour is not a word for word translation due to the ideograph of the specific context. That is why when you see Mandarin translated ideograph, the English version comes out weird because they did a word for word translation.

Regulation of spirit (content) comes out to be behaviour rules!
As told to me by my teacher many years ago!

Ever look up the many definitions of qi? The ideograph for qigong is a pot of rice being stoked by fire and cooking for a specific time period. Obviously the time involved in not part of the depeiction but it involed 'work' to reach a desired completion point. All of that for 1 ideograph! wow!

[Baxian]

Mawali,

Thanks for your answer. One day I have to learn Chinese.

Baxian

[Lee Chiang Po]

Jack, if as you say, you are new to MA, I would not worry about qi or chi at this time. Chi is not some force that you can direct or throw at an opponent. We do have electrical flows through out the body, but everyone has that and it is simply how our bodies function. It is not something that you can apply as such. Chi or Qi, is simply developed as you gain skills in your techniques and movements. An example would be like this. I had a young man working for me that printed checks on an old letter press. He did the same motions every few minutes, day after day after day. He would reach in and palm a steel handle upward and pull a large, heavy steel platin away from it's form. He did this thousands of times. One day he moved over to another press and the very first time he palmed the steel bar it broke cleanly. He did that with several of our machines. It amounted to the fact that the steel bars all moved to a point to where they struck a stop. His old machine did not have this stop. He was not exerting any great force in doing this, but he was doing it in such a fluid manner that he had huge force following the hand. This is qi, or chi. You develop your techniques until you have them perfect in form and function, and practice it enough that it follows in fluid motion.

[Corwyn]

AND YOUR TIME!!!

It is a common theme with new martial artists to try to embrace ALL of the culture in order to feel like they are getting the real grasp of the art.
BUT 'chi' is Chinese cultural BULLSH8/charlatan/quackery and nothing more.
This kind of nonsense exists in all cultures and while other people on here will try to point you to "studies", they will tell you that your "mind" has to be open and you can't be "closed" minded.

Here is the acid test - What if you came on this board and said that you wanted to be able to channel the spirits of dead martial artists through the powers and knowledge of John Edward, or through the powers of crystal power, or how about ancient Egyptian writings that reveal the secrets of the master death touch transported here by the same aliens who built the pyramids.

Or the list of other self deluded woo woo I could list for pages.

The VERY same people who propose that a force which violates every basic law of physics, which can not be seen, tested or replicated will laugh at you in your face.

Wonder why that is? It's called cognitive dissonance. they refuse to apply the same standards of evidence and reasoning to their own pet woo that they apply to all the other nonsense out there. But the reality is that REALITY is not as we wish it to be, no matter how hard we try and how many anecdotal stories we tell, how many non repeatable, non verifiable studies we list, or how "open" you believe your mind to be to "higher" powers. And to prove that,
ALL you have to do is walk the halls of any local insane asylum where you will find people by the 1000s who have committed themselves to believe with far greater passion than anyone you will find on this forum to the possibility of an alternate reality. Yet SURRRRPRISE SURRPRISE ( do your best gommer pile imitation here)
that reality doesn't exist.


The ONLY kind of 'chi' ( and I HATE even using that term because it gives credence to the delusion) is the self discipline, focus and will that comes from ONE place.

YEARS AND YEARS of PRACTICE! If anyone tries to tell/sell you anything else then they are lying, trying to cheat you, deluded or most likely all 3. So stop searching for a myth and train hard(er).

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Perhaps, we simply need a more 'practical' definition of Qi.. like: the energy that animates the body.. no different than other energies.. suppose i have two identical race-cars and i put highly refined fuel in one and stale low-grade fuel in the other.. same with Qi, you still need well-maintained 'vehicles' and competent drivers.. but, the 'fuel' is important, too.. it's just another aspect of well-rounded training.. Fantasizing magical powers or raging about its woowoo-ness, are both unrealistic extremes.. neither based on clarity..

Be well...

[sanjuro_ronin]

Greetings..

Perhaps, we simply need a more 'practical' definition of Qi.. like: the energy that animates the body.. no different than other energies.. suppose i have two identical race-cars and i put highly refined fuel in one and stale low-grade fuel in the other.. same with Qi, you still need well-maintained 'vehicles' and competent drivers.. but, the 'fuel' is important, too.. it's just another aspect of well-rounded training.. Fantasizing magical powers or raging about its woowoo-ness, are both unrealistic extremes.. neither based on clarity..

Be well...

I simply view Chi in these 2 ways:
Functional - Structure aligment and all that goes with it - Intent and so forth.
Energy- The bioelectrical field that all living creature have.

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Structure and alignment are more like the maintenance of a vehicle (body).. bio-electrical energy is more closely related to fuel (Qi)...

Be well..

[spiralstair]

AND YOUR TIME!!!
And to prove that,
ALL you have to do is walk the halls of any local insane asylum where you will find people by the 1000s who have committed themselves to believe with far greater passion than anyone you will find on this forum to the possibility of an alternate reality. Yet SURRRRPRISE SURRPRISE ( do your best gommer pile imitation here)
that reality doesn't exist.

All you have to do is sit in on a 'case meeting' in the local asylum, listen to the doctors, interns, therapists, and other minders, watch their behaviors, cherck out their general state of health, the 'language of their bodies', and you'll be hard pressed to argue for the 'correct' reality among the "alternatives"....unless of course you base your argument on who's holding the keys to the door, and who's being locked in...

[photo-master]

Building chi is really a misnomer. It is really about controlling what you have. "Where the mind goes the chi flows." The first stages of physical sensation(s) will usually be heat and/or an electrical feeling. Some times the hands will feel like you have been outside on a winter day and swell up as you walk into your house. Often time they may appear blotchy (at first).

One of the best and fastest methods for building/controlling of you chi is qigong with external/physical conditioning. AKA hitting a bag Iron palm style.

I really do not care to educate people on chi energy. Nor do I feel a mandate to open peoples eyes. However its as simple as this: either people believe or they don't. It is the same with religion/GOD.

However many in the world have tried to turn chi/ki into hocus pocos witch doctor quackery and others secret esoteric knowledge handed down only to only the few inner door disciples... Both have erred and cluttered the path of truth. --It is so simple (and profound) a child can understand it perfectly.

I have shown (let people physically feel) my chi/internal energy. I'm not saying I turned them into believers but they had an experience. Most of the time when I do this it freaks people out and they feel threatened like I have some power or ability they do not. Which is not true, we all have chi however only a small number of us learn to control it.

Over the internet trolls and naysayers will always put down the internal arts (usually promoting MMA). That's fine with me, I will simply live a longer healthier life hopefully healing others with internal power along the way.

To me chi is like the wind, you cannot see it but you can feel it and watch how it moves the trees when it is strong... Some people will not believe there is wind because they can not see it. Others will say science will prove there in no such thing as chi; the same was said when people tried to tell others the earth was round and not flat. --It is simply ignorance. This will change as time passes and nontraditional medical knowledge (TCM) is accepted.

In the past 25 years science has proven with the use of kirlian photography, the naurometer, the toboscope, ECG, EKG, and MRI that the human body possesses some type of energy/energetic field. I look to the future. That science in the next 25 years will prove 100% what thousands of years of Chinese medicine and martial knowledge has said since the beginning...

[RonH]

Ignore posts, such as Corwyn's. He's assuming a lot about a subject he doesn't know. As much as he'd like to through words around like cognitive dissonance, I can throw others around to. It's called nonoverlapping magisteria. Science has no place in many areas of knowledge, like meaning, philosophy, the initial creation of language and many others. I would like to see Corwyn explain how science leads to these areas. I don't believe I ever read a post of his that goes into these areas.


Mantak Chia is always a good read for such a thing.

[Raipizo]

well i would definately look for books at your library or even at martialartsmart.com i wouldn't try going to full fledged into it without some help from a teacher.