The Chinese word chi often spelled qi, or ki in Japanese, gi in Korean and khi in Vietnamese is also close to the yogic notion of prana and is generally vaguely referred to as ‘internal energy’ in a magical kind of way and there are some very strange claims made as to its power.

The word chi translates directly as ‘air’, ‘breath’ or ‘gas’, the original calligraphy of 3 lines resembles breath coming from a persons mouth.  The picture representing rice was added with the 3 lines of breath over the top so that it reads as ‘steam coming off the rice pot’, rice being the staff of life and the ‘life force’ rising from it as it cooks.

Many years ago I asked a top Kung Fu Master what he thought the word chi meant and he laughed and said ‘air’ – if you don’t breathe, you die!  When I asked a top Japanese Karate Instructor, he explained that lightening was the ki of the sky, giving it life.

If something vaguely appears ‘magical’ or ‘spiritual’, there are many people out there wanting to trade on the on the needy and those wanting ‘special powers’ without having to do the work.  Some want money and some just simply power or authority over others and chi becomes their vehicle because as energy it has a multi cultural history and acceptance.  Even the Latin word spiritus and the Sanskrit word prana translate as ‘breath’. 

After 40 years of study many with top Japanese and Chinese masters, I feel that the best English word to translate chi is ‘animation’.  To make qigong or chi kung (chi work) function effectively you need the combination of an aware, focussed and sensitive mind, good posture and deep breathing.  In gong fu or kung fu (work plus time, therefore your skill, in this case in Martial Arts) it is said that where your yi (intention) goes, your chi will follow.  To make this happen you send your aware, focussed and sensitive mind intentionally through the body to animate it, the sense of animation is that of chi flow.

“Padwork!”  We paired off and collected a set of hook and jab pads.

“Warm up with half speed techniques, using only straight jab, cross and hook punches, low front and round kicks.”  The pad holder held the pad full on for the straight jabs, angled for the cross punches, side on for the hooks, full on low for the front kick and angled and down for the low round kicks.  The pad position let the hitter know which strike was required.

“Okay, now change distance and angle…”  This meant that the hitter had to constantly adjust distance and angle to get the impact required on the pads.

“Good….  Now start punishing for a bad guard…”  This gave the pad holder the opportunity to retaliate with the pad and politely ‘punish’ the hitter for any lapse in guard.  This tended to be done humorously.

“Okay change holder and hitter…”  The pad holder became the hitter and the hitter the pad holder.

Eventually we punched and kicked ourselves to a standstill….

“Mokuso….”  We stood still with both hands on our lower abdomen.

“Control your breathing, breathe from the stomach, open and straighten the back, close your mouth, tongue to the top palette, soften down the front midline of the body, pull in the lower abdomen, breath through and flare your nostrils….”  We stood for a few minutes allowing heart, mind and breath to harmonise…

“Power strikes..”  We worked on uppercuts using both fist and open hand, downward hammerfist and palm heel strikes, hook punches, slaps, round hammerfist, backfist and knife hand strikes.

“Short range to the body…”  One of us held the pad to our chest and the other stood naturally sideways on with the fist a couple of inches away from the target and delivered a short range punch into the pad.  Richard kept bouncing off the pad as he hit it.

“Richard, use the hammer and screw motion of the wrist to get penetration..”

“Sensei, I think it’s because his body mass is significantly more than mine..” wailed Richard.

“That’s why we have to use skill Richard..”  Sensei said patiently…

“But I feel that I am using the skills and it doesn’t make the difference I’m expecting.”

“Then change your expectations…  but don’t forget that one of the eight principles is ‘mind’…”

“And that means?” asked Richard quizzically.

“Where your ‘yi’ goes, your ‘chi’ follows…”

“And that means?”  Richard was now getting exasperated..

“Where your intention goes, your animation follows..”

“And this will make a difference to my power?”

“It certainly will…”

“I can’t see how it will overcome his superior body mass…”

“Don’t forget that the body is a slave to the mind, mental training and mindset is an integral part of everything that we do, his size is intimidating you and interfering with your technique and therefore your energy.”

“How?”

“By deconstructing your posture and internal alignment and making your mind and chi energy go backwards.”

“Sensei….  How fast does chi travel?”  Richard had a scientific enquiring minds.

“At the speed of thought?”  Jon responded with lightening speed, but Richard wanted answers and wouldn’t let go….

“We encourage the flow of chi in meditation and you say our intention is to send out the ‘scouts’ and the ‘army’ of chi follows quite slowly. With hard work in training we ‘thread the 9 pearls’ forming the internal connections and when those connections are made chi travel seems to be instant, or as Jon observed ‘as fast as a brain impulse’ we hold chi throughout our body so is it the ‘awareness’ that’s travelling and not the chi?”

“Does it matter?  We aren’t scientists – we have the ‘users manual’ not the scientific explanation.  If you asked me how a light works I’d say that you turn it on at the switch, that’s all I need to know.  I’m not interested in the science behind it, it’s the same with my karate.  When we meditate, we’re strengthening the links and channels by using our intention, a bit like moving slowly to reinforce technique for when we move fast.  In some of the healing meditations we deliberately move the animation or the awareness slowly to help nourish the body.  By developing the animation or awareness throughout the body, responses and alignments become instant. 

“So how am I going to make this work within my punch?”

“By technical practice, mental reinforcement and mindset. You’re thinking too much of the ‘why’s’ and not enough of the ‘how’s’.  Get the physical technique right and add in the visualisation and mindset.

Richard took a few moments, delivered his punch and got his first “OOOOOF” of the night as his partner doubled with the penetration of his punch.

“Do you think that chi is real?”

“I think it is just oriental mumbo-jumbo, there is nothing there that cannot be explained by science or biomechanics.”  This argument had gone on for months.  Eddie believed in the spiritual life within karate and John was a hardened scientist.  They had argued every time they met Eddie believed that she was spiritual energy and John believed that everything could be scientifically explained.”

“Can you not see that life force is magical?  Chi is the special energy that makes us alive, it’s what animates our body.”

“That is just your mind, I’m unable to see how that can be anything special.  You animate your body by simply using your mind.”

“But you can feel your chi moving around your body, you cannot deny those sensations.”

“But they are simply nerve responses to stimuli from the mind, there is nothing unusual in that.”

The kwoon was unusually quiet.  When I entered Sifu was standing with his hands on Jane’s head, she was seated with her eyes closed.  Everyone else was getting on with the business of training, warming up or in a conversation of hushed whispers.  The aura of the healing that was taking place gave the usually lively character of the room the feeling of a church.

Its strange how Sifu was just standing and Jane sitting, to a casual observer nothing was happening and yet the energy transfer that was taking place was obvious enough to change the atmosphere in the room and affect everyone in it.

Jane was experienced enough to ‘assist’ Sifu in his work and had opened her mind and energy to allow him to do his work.  She had her tongue pressed to the top palette and was pulling the lower abdomen in and up.  She was sitting erect with both feet flat on the floor and one hand in the palm of the other with the tips of the thumbs lightly touching and the arms framed in front of the body.  This allowed the energy to circulate freely in the ‘heavenly’ circuit between the governor and conception vessels feeding energy to other meridians of the body.

With the healer and ‘healee’ working in harmony, their energy melding together and then being directed by Sifu and sometimes guided by Jane they were able to clear blockages caused by both mental and physical tension, and ease the pain of injury and illness.  The body always strives towards good health but sometimes needs to be reminded of how to feel that well.

Sifu stood erect, his tongue to the top palette, his lower abdomen pulled in and upward, his chest sunk and shoulder blades pulled down and apart, it seemed as if his entire body slightly ‘pulsed’ with each elongated breath.

A few minutes before the class started they ceased with Sifu making a few arcane signs over Jane’s head and then a symbol that was like a lightening bolt to ‘earth’ the energy he then clapped his hands and stood for a few moments collecting himself before starting the class.

At the end of the class it was ‘feedback’ time….  And I guess the student’s curiosity had to get the better of them.

“Sifu – was that healing that you were doing with Jane before lesson time?” asked Sarah.

“It certainly was” responded Sifu.

“Was it Reiki?”

“Reiki is the name of a system of healing started by by Dr Usui”, answered Sifu “but as Jane is a tai chi student, we were healing from our own system.”