Defining Qi

[Franklin]

This seems to be a topic that we all can not come together on.

But I think we should establish the benchmark on who is qualified to talk about Qi

In my experience- this books details the different physical changes that people will experience through practicing IMA and Mediatation
The Little Book of Hercules
by Willaim Bodri

these are not some wishy washy fantacy, imagine crap
but things that you experience

and from my personal experience what he wrote about is spot on
even some of the information he provided shed some light on things that I had experienced before but did not have a framework to understand

so if people are interested in discussing qi and how it relates to the IMA and meditation
I would be interested if they had any of the experiences described in this book

and for beginners I would recommend the book as a great reference for things that might be experienced through practice.

[Patrick]

IMHO qualified are those who are specialists in Chinese etymology, not those who try to fit their experiences in a term, that may had another meaning.
Bob has posted a few times now this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Qi- ... 039&sr=8-1

Had no time to read it, but maybe it would be a good starting point.

[Franklin]

for philosophical discussion
I agree with you


for practical aspects of qi related to IMA
I disagree

[D_Glenn]

意 Yì - conscious thought, attention. It's said The eyes lead/guide the Yi. So what you observe is where part of your Yi is going. Look at the front hand but be mindful of the back hand. Means you can divide your attention among many things and in different proportions.

氣 Qì - breathe; air; vital energy. The Yi leads the Qi.

血 Xuè - blood. The eyes lead the Yi; the Yi leads the Qi, the Qi leads the Xue. So in simple terms - if you look at your hand you can guide your blood to flow out to your hand. This increase in blood flow benefits the muscles, tendons, and skin, strengthening your body and increasing your bodies innate ability to 聽 Tīng (Listen).



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[Dmitri]

IME 'qi' is an anachronism that is entirely unnecessary to acquisition of IMA-related skills.

What, someone had to say it!

A new forum for long-term members starting with two thread that would otherwise be probably moved to BTDT... it is disturbing.

[lazyboxer]

IME 'qi' is an anachronism that is entirely unnecessary to acquisition of IMA-related skills.

What, someone had to say it!

A new forum for long-term members starting with two thread that would otherwise be probably moved to BTDT... it is disturbing.

+1 a massive irrelevance fanbois need not apply go back to sleep

[nianfong]

Well, if this thread, whose topic is as BTDT as it gets, can actually maintain itself without spiraling into nonsense, that would actually prove that this new subforum works.

[Daniel]

Edited for brevity.

D.

Sarcasm. Oh yeah, like that´ll work.

[lazyboxer]

Joseph Needham defined it in his magnum opus as "the psychophysiological power associated with blood and breath". That may be the last word on the subject, at least as far as attempts to define the term are concerned, and might even provide a valuable point of departure for anyone wishing to delve deeper.

[Wanderingdragon]

"Chi;breath; air; vital energy " even this defintion leaves room for further study. Without breath we die, without air we can't breath, yet our vital energy is composed of the entire process of our bodies biologic function. How then do we define what is "Chi", to me "Chi" has to hail back to the spark of life, is it at conception when male and female join to make one?, or is it at birth when our first breath is taken? And then you have to ask what is the spark that allows a living being, and if not present brings forth a still birth, what is it that offers us the confidence to do, the ability to continue, the spirit to preserver. Chi is in the boulder as much as the tree, is it simply essence, so I continue to struggle with such a simple question, what is chi?

[Harvey]

As a person with a grounding in physics and maths, string theory is a fairly elegant western ideology that fits.

[Wanderingdragon]

With less than even a basic understanding of such highly developed realities like those of string theory, I would tend to agree. Open string and closed strings, electromagnetic force, and all such high math, I can vaguely understand or more honestly I can vaguely imagine creation/development of matter, at the same time recognizing all matter as having life or life force, but my lack of true a intellectual grasp of the ideas only leaves to spiritual guess work with slight experiential understanding through physical training. Harvey, and those of you with the understanding would be willing to expound on this idea, I would be more than willing to try and follow,'as you look in that direction for what is " CHi"

[Harvey]

The problem I get is not what qi is but how it is perceived. Add in confusion of perception filters, who taught you about it, how they explained it, how you choose to look for it. All these things taint each of our experiences and ultimately create the blind man's elephant. It is what it is to you.
First line first verse Tao te ching, the qi that can be transmitted is teh fake. I shall retire to my santi and Mild Bohr if you don't mind

[kreese]

I question whether we can use discriminating knowledge to define something that is intuitive, and I daresay if IMA and qigong truly are different in some regards, vs EMA and just plain old exercise, it's not just an extension of the discriminatory style of learning and classifying knowledge that perhaps limits the EMA/fitness.

In other words, the learning methods of IMA are obviously not like textbook learning, hence the fact that the smarty-pantses hate the hippies, and the hippies smoke the best weed.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

Qi= Breath > breath transformed > breath distributed > breath burned in the body.

when expired, still considered qi, but is now stagnant.

returns to the great mass through intermingling.

It's not that big of a deal to understand that no breath = no you.