Urs Krebs wrote:twocircles13 wrote:Don’t mix your Qi’s. The qi of life, Chinese medicine, internal alchemy, structural engineering, wave dynamics are all different things, These things are not the same as the qi of Taijiquan training. This is a common mistake.
Could you explain then, what is the difference of the Qi in chinese medicine and the Qi of Taijiquan training? Thank you
Let’s not hijack this thread, but here is a short answer.
Apparently, I cannot. I have tried many times. Of course, my explanations are long and deep and drawn out. The most common response is between TL;DR and a blank stare. There are lots of misconceptions about what qi is, so it is like talking about a foreign language.
So, let’s try something new. First, there are different kinds of qi.
I recently watched this video. It is Adam Mizner discussing different kinds of qi. I have no kind of affiliation with him. He practices Yang Style: I practice Chen Style. But, he conveniently does a fair job of differentiating types of qi. If it does not automatically do it, start at 4:55.
Second, Mizner says he’s taking about "the qi that comes with practice.” I think of it as "the qi that comes from Taiji training", potayto-potahto. It comes from ingraining the training and its lessons into the body. Areas where qi may be involved include but are not limited to correct skeletal alignment, connection through the joints, timings, breathing, rotations, opening and releasing, and so on. These are all related to thinking the right things that cause the mind to interface with the body in specific ways. These all work together to create the skills of taijiquan.
While I am not an expert in Chinese Medicine, and within that broad category, there are a number of different schools of thought, Chinese Medicine is generally concerned with the balancing of factors within the body to create optimal health. It may concerned the qi within the pulses, expulsions, (blood, urine, saliva, and similar), breath, odors, reports of sensations, balance and symptoms in the jingluo and so on.
There is some overlap. They are both concerned with the human body, for example. When they look at qi and talk about it, they are talking about different kinds of qi for the most part. Even when you get as specific as internal alchemy and internal martial arts, there is a lot more overlap, but there are still differences, especially in the kinds of qi referred to. One may extend from taijiquan into Chinese Medicine embracing both, but this is unnecessary for either and the different kinds of qi within each still remain.
I hope generalizations like that help. Otherwise, we have to start with the nature of yin, yang and qi and build up from there.