the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

It's basically the day one beginner's exercise. Hold your palms out as if holding a ball.

What is it? Properties? I don't know. I tried to read basically a history of physics in the past few weeks. The "Standard Model" says there are four forces, the weak force, the strong force, gravitational force, and electromagnetic force. There isn't a successful unified (verifiable) theory. The more they try, the more outlandish the ideas get (Like we are in a 3 or 4 (including time) dimensional "holographic universe" but reality (most of it subatomic) is in 10-11 dimensions because the math that balances the equations to try to unify things works out this way (in the math)).... Physicists don't really define "energy" so it's hard to say. It seems a little like that, except the "qi ball" and Qi likely sound like some kind of alternative medicine idea and/or a little too vague a description of too many things ( you breathed clean air/qi, you ate nutritious food, those give you energy and "qi" etc. ). Obviously that all gets a little too out there. "Qi ball" ain't so bad.

Well I'm familiar with "holding the hands as if holding a ball" as a way to get a basic idea for proper structure. That's a far cry in my opinion from asserting there's something actually there.

Sensations... I mean there's a lot of sensations on the path. When it's dialed in just right sometimes it feels like external forces are moving the body. Are there actually forces? Human brains are easy to fool.

Qi is a shitty term for westerners. People tend to talk about it like it's The Force that permeates all things and can be manipulated and they want to tap into the secrets of the Jedi, but it appears to be a messy catch all term. The weather is sky qi, the lay of the land is earth qi, if you're depressed you have sad qi. We've both mentioned the TCM concept of Qi in air and food, which is distinct from the CMA context of Qi as something relevant to combat. What does any of that have to do with the Qi inherent in a stroke of caligraphy or the Qi of a poem?

Maybe my perspective is simply not broad enough to take in all the various manifestations of this singular cosmic force, or maybe it's a word that takes on many different specific meanings depending on the context it's used in. Like even the closest English analog, energy, it can be potential, kinetic, electrical, mechanical, chemical, spiritual, etc. Related in a sense, but not really practically. So in any given use of the word Qi, what is it that's really being spoken of? That's useful information. Clarity. Tapping into that headspace where the body seems to be moving of it's own accord is useful practice. This Qi ball thing seems to be a bit disingenuous. I mean I recognize the value in the physical structure that it trains, but it seems like putting the emphasis on the empty space between the hands is missing the mark in my opinion. We need to separate the mneumonic from the skill.

All that with the disclaimer, of course, that it's just my opinion based on my limited knowledge and exposure. I welcome any corrections to my presumptions.

Wellllll all I can really tell you is stuff I already posted.

If you want to be like Fedor, do what he did. There is plenty of structure.

If you are interested in neijia, you need to do what Sun said and do a little neigong. Make the Qi ball, then sink Qi to Dantian. But not with 100 rationalizations or guesses of what that means. It is what it is. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ideally we’d do both, but there just isn’t much time.