Thoughts on Qi

Discussion on the three big Chinese internals, Yiquan, Bajiquan, Piguazhang and other similar styles.

Thoughts on Qi

Postby Appledog on Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:40 pm

Imagine two stone columns, equally bearing the weight of a beam above. In the other situation, there is twice the weight placed on one of the columns than the other. In that situation you could expect the second column to deteriorate faster than the first one, but depending on the building material interesting things could happen. For example, let's say that due to the pressure placed on the one column, it became less porous than the other, and held less water -- and as a result it did not deteriorate so quickly.

When uneven weights are placed upon the body the way your structural muscles respond is to expand to support the weight:

weight pushing here =====> <====muscle expands====> |wall/floor| (base of support)

So, in the body there are balanced supports on either side of the body, on the front and back of the body, in any way there is a muscle there is a support of the body in this regard. There are also supports from your bones, tendons, your fascia (although it is not nearly as important as muscle or tendon) and so forth.

When uneven forces are placed on the body, the natural way the body deals with these forces is to expand along the force path from the point of contact, through the support network, through to the ground. This is called the ground path. Here are some examples;



a)
force (downwards)
============
=
=
=
============
support(ground)


b)
force downwards
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
support


in "a" there is a c-shaped structure, with a bend in it. This is not as efficient as "b" because you will need to employ great strength to keep the structure from collapsing further. In 'b' the structure itself supports the load and the muscle use is employed merely in keeping the structure, and is minimal.

In situation 'a' you are tense, and in situation 'b' you are completely relaxed. From this may we deduce that the groundpath is an external form of martial arts? no, because the ground path would exist independant of how it is maintained (it is in both a or b). So what we see instead is that knowledge of the ground path is irreverent and the key to understanding what is going on lies elsewhere. Focusing on a ground path is focusing on force against force. Instead, relaxing this force and allowing the body to return to balance allows you to yield to this force. Therefore only by relaxing and seeking balance can you apply these taiji principles and never by maintaining a ground path. Although technically you would be aware of the ground path, it is more something to avoid than to embrace.


The key to understanding: The Yi leads the Qi
=============================================
The point of Qigong is that you cannot control your Qi flow, at least in the sense you can control the muscles of your hand. Whenever there is an effect of Qi, it is subconscious, it happens outside of your control as the result of some physical practice. It may also be difficult to explain precisely how you should move physically, and the effect of the qi (however important) may be exceedingly small. Therefore you are given visualizations. These visualizations serve two purposes: They give you a clue on how you should move or position your body, and/or they describe the feeling you will get when you start feeling your qi. Training your mind to expect these feelings will lower the shock value when you feel your qi so the experience may last longer and you can practice for longer. In general though visualizations are the collected experiences of teachers before you, and only serve to increase your rate of progress. You never need visualizations, you can come to the ideas on your own through standard practice, but you must dedicate yourself to the study of the art if that is how you want to approach things.

So since the only way to cause the qi to move properly is via an induced effect, and we have no mental control over it, it should be obvious that this is something that requires the physical pattern to be drilled into your mind and body until it becomes second nature, until you could run around in your own house blind, if you had to. Then you can make your body subject to the feelings and visualizations slowly over time as you make steady progress.

Against any kind of strength training or loading
=========================================
A Qi channel is considered open when it is expanding <======> and considered closed when it is shrinking >=====<. When all of the qi channels are balanced, either expanded or contracted, this is song. This is different than being blocked. When a qi channel is blocked, the subconscious has closed the channel and/or locked it so that it may not move. Because it stagnates, it will create death. This is similar to frozen muscles or low-airation in side the body leading to cancer.

Imagine some muscle A<======B=====C=>D where A and D are the expansion endpoints .What are B, C? They are some points along which there is a discrepancy in the amount of force produced by the muscle. On load this will cause the muscle to pull. When a wave of force passes A to D and is interrupted by B or C it will cause a sharp pain and the qi channel will block.

When train you create a system whereby A<=====>B<======>C<======>D are song, i.e. they are open or closed together (one parts move, all parts move). If your muscle BC is incongruent with the force produced or loaded onto the body the channel will close and become blocked and you will injure yourself.

In this situation you cannot allow yourself to completely relax because doing so will expose the fault at 'B' or 'C' and you will experience great pain. So your body subconsciously refuses to allow you to relax, and you cannot even detect which qi channels are blocked in this state, so you cannot fix the problem yet.

Breath
=======
When you raise your hands and breathe in, the lungs expand and the shoulder muscles expand, leading to the maintenance of harmony in the body. When one of these forces are out of place, the body is unable to connect it's qi channels and it is like a jigsaw puzzle, there is no image available to be seen so nothing is seen. When the pieces start to fit together, the picture is seen.



Yin and yang
==============
When force is transferred from one leg to another, there is a continuous change in the loading of the pillars of the body. This causes the channels to open and close smoothly in accordance with the weight transfer, and the opening and closing of these channels must also be in accordance with the breath. Thus, the long-flowing and continuous motions of tai chi produce long-flowing and continuous (cyclical) patterns of qi flow within the body. Originally various kinds of qigong were used to open specific channels, when these are linked together in sequence the channels open and close smoothly (in sequence), and if they are linked together in a specific sequence they can open and close smoothly in a specific sequence. Thus all Chinese martial arts know about qi and jing, and use it, but all use it in different ways, some try to send it out, some try to move left, right, up, down, in, out, some try this and that, but only when the qi flow is recycled by retaining the force sent out by the physical action, and re-used internally (as the old timers are said to prefer less fajing, versus the young) can you show that the motion really is smooth, circular, and unbroken, across the whole body and not just a part of it.


Qi
=======
It's impossible to do all of this without a guide, and the guide is itself the Qi. When you coordinate all of these things, it will be the flow of Qi in the body which begins to control the individual motions which come together to make the together-motion. A great example of this is in Charles' Tauber's video where he shows how various independent motions come together to make circular silk reeling.


Full Circle
===========
Since any kind of strength training will create B<===>C within A<====>D to detract from the whole body song, and since you cannot control it mentally, there is no sense in using muscle tension during training (at least until you reach higher levels). The only thing you can do is completely relax and look for the feeling of qi, based on the tips (put your mind here, think of this, hold your hands on your dantian, tuck in your chin, etc.) which are all forms of visualization mixed with the postural tips, or rather a lower form of visualization, which will help pull you into the right structure or get you close enough to start feeling your qi.


Qi-less practice
================
Any martial arts practice which occurs without qi is bad because qi-less practice depends upon the increase of B<===>C and thus lays a foundation of destruction which is a kind of potential energy that lies in wait to destroy the body, like a lion, or a snake in the grass. When the wrong force is applied, esp. the force generated from qi sensitivity, it can easily hurt or even kill a person who has built up too much imbalance in their body.

It's even easy to hurt yourself if you push against the blockages too quickly, sometimes you have to go around it, or even tense yourself up to avoid falling into a black hole of pain and collapsing. Don't enter the pain cave. Just look at it until it goes away.
Last edited by Appledog on Fri Sep 13, 2019 3:49 am, edited 9 times in total.
Appledog
Wuji
 
Posts: 941
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 9:39 pm

Re: Thoughts on Qi

Postby LaoDan on Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:28 am

Appledog,

Your post seems to be attempting to promote qi in place of physical factors as the basis of the martial arts that we study. This is somewhat expected because qi is a part of the culture that the art developed under. You have created a series of poorly supported logic trains that you believe supports your beliefs. Unfortunately, I think the presentation is only strong enough to be convincing to those who are already inclined to agree with you and are looking for ways to support their biases.

Humans do not really understand reality, but we have the need, driven by our curiosity and our ego, to have some sort of explanation for the world that we perceive. As you correctly state, these traditional viewpoints aid in the passing on of information and skills that one uses within one’s culture. Examples of this are shown in the numerous myths and superstitions that various cultures develop to explain the world that they grow up in, or in order to explain moral principles that the culture holds as being important for that society to function well. Traditional explanations have value, but I also think that current (modern, Western...) knowledge does as well.

My premise is that using qi to explain reality is just a culturally different viewpoint from Western understandings based on the current understandings of anatomy, physiology, how the mind works, etc, etc, etc. I think that both approaches are attempting to describe/understand THE SAME REALITY, and therefore that they should NOT BE INCOMPATABLE. Your post seems to take the approach that they (Eastern and Western approaches to explaining reality) are incompatible, but if they are just different ways of describing the same reality, then how can they really be incompatible? It is only the limitations of our understanding that makes them difficult to reconcile.

When someone attempts to “prove” that one cultural perspective is correct and another is wrong, then I just view it as being an exercise that misses the point that both approaches are attempts to explain realities that we do not really understand. Much more valuable to me are attempts to “bridge” the divides, rather than those that emphasize the gulf between them.

Because I do not value the approach that you take, I do not really have specific replies to the various points that you make. What you wrote does not have high value to me. Your post only points out things that someone like me needs to take into consideration when making attempts to bridge the different viewpoints. I prefer taking the approach that one explanation is merely one way of explaining something that should have numerous valid ways of describing the same thing; none of which describe the definitive truth.
LaoDan
Wuji
 
Posts: 624
Joined: Mon May 17, 2010 11:51 am

Re: Thoughts on Qi

Postby roger hao on Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:49 am

Please explain how muscles expand - my understanding is they contract.
There is - of course - muscles expanding, but as part of repair process.
roger hao

 

Re: Thoughts on Qi

Postby charles on Tue Sep 10, 2019 8:35 am

LaoDan wrote:When someone attempts to “prove” that one cultural perspective is correct and another is wrong, then I just view it as being an exercise that misses the point that both approaches are attempts to explain realities that we do not really understand. Much more valuable to me are attempts to “bridge” the divides, rather than those that emphasize the gulf between them.


The entirety of your post is exactly what I wanted to say, but you said it better and more concisely than I would have. Thank you.
charles
Wuji
 
Posts: 1727
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 1:01 pm

Re: Thoughts on Qi

Postby charles on Tue Sep 10, 2019 8:56 am

Appledog wrote:Qi
=======
It's impossible to do all of this without a guide, and the guide is itself the Qi. When you coordinate all of these things, it will be the flow of Qi in the body which begins to control the individual motions which come together to make the together-motion. A great example of this is in Charles' Tauber's video where he shows how various independent motions come together to make circular silk reeling.


As LaoDan stated, I think you have missed the central point, that each culture creates its own conceptual framework that it erects around common experiences in that culture's attempt to understand those experiences. What changes is the conceptual framework that each culture builds around those common experiences, the experiences, themselves are the same.

I don't think it matters whether or not "qi" exists or not. It is one particular culture's way of understanding and explaining the phenomenon they experience. Other cultures have different ways of understanding and explaining the same phenomenon. As a simple example, some cultures believed that the sun rises each day because there is a sun god who makes it happen. Another culture sees the rising of the sun as an astronomic occurrence. In both cases it is the same phenomenon that each culture observes and experiences. What is different is the framework, the cause of that phenomenon.

If one culture believes something occurs because of "qi" and another attributes that same occurrence to physiology, both are attempts to understand and describe the same occurrence. Each can bring something "to the table" of understanding or describing that occurrence, that experience. Unless something comes along that specifically proves a particular perspective is invalid or without use - such as a belief that the Earth is flat - all perspectives are potentially of value.

Since you brought my video up, in my opinion, the value of my video is in its attempt to show two different conceptual frameworks for doing and understanding the same thing. One uses a "qi" framework and focuses on the "dan tian", the other is a Western-style approach using body mechanics, both to the same end. Two different maps for the same terrain.

Most of my teachers used a traditional Chinese perspective - qi this, qi that, qi the other thing. Very few of their students attained much. Most got lost focusing on the wrong things - their "qi". They didn't understand that "qi" was part of a conceptual framework, that it was the map and not the terrain, that "qi" happens as a consequence of correct, dedicated training, and was not an end in and of itself. Qi" is a concept that guides practice. It isn't the focus of the practice, or the goal of the practice. Chen Xiaowang, for example, although he teaches using a traditional "qi" framework, has stated that one does not need to believe in qi to acquire skill.
Last edited by charles on Tue Sep 10, 2019 9:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
charles
Wuji
 
Posts: 1727
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 1:01 pm

Re: Thoughts on Qi

Postby windwalker on Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:12 am

Some thoughts on "qi"

As some have stated its a cultural perspective on something they noted long ago.
Most if not all my students come from the culture, there is no need to explain or define it for them
they know it...The only question asked if one feels it or not and distinctions made as to what it is, or is not..

They understand this quite clearly.

Thought I would introduce some writing about "qi" kind of touches on some points made here

There are about 500 muscles in the body, 40% of the body weight, and 80% of the muscles in the limbs. The basic characteristics of muscles are contraction and relaxation. Muscle contraction and relaxation are produced by the nervous system. Muscle contraction causes exercise, which is determined by the position of the muscle attached to the bone. The muscles around the joint can be contracted individually or in combination, and a variety of activities are the result of joint contraction of the muscles in various ways.


Therefore, I think that internal strength is a force, a muscle force, and internal strength can also be called "internal force." In the medical theory of the motherland, it is called "Yuanqi", "Inner Gas" and "Medium", commonly known as "Pneumatic Power".


Pneumatic Power maybe is something that appledog, was refering to as expanding.
Does not involve isolated muscle contraction...
IME what is called "qi" does indeed feel like "air" that can be felt inside and outside the body...
many talk about "fa-jin" there is also "fa-qi" different in effect and function.


The "inner strength" of Tai Chi Chuan cannot be confused with the general external strength. Besides its powerful commonality, it also has its personality, that is, universality, speciality, and its particularity is also its characteristic. .

The specific performance is as follows:

First of all, the "inner strength" of Tai Chi Chuan is a kind of "completion". That is to say, the inner strength of Tai Chi is integrated. It is the movement of the muscles of the whole body.

Its roots are on the feet, rising from the heels, dominated by the waist, shaped on the fingers, and sent to the back. The legs and the legs are integrated into one. So this force is extraordinary and huge.

Second, this internal strength is also flexible and explosive. It is in the midst of a thousand times, judging the situation, using it flexibly, grasping the dynamic changes of the other side, and grasping the opportunity that is beneficial to me (for example, in a double situation), which erupts instantaneously, and it has an unstoppable destructive power and lethality.



Finally, this internal strength is also concealed and penetrating.

This kind of internal strength is not like external strength. If you punch it out, it will make the other person's face swollen and swollen, which is what people can observe.

The inner strength of Tai Chi is hidden, with penetrating power, and the other side suffers. It is an internal injury, not a flesh wound. Sun Lutang said to his disciple Chen Jianhou: "The inner strength of Tai Chi is very large. The injured are often not exposed to skin and wounds, but the internal organs are seriously damaged."

https://twgreatdaily.com/jbsDvmwBJleJMoPMU45G.html

Google translation, if any of it is mistranslated or not clear..maybe some native speakers can help clarify it.

Felt it was a good article in its explanations...
He does go on to explain different levels of development.
Sometimes what one agrees with or not depends on level and experience with others of different levels.
Last edited by windwalker on Tue Sep 10, 2019 3:16 pm, edited 3 times in total.
windwalker
Wuji
 
Posts: 10544
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 4:08 am

Re: Thoughts on Qi

Postby windwalker on Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:17 am

Most of my teachers used a traditional Chinese perspective - qi this, qi that, qi the other thing. Very few of their students attained much. Most got lost focusing on the wrong things - their "qi". They didn't understand that "qi" was part of a conceptual framework, that it was the map and not the terrain, that "qi" happens as a consequence of correct, dedicated training, and was not an end in and of itself. Qi" is a concept that guides practice. It isn't the focus of the practice, or the goal of the practice. Chen Xiaowang, for example, although he teaches using a traditional "qi" framework, has stated that one does not need to believe in qi to acquire skill.


Nice write up
While one does not have to believe in it, IME most will feel or come to understand "something" that in the west doesn't seem to have
a corresponding practice or application.
windwalker
Wuji
 
Posts: 10544
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 4:08 am

Re: Thoughts on Qi

Postby windwalker on Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:27 am

Interesting reading.

It seems very comprehensive touching on many aspects that others have posted about.
Some of which I've highlighted in "blue"
"google translated"

If there are mistranslations please feel free to correct or clarify

The inner strength of Tai Chi is released when it is hand-pushing or Sanshou. This kind of "power" can be divided into levels, some are divided into seven layers, and some are divided into nine layers. I think that it is simplified and divided into four stages.

The first stage, the initial stage. On this basis, on the basis of practicing the pile work, you can be skilled in the shelf, pose correctly, and look like a model, overcome your own rigid stiffness, and be light and free. If you practice boxing in order to cultivate your body and prolong your life, you can do this step.

The second stage, the intermediate stage. Can also be called the human door stage. At this stage, the speed of the shelf is from the beginning to the fast, but the strength is not clear, and has learned to push hands, initially understand. "The shelf knows your strength and pushes your hands to understand the strength of others." Understand your own hand strength, leg strength, waist strength, foot strength, gear strength, know shed, will, squeeze, press, mining, example, elbow, rely on eight strength.

When you push hands, you will "save yourself from people", use the smear, stickiness, strength, and strength, and expand and retreat with the movement of people, can not lose, not top, not resistant. I can listen to it. "Listening" is not the meaning of the human voice, but the meaning of listening.

Listening and examining, through the sense of touch, sight, and hearing, to perceive the size, length, speed, and strength of each other's strength, depending on Where to fight back, called "listening to the power." It can be used to change the strength, that is, after listening to the power, it can be digested, glued, connected, and then legalized. Can be strong, and then enter, soften the hair, simply let the people send out, make it lose weight or fall.



The third stage, the advanced stage. That is to say, Chen Jianhou said that "the ball spring, the gas is built in" stage. One stroke and one style can be flat, straight and round. As is well known, all geometric figures are composed of flat, straight, and round shapes. One stroke of Tai Chi is also composed of flat, straight and round. It conforms to a straight circle everywhere, not only has a beautiful appearance, but also conforms to the mechanics principle and has the best martial effect. "Virtual collar" is "straight", "with chest" is "circle" is the circle, "pull back" is straight.

Spiral movement in the horizontal plane, the shape is round, hand circle, elbow circle, shoulder circle, back circle, chest circle, round circle, round circle, knee round, full circle, stretch bone extraction, joint penetration; internal organs It also makes a slight rotation, massage, smooth meridian and circulatory system, the vitality is unimpeded, and the enthusiasm gathered in Dantian can reach all four limbs and eight sections.

At this time, the whole body is Tai Chi, like a ball spring, where is the place, where is the hair, the shot is a move, no need to consider whether it is a combination, reaching the high level of "fist no fist, no intention".
Just as Chen Xin said that his temperament is strong, and the muscles and veins of the whole body are all accompanied by the appearance of the outside. In the actual combat, he can skillfully use the skills such as falling, getting the law, and using "inch" The servant is outside the Zhang. What is the "inch"? The power of the hair within a foot is called the inch.

This kind of strength is unique to the inner boxing. The three described at the beginning of the article. The wonderful piece is a typical example of the use of the inch. The formation of the inch is not a day's work, it is difficult to form without hard work.

Recently, it has been proposed that "strength road" says: "gluten" is the feeling of power orientation caused by the unified coordination of muscles, that is, "gluten" is composed of muscle force, although it is not visible, it can be felt. If understood from the cell's point of view, these tendons are the result of an orderly arrangement of muscle cell charges, allowing nerve cells to control directed muscle contraction. To produce such a fine way of exercising muscles, it is impossible to achieve the results without proper and arduous training.

Therefore, the change in the internal structure of the human body is microscopic, is a change in the blood volume of the meridian, is a change in the charge of the cell, and is a change in the adjustment of muscle coordination. In the process, your muscle bonds, bones, joints, ligaments, etc. under the action of muscle force, there will be some invisible fine-tuning, although it can not be seen, but some phenomena can be felt.

Taijiquan can train the "fascia road" that can't be seen by the naked eye. This "strength road" spreads all over the body. The higher the kungfu, the more dense and dense the "strength road", the greater the internal strength (" Taijiquan internal strength and human bones and bones structural changes 》). Therefore, there is no scientific argument yet, just a hypothesis.

The fourth stage, the top stage. After practicing refined gas, practicing gasification, practicing the gods, and practicing the virtual, the whole body has a sense of current, and the outsiders touch the soft as the cotton has a sense of numbness. At this time, the internal power has reached a point of perfection.

Wang Zongyue clearly pointed out in the "Tai Chi Boxing" that the way to obtain the achievement of Taijiquan is "from the age of familiarity and comprehension, from understanding to the order and the gods." The top stage is the "God" stage.

https://twgreatdaily.com/jbsDvmwBJleJMoPMU45G.html[/quote]
Last edited by windwalker on Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:31 pm, edited 4 times in total.
windwalker
Wuji
 
Posts: 10544
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 4:08 am

Re: Thoughts on Qi

Postby cloudz on Fri Sep 13, 2019 3:38 am

Ok cool, I'm going to print this out and read it, seems as though you've put some thought into it.
Thanks for sharing, if i have anythings to add, or something constructive, or even some repulsion.. I'll let you know eh.

regards
Regards
George

London UK
cloudz
Great Old One
 
Posts: 3393
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 3:00 am
Location: London UK

Re: Thoughts on Qi

Postby Appledog on Fri Sep 13, 2019 3:47 am

cloudz wrote:Ok cool, I'm going to print this out and read it, seems as though you've put some thought into it.
Thanks for sharing, if i have anythings to add, or something constructive, or even some repulsion.. I'll let you know eh.

regards


Thanks. For the record, I put absolutely no thought into this post whatsoever. It is not a logical construction of points nor does it attempt to prove anything or justify any beliefs.

It's simply what I feel when I practice.
Appledog
Wuji
 
Posts: 941
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 9:39 pm

Re: Thoughts on Qi

Postby Bao on Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:51 am

Saw that Sigman put up a new video on Vimeo “sink the qi”. He tried to explain what people mean or do when they say “sink the qi”, I guess. There was only rudimentary, basic things and far from any kind of skill involved in what he showed and definitely no qi. Looking at it I thought again about how useless this name “qi” is. You experience what you experience. There’s no need explaining a name through what you experience and no need to explain what you experience through this word. IMO. One person’s explanation is just as good as another one. Or rather equally useless.
Last edited by Bao on Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
Thoughts on Tai Chi (My Tai Chi blog)
- Storms make oaks take deeper root. -George Herbert
- To affect the quality of the day, is the highest of all arts! -Walden Thoreau
Bao
Great Old One
 
Posts: 9007
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 12:46 pm
Location: High up north

Re: Thoughts on Qi

Postby charles on Fri Sep 13, 2019 6:58 am

Bao wrote:...I thought again about how useless this name “qi” is. You experience what you experience. There’s no need explaining a name through what you experience and no need to explain what you experience through this word. IMO. One person’s explanation is just as good as another one. Or rather equally useless.


In the English language there is the word "energy". It has numerous meanings that depend upon context. For example, someone who is feeling tired might say, "My energy level is low today". Another person might speak of "psychic energy" or "spiritual energy". Yet another might speak about heat energy, potential energy, kinetic energy, nuclear energy or work, and so on. In sort, the word "energy" is a "bucket-term" that means many things depending upon context. If one has, for example, no knowledge of science, speaking about potential energy is open to however that person chooses, or not, to interpret the meaning. Having no knowledge of the term, they might use it to describe a potentially heated meeting of people as having a lot of potential energy - an interpretation that is largely of their own making.

Like the English term "energy", the Chinese term "qi" is also a bucket-term who's meaning depends upon, first, the context in which the term is used, second, the knowledge of the person hearing or using the term and, third, how the person hearing or using the term interprets its meaning. In the right context, with someone familiar with the meaning of the term in that context and with someone interpreting the term as it was intended to be interpreted, it can be a very useful term, much as the English term "energy" can be. Interpreted incorrectly, by someone with no first-hand knowledge of the term, it can be, as you state, a useless, vague term.

The way in which Taijiquan - and some other arts - are traditionally taught, the term "qi" is used to mean a variety of things. If a student does not understand the context - what is being referred to - then the use of the term will be misunderstood. A simple example of that is having a teacher "hit someone with their qi". Many, particularly Western students, have interpreted that literally to mean that there is some mysterious force, that acts at a distance, without the need to physically touch an opponent, that the teacher is using to strike the opponent. With that misinterpretation, it is a useless term - less than useless because it potentially leads the student in the wrong direction. One of the things necessary to progress in such an environment is to distinguish and understand the numerous meanings of the single term in its various contexts. Another, less traditional approach, is to avoid using ambiguous terms who's correct interpretation depends heavily on context.

Language is about communication. Effective communication requires using words and terms carefully so that they cannot be misinterpreted to mean something different than what was intended. That begs the question of how effective an individual teacher wants to be in an art traditionally kept largely secret.

In general - there are exceptions - Taijiquan has just about the worst possible pedagogy of any discipline. It's as if the masters of yesteryear got together and said, "Ok, so how do we go about making it as difficult as possible for students to learn this art?" and what they came up with is what is traditionally taught.
Last edited by charles on Fri Sep 13, 2019 7:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
charles
Wuji
 
Posts: 1727
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 1:01 pm

Re: Thoughts on Qi

Postby windwalker on Fri Sep 13, 2019 6:59 am

.Looking at it I thought again about how useless this name “qi” is. You experience what you experience. There’s no need explaining a name through what you experience and no need to explain what you experience through this word. IMO. One person’s explanation is just as good as another one. Or rather equally useless.


Makes no sense. "Qi" within the culture the word originated from is defined by feelings that those who experience have named. Indicating that they feel the same thing which is called "qi" .

"Qi" itself has yet to be explained as to what causes the feelings or the mechanisms that cause them.
windwalker
Wuji
 
Posts: 10544
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 4:08 am

Re: Thoughts on Qi

Postby windwalker on Fri Sep 13, 2019 7:03 am

:-* There are eight feelings, sensations that are associated with "qi" there is no definitive definition of what it is yet that I have read.

Many studies going on attempting to define and analyze what causes the sensation and effects.
Last edited by windwalker on Fri Sep 13, 2019 7:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
windwalker
Wuji
 
Posts: 10544
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 4:08 am

Re: Thoughts on Qi

Postby Bao on Fri Sep 13, 2019 7:13 am

"Qi" within the culture the word originated from is defined by feelings that those who experience have named. Indicating that they feel the same thing which is called "qi" .


Qi is originally a philosophical term used to explain things about the Universe, its origin, the changes between the seasons and weather. It has had many different connotations and use throughout history. When people try to communicate using this term, there are always many mixed and sometimes different contradicting ways of interpreting "qi" that more or less automatically destroy a common understanding.

"Qi" itself has yet to be explained as to what causes the feelings or the mechanisms that cause them.


IMO, people in these and similar kind of arts who speak about qi must first agree about what they feel and if they mean the same.
Thoughts on Tai Chi (My Tai Chi blog)
- Storms make oaks take deeper root. -George Herbert
- To affect the quality of the day, is the highest of all arts! -Walden Thoreau
Bao
Great Old One
 
Posts: 9007
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 12:46 pm
Location: High up north

Next

Return to Xingyiquan - Baguazhang - Taijiquan

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 29 guests