If You Believe in Qi, Clap Your Hands!

Qi, or Chi (sometimes spelled Ch’i), is variously defined as internal energy, life force, intrinsic universal substance, eternal power, vibration, breath, blood and spirit. Although the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu does not refer to it as Qi, it speaks similarly of the Tao as:

It flows through all things
Inside and outside, and returns
To the origin of all things

Western science (particularly Western medicine) tends to be skeptical about the existence of Qi. As my ninth grade science teacher used to say, “If we can’t explain it, then it doesn’t exist.” Perhaps, but we can’t see the wind yet we can watch its movement through the trees. Many cultures (including Western ones) have concepts like Qi. Polynesian cultures have mana, a spiritual force existing in the universe, sometimes a vital life force flowing through the body. There is prana, related to breath in yoga and many other life/energy concepts such as awen (Welsh), asha (Iran), ka (Eqypt), ashe (Yoruba), orenda (Native American), ichor (Greek), and ki (Japan). Their commonality is in being an unseen, unknowable force underlying all things (even European Alchemists had the aether) which can be cultivated and used to obtain some goal, such as long life, spiritual awareness or cosmic balance. (Trust the Force, Luke!)

They say we are chock full of Qi as babies and begin to slowly lose it as we grow older. Qi isn’t static, it is always in motion, giving rise to the concepts of Yin and Yang (positive/negative, creative/destructive, etc.) According to Waysun Liao, writing in his chapter on Ch’i in his translation of the Tai Chi Classics, as Ch’i changes from one form to another it is called Yin Ch’i or Yang Ch’i. This constant balancing of Yin and Yang is the origin and nature of the universe.

We try to visualize Qi as a “thing” not blood nor breath, not electrical nerve energy nor kinetic muscle energy, but related to all these, which can be “moved” thereby balancing us in time and space. Qi is connected to the physical, but is set in motion by thought. Tai Chi masters talk about using intention rather than action. Again, from the Tao Te Ching:

The gentlest thing in the world
Overcomes the hardest thing in the world.
That which has no substance
Enters where there is no space.
This shows the value of non-action.

And from Waysun Liao:

Ch’i is not an element of any kind, but rather it is the origin of everything. Ch’I does not even create itself because, being immune to the laws of creation and destruction, it merely continues to exist.

Is Qi just another poetic Chinese metaphor? If we refuse to believe in it will it go away? Can we say that the health benefits from Tai Chi are do to muscle exercise and slow breath aerobics rather than the cultivation of Qi? Conversely, can we become so enamored with the mysticism of Qi that we indulge in false hopes that it is an elixir of life? Awareness of Qi and its cultivation through relaxation, breathing excercises. Qigong, Taijiquan, and meditation does seem to contribute to health and well being.