# What Chi feels like



## Skankatron Ltd (Feb 21, 2005)

I'll probably get different answers to this, but I'm interested in what other peoples experience of chi is like. I feel it as very warm and kind of as though you were to blush with your entire body. Anyone else feel like that or different? What prompted this is that today we did a simple warmup excercise in which we bent at the hips putting our fists between our thighs and stomach and breathing through the stomach. Within several seconds my body temperature SHOT through the roof and I was sweating in about 10 seconds. Keep in mind I don't ussually break a sweat after running a mile. Wow.


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## Darksoul (Feb 22, 2005)

-Well, all I know is everytime I practice kung-fu I can feel a buzz in my kidneys. Then again, there are other times when I feel that. They say "chi" starts in the kidneys, so take care of those. As for how it moves through the rest of the body...they also say "chi" is lifeforce, and I feel that every moment. Movement is life, and I'm going to say that "chi" is never still, even if its not moving, hence the buzz. But I have a ways to go before I can really harness it.


A---)


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## Jade Tigress (Feb 22, 2005)

Skankatron Ltd said:
			
		

> I'll probably get different answers to this, but I'm interested in what other peoples experience of chi is like. I feel it as very warm and kind of as though you were to blush with your entire body. Anyone else feel like that or different? What prompted this is that today we did a simple warmup excercise in which we bent at the hips putting our fists between our thighs and stomach and breathing through the stomach. Within several seconds my body temperature SHOT through the roof and I was sweating in about 10 seconds. Keep in mind I don't ussually break a sweat after running a mile. Wow.


I feel it as a warmth like you described also. I took a Reiki seminar and could feel a tingling in my fingers in addition to intense heat when practicing on someone. It would get more warm or tingly in certain areas on the person. I think depending on where energy was most needed. But I also feel a sort of polar opposite, like magnets repelling, if I slowly bring my palms together. They'll kind of stop at certain point and repel when we've been doing chi excercises in class.


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## Mr_Scissors (Feb 22, 2005)

Feels like when you put your hand between repellant magnets. In other words it feels to me like a static electro-magnetic field. :yinyang:

I am interested in this view that chi beins in the kidneys. I have always heard that the kidneys are one of three "warmers", the lungs, the stomach and the kidneys. Could you elaborate on the "chi comes from the kidneys" point of view?


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## Skankatron Ltd (Feb 22, 2005)

I can answer that, i think. Ideally, correct me if i'm wrong, when doing martial arts you GENERALLY want to have the power come from the kidneys. Here, let me check my meridian chart a sec... Ok, I think a good reason is this: the kidney meridians run through the torso all the way down to the feet and (drum roll) the 'bubbling wells' point on the foot, where one (according to my master at least) to stand. There are some techniques, though, that should come from different places like the heart, liver, or stomach. 

The magnet thing! Yes! Here's an easy experiment: have your hands about a foot apart and bring them together to within about an inch of eacher and separate them again. Pretend you're compressing something when you do this and expanding it further when you separate them. Soon you should feel some repulsion, but! If you offset your hands (so high part of one palm is over the low part of another) you should feel your hands pull towards eachother (at least somewhat). If you think THAT'S cool, do the same movements to your temples. Actually, I don't really suggest it unless you know what's happening... I actually gave myself a headache by doing that. Fun stuff.

A lot of times I'll just be sitting or something and suddenly what feels like a rush of energy will start at the top of my head and travel down (or partially down) to my feet. In fact, that's happening right now. It's wierd. Half an hour ago I did like 5 tai chi moves and was instantly warmer. I think I'm getting better.


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## Trainwreck (Feb 22, 2005)

The way I feel it is as a tingling sensation _underneath_ the skin.  It usually starts around the heart and then surfaces to the rest of my body.  Causes some interesting effects on the skin.


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## Eldritch Knight (Feb 22, 2005)

When I do internal training, I feel it as a tingling sensation on my skin, focusing on my extremities, but generally permeating my whole body. However, when I meditate, the tingling sensation is evenly distributed throughout my body, with strong, overlapping sensations pulsating at my chakras.


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## dmax999 (Feb 22, 2005)

A note on the kidney thing.  Back when that was written I don't believe the Chinese knew that much about what we now call Western Medicine.  They didn't really know what the kidneys were for, they just made something up for them that made sense at the time.  In addition the translation could be flawed from Chinese to English.  The point?  Don't take any of the organs named in the use of chi literally.

Skankatron is very correct about his point of the meridian going through the kidneys to the bubbling well of the feet.  That point on the bottom of the feet is a kidney strike in Chinese pressure points or Dim Mak.  Reason is not that striking that point causes what we call kidney failure.  Instead if that spot is injured then your strikes cannot be as powerful because your striking power generates from that point on the foot.  By striking this you limit to one degree or other your opponent's level of chi, and as such their functioning of their kidney (which is supposed to generate chi), as the ancient Chinese understood it.

You just have to remember that if the literal translations of some of these things don't make sense, it may not be that you don't understand but that the names chosen are poor with our better understanding of what the organs are for.


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## lulflo (Feb 22, 2005)

I am taking an exerpt of what I learned within a REIKI Seminar that may provide some insight.

UNDERSTANDING REIKI.
  KI follows thought and breath
  Blood follows KI
  Like an amoeba, our reaction to a stress causes us to contract emotionally,
  physically, spiritually, mentally
  High vibration is health.
  It is expansion, awareness, warmth, life.
  Low vibration is sickness, a stagnation or blockage of blood, thought, breath and KI
  It is a contraction, coldness, death
  REIKI means Spiritual KI
  KI is matter at the verge of becomming energy
  energy is at the verge of becoming matter.
  KI is the binding force, the vibration created through the interaction of Yin & Yang.
  Solid, Liquid, Gas
  Molecules vibrating at different rates of speed
  Raising vibrations increases circulation & health of blood, thought, Ki and breath
  REIKI is a high frequency energy used to transform and unlock diseased KI
  Like a moist sponge tapped into the source of water
 When we touch another sponge we first feel rejuvenated, The water flows at the speed it is needed. The water stops flowing when the sponges are saturated...

So to answer the question, I would say that Chi feels like an absence of thought (internal dialogue) combined with a direct feeling or understanding of the present moment. I think the heat is always there, which is why it can be accessed at any time with _Intent.  _The difference again is the deliberate activity of making it so. In Tai Chi (or the little that I have experienced), when I am doing the motions to learn a move, I feel nothing, because I am thinking of getting the motion down, but when I feel the move and meditate while doing it, I am feeling myself in another state of mind, one that is so focused and energetic, that I can do things that under ordinary circumstances, would be almost impossible. (like the zone, etc)

  Farang - Larry​


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## Mr_Scissors (Feb 23, 2005)

Thanks for the replies regarding the Kidneys. I disagree with the "bubbling well" notion as the source for power however. In general I would say most power is generated by moving the hips. 

As for the source of chi, what do you guys feel about dan t'ien vs. kidneys ?


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## pete (Feb 24, 2005)

ok gang, i don't want to be a party pooper... but, don't let the warm hands and the magnetic sensation in between the hands fool ya... or, more appropriately, inhibit a truer experience with chi.

hands are easy, because those are the things we always use to feel something. we reach out with our hands and fingers to see if an object is hot, cold, lumpy, sharp, smooth, rough, etc...  we typically do not reach out with our shoulder or tricep, or lower back... right.   

but to feel chi, or life force energy, or however you may want to describe it, the whole body should be involved. so, to take the simple experiment of moving your hands in and out... 

try getting into a relaxed posture with all your joints opened and relaxed, feet flat to the floor (bubbling well point is connected to the ground), tailbone is weighted down to the floor and crown of the head is suspended up to the ceiling, opening the spine.  now form a big circle with your arms as if you're hugging a big tree.  expand outward 3 dimensionally, opening your back as if the outsides of your arms are reaching for the walls of the room, as your hands pull away... you should also feel as if you feet are sinking below the surface of the floor.

then contract, feeling the insides of your arms are squeezing the "tree" while your hand come back closer without touching. all the while you continue to sink into the ground, but at this point you feel a more pronouced connection or pulling upward from the crown of your head. 

repeat several times slowly...

pete.


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## Ka'alako (Feb 25, 2005)

All I know is, your trunk begins to feel as strong as steel. After that point, you can send that steel-like "strength" to various parts of the body. The body parts get tough and pain resistant.


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## Skankatron Ltd (Feb 25, 2005)

"ok gang, i don't want to be a party pooper... but, don't let the warm hands and the magnetic sensation in between the hands fool ya... or, more appropriately, inhibit a truer experience with chi."

I can see how this could be a problem for some, but I approach all things like this with upmost scepticism and objectivity (at least as is possible). This involves not scrutiny, because then I would undoubtedly get reverse results, but distancing myself and letting things happen.

I actually believe that the hand example is more an example of external energy (aka-aura), but it was just a fun experiment I came up with. There are major energy points in the hands; there are also major energy points in the feet and were they sensitive enough you could probably also do this experiment with your feet. Probably any body part if you're sensitive enough.

nuff said fer now.


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