What is Chi in plain language?

[Towel Snapper]

No one seems to know the answer to this, WTF is Chi?

It seems to get lost in translation from Chinese to English, or people simply have no idea what it is Chinese or otherwise, or it is a partial myth based on something real but explained in a way that attaches lots of BS believed 100s of years ago when there was no science.

What the hell is it?

The most tangible response Ive ever heard is "its relaxation", the type of relaxation that makes your strikes faster and heavier.

 

[Touch Of Death]

No one seems to know the answer to this, WTF is Chi?

It seems to get lost in translation from Chinese to English, or people simply have no idea what it is Chinese or otherwise, or it is a partial myth based on something real but explained in a way that attaches lots of BS believed 100s of years ago when there was no science.

What the hell is it?

The most tangible response Ive ever heard is "its relaxation", the type of relaxation that makes your strikes faster and heavier.

For all practical purposes, Chi is the whole being bigger than the sum of its parts. It is real enough, for me.

 

[K-man]

And it's real enough for me. Perhaps before you go down this rabbit warren you might look at some of the threads from about 6 years ago. Things got quite intense.
:asian:

 

[Touch Of Death]

Consider there are levels of fitness that you can actively be working on: Emotional; physical; spiritual (will to live); perceptual; and mental. If you are lacking in any one area, it will drag the others down with it; so, Chi might possibly be a sign all your ducks are in a row.

 

[Towel Snapper]

and it's real enough for me. Perhaps before you go down this rabbit warren you might look at some of the threads from about 6 years ago. Things got quite intense.
:asian:

lmao!

 

[Towel Snapper]

Consider there are levels of fitness that you can actively be working on: Emotional; physical; spiritual (will to live); perceptual; and mental. If you are lacking in any one area, it will drag the others down with it; so, Chi might possibly be a sign all your ducks are in a row.

i STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT CHI IS, i PRESUME THAT WAS A CLEVER WAY OF TELLING ME BUT IT WENT OVER MY HEAD

 

[K-man]

i STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT CHI IS, i PRESUME THAT WAS A CLEVER WAY OF TELLING ME BUT IT WENT OVER MY HEAD

Perhaps if you were to do a Google search there is a heap of information available. Some is total BS, some is good information. Perhaps you could do some research first then ask more specific questions. Chi/Ki means different things to different people.
:asian:

 

[Tez3]

Consider there are levels of fitness that you can actively be working on: Emotional; physical; spiritual (will to live); perceptual; and mental. If you are lacking in any one area, it will drag the others down with it; so, Chi might possibly be a sign all your ducks are in a row.

Actually this is a very good explanation, I thought it easy to understand but perhaps I'm just a smart ****. :lfao:

 

[Cirdan]

i STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT CHI IS, i PRESUME THAT WAS A CLEVER WAY OF TELLING ME BUT IT WENT OVER MY HEAD

Perhaps you need to improve your reflexes.

 

[K-man]

Actually this is a very good explanation, I thought it easy to understand but perhaps I'm just a smart ****. :lfao:

Of course greater understanding comes with greater age! <ducks quickly>

 

[Xue Sheng]

simplest definition based on translation, Qi is energy
simplest concept to understand; strong qi you are healthy, weak qi you are weak, no qi you are dead.

Things get to the west and we tend to spiritualize and romanticize things, sometimes based on translation errors.... it is not all that complicated

 

[Towel Snapper]

simplest definition based on translation, Qi is energy
simplest concept to understand; strong qi you are healthy, weak qi you are weak, no qi you are dead.

Things get to the west and we tend to spiritualize and romanticize things, sometimes based on translation errors.... it is not all that complicated

So im healthy I must have strong Qi then, but why use the word Qi or energy, why not say well nourished with plenty of spare glucose energy?

How does it affect punching power? Is it as simple as a poorly nourished unhealthy person is going to be pysically weak and not punch as hard as a healthy person?

 

[Touch Of Death]

So im healthy I must have strong Qi then, but why use the word Qi or energy, why not say well nourished with plenty of spare glucose energy?

How does it affect punching power? Is it as simple as a poorly nourished unhealthy person is going to be pysically weak and not punch as hard as a healthy person?

Because being well fed is not the same thing as Chi.

 

[Touch Of Death]

That would make my dog a zen master.

 

[yak sao]

So im healthy I must have strong Qi then, but why use the word Qi or energy, why not say well nourished with plenty of spare glucose energy?

How does it affect punching power? Is it as simple as a poorly nourished unhealthy person is going to be pysically weak and not punch as hard as a healthy person?

I've heard it explained as the electrical impulses that flow inside our bodies.

Chinese language is different. Their alphabet is composed of characters that can express a certain object or it can express whole ideas or concepts. I think chi falls into this latter category.

 

[mograph]

So im healthy I must have strong Qi then, but why use the word Qi or energy, why not say well nourished with plenty of spare glucose energy?

How does it affect punching power? Is it as simple as a poorly nourished unhealthy person is going to be physically weak and not punch as hard as a healthy person?

I'm with Xuesheng.
Adding to that ... I look at Qi like "zip." My friend Franco has a lot of "zip." He's quite healthy, energetic and vivacious. So it could be said that he has good Qi, or a lot of Qi. Now, he may have a lot of it (good quantity), but he may be nervous and erratic (bad quality). Calm, but with much in reserve would be good quantity and quality. Probably.

Or ... look at it this way. Imagine early Chinese studying people who were healthy and those who were sick. Those who were vibrant and those who were draggy. So ... what would be the difference between them? Well, the vibrant people had a lot more of ... something. They were full of life, the "whatever" that makes us live: they just have more of it. So the people studying them called this "whatever" thing ... "Qi." It relates to breath. It's just a way of describing something that is observed.

Now then ... can Franco punch? He has to be trained to use his body to punch effectively. But if his Qi were low, if he were draggy or unhealthy, he probably wouldn't be able to punch with much power. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Now, you can increase what you have through sensitivity, concentration and training. To make this scientific, consider how the brain can affect the body through the sympathetic nervous system: see a charging rhino and the pupils dilate, heart beats faster, breathing gets short, digestion shuts down and so on. This all comes from the brain after seeing a charging rhino and thinking "move it!" The brain affects the body, or the Yi affects the Qi. In my opinion, doing so basically improves your bodily functioning.
For more science, check out Dr. Shin Lin's work. He's a Chen practitioner, if I recall. Nice fellow: I was his tackling dummy in a demo.
UC Irvine - Faculty Profile System

The Chinese didn't invent Chi. It's simply a word for something we see all the time: the "whatever" that makes us go and makes chemical reactions happen. But instead of calling it "zip" or "Fred", the Chinese call it "Qi."

... but I would be wary of people who treat Qi like The Force, as some mystical electric-force-field-raygun thing that you add to a punch to make it stronger. We should also be wary of westerners (and easterners) who treat all things Oriental as mysterious and magical. This is orientalism.

Isn't there another forum about Qi?

 

[Xue Sheng]

So im healthy I must have strong Qi then, but why use the word Qi or energy, why not say well nourished with plenty of spare glucose energy?

How does it affect punching power? Is it as simple as a poorly nourished unhealthy person is going to be pysically weak and not punch as hard as a healthy person?

actually qi is a translation into pinyin of this &#27668; which is the (simplified) Chinese character for it.

Not wanting to get into the actual Chinese language and the way it works because frankly that discussion is likely beyond me. Qi = energy and if you are talking Glucose energy there would be another Chinese character written with &#27668;. There are various types of Qi (energy)

As for punching it is also not all that complicated. I already posted in one of your Taiji threads about Yi, Qi, Li and Sandao (not Sanda). Look into those and you will see how it effects punching. One note on Sandao to avoid translation issues; Shen is translated as spirit but that is not spirituality to the Chinese, that is simply mind or thinking. Shen is one of those translation errors based on spiritualization and/or romanticization of Chinese by westerners

 

[Touch Of Death]

i STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT CHI IS, i PRESUME THAT WAS A CLEVER WAY OF TELLING ME BUT IT WENT OVER MY HEAD

Ok try this... Chi is the sum of your levels of fitness, and you want a straight line. (-----), but most people are a (V) or maybe a (W).

 

[Vajramusti]

Shen is one of those translation errors based on spiritualization and/or romanticization of Chinese by westerners

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Lotts of errors due to mistranslation and smuggling in unwarranted assumptions.

 

[Argus]

In Japanese:

気

き

spirit; mind; heart / nature; disposition / motivation; intention / mood; feelings / atmosphere; essence

It seems slightly different from the Chinese translation, though some Aikido guys definitely take it more in that direction.

I always wondered if "mind"/"intention" might be a good translation. I'm not one to believe in "chi" as a concrete force or energy, but I do believe in the power of visualization and mental imagery as it translates to physical use of one's body. Sometimes, mental imagery or proper "intent" is of much importance to moving/acting correctly.

To use Aikido as an example, you could as easily classify it as "blending with an opponent's intent" as "blending with an opponent's energy," and the mystical "unbendable arm" through which one "extends ki outwards" sounds a lot like the mentality, or intent that we have in the first section of Siu Lim Tao in Wing Chun to cultivate what we refer to as "lat sau jik chung." Or heck, even the way you control recoil when shooting a handgun, by "wanting to extend it outwards" as opposed to "wanting to pull it back down."

I know that's kind of a free interpretation, but that's my intuitive understanding... or perception, at any rate - be it right or wrong.