By Jace Lee
It seems there is a real lack of a true understanding of Chi and what it actually is. There is the general description that everyone touts, that it is a spiritual energy in all things. But it is much more. I think that because Chi has a programming about it that promotes growth and healing it can be used and cultivated passively. By just hold a certain state of mind while healing someone or while practicing a movement, Chi seems to promote wellness.
Cultivating and using Chi directly seems to be lost knowledge. Fourteen years ago, I discovered I could move Chi and have been practicing it as well as experimenting and exploring it as well. I did this while abstaining from any outside influence and have recently been exploring where Chi is at in the world. I am surprised to see that how I understand Chi is not that different, it is just that my experience of it is a more intimate. See for yourself.
Understanding Chi is one thing, communicating it is another. It is a tough concept to put into words. I have thought long and hard about it, and with every practice it becomes clearer. Below is an excerpt from my book Qiyoda, I try to give as detailed a description as possible. It is hard to talk about it without showing you how to feel and move it. You can see that in the video on my website home page, www.Innerverse.world.
“So far in my experience, I find there are three types of Chi. There is the Chi that runs your body. If you had no brain or were brain dead and your body remained alive, that is your life sustaining Chi. Then there is the Chi that you will learn to feel and use, I call this mind energy. I call it this because it gives a clearer idea of what it is but I will still refer to it as Chi. And then there is the Chi that is related to sexual creative energy that has an emotional texture to it, this is a deeper more powerful spiritual energy. This Chi comes from practice; strength training, strengthening the will and opening the body (physically and energetically) through spiritual and creative practices and meditation. I would consider this more as a “life force” energy than mind energy. I like to use this description because it feels powerful, like a driving force. I will talk more about this at the end of the chapter.
Mind Energy. For the moment it makes sense to call it that. When I feel an area of my body and then move that awareness around my body it feels and acts like an energy. When I take that awareness and shape it or spin it or move it fast, I feel the difference and it feels like energy. What I think and imagine in my body, I feel. Therefore, I concluded that these sensations are Chi and that Chi is linked to the mind. I would not say it is mind, although it can be seen that way, because Chi has other aspects of its own. I see Chi as an interface between mind and body. It is a way for the mind to move awareness around the body and affect the body. This simple ability that we have to feel and use the body has so much potential that lay hidden behind the obvious all these years.
What Chi arts today don’t realize is that if we feel sensations of Chi through our nervous system and our mind moves Chi, then the sensations we feel at any time must also be Chi. Also, if Chi is affected by the mind and moved by mind and we all have Chi, then it is safe to say that our thoughts are affecting our Chi all the time. Which in turn is affecting our body. This is an extremely important concept to note. I really can’t emphasize it enough. The mind is the root of our life. Our thoughts not only affect our body, they create our actions, create other’s perception of ourselves and affects our decisions. This is why mind-body arts are so effective, they are cultivating a relaxed and focused mind and then putting their attention on their body. In effect the body follows the mind. There is more to a mind-body practice than this, but this is the main reason that mind-body practices today are so effective. Now if they understood the purpose of a mind-body practice, as a preparatory art, and how to cultivate the mind-body connection, they could be even more effective.
The strangest aspect of mind energy Chi is that it is not bound by the physical parameters of the body. It can be pushed into another person’s body with visible physical results that can be physically experienced by the receiver. It can also be projected at a distance, with the same results. This aspect of the Chi falls into the category of intuition, psychic sense and energy work. This develops naturally as a person strengthens their skill and sensitivity of Chi. It can also be projected out to gain a sense of our environment and the people in it. Which we do all the time. We see it when looking at someone and they feel it and look back at us. Like the saying goes, “Where the mind goes, Chi goes.” And what is on your mind, goes with it. Reiki is an example of an energy art that teaches people how to use energy for psychic distance healing.”
There you have it, there are actually a few different expressions of energy (Chi). Both the mind energy and the “life-force” Chi are moved by the mind. Mind-energy is simple, when you are feeling your body and not just what your body is sensing, this is Chi. It takes concentration to feel your body. How many people really try to feel their body? Or go further and feel every muscle to the bone and be able to move each muscle with a thought. We can have such mental control over our bodies and Chi (mind-energy) is how we connect and move the body. Now with this information, people can feel and move Chi right away, and cultivate it directly.
Today move people are taught to imagine the Chi doing something as they practice and eventually you will feel it. This is actually backwards. In my experience I feel the Chi first and as I use it and move it, the visuals of Chi start to come naturally. In my book I describe step by step how to cultivate Chi, use it to heal, release tension, move the body, and how to incorporate it into other arts like massage, Yoga and any movement practice.
Innerverse 