Chi – The Fundamental Mystery and Miracle -Danny Dreyer
Chi (pronounced chee and also spelled qi or ch’i) is energy – the life giving, vital energy that unites body, mind and spirit. A concept that has its origins in early Chinese philosophy, chi has been likened to the yogic concept of prana and could also be thought of as life force.
In Chi Living, Chi Running and Chi Walking basic principles of T’ai Chi are employed to optimize the flow of energy in your body, to reduce the use of force for moving forward, and thereby reduce the risk of injury, while maximizing the benefits of healthy movement and healthy living.
You don’t need to know anything about T’ai Chi to benefit from all that Chi Living family of products and services has to offer. You can, however, benefit directly from the wisdom gleaned by millions of people for millennia who have studied and practiced the flow of chi through the body.
Great strides can be made to direct and improve the flow of chi with simple exercises and practices. It is always worth the effort. For instance, when your structure is aligned with good posture and your muscles and joints are relaxed, chi energy will flow through your body in an unobstructed life-giving way. It is amazing how well our body responds to proper care even if we’ve neglected it or been abusive for a long time. This is part of the function of Chi.
When your Chi is strong, balanced, flowing and focused you exude energy and good health.
Good health and strong, balanced Chi are almost one and the same.
In Chinese Medicine one of the causes of ill health is the stagnation or blockage of Chi. In the best-selling Between Heaven and Earth, A Guide to Chinese Medicine, authors Harriet Beinfield and Efrem Korngold write, “That which animates life is called Qi.
The concept of Qi is absolutely at the heart of Chinese Medicine. Life is defined by Qi even though it is impossible to grasp, measure, quantify, see or isolate. Immaterial yet essential, the material world is formed by it.
An invisible force known only by its effects, Qi is recognized indirectly by what it fosters, generates and protects. Matter is Qi taking shape. Mountains forming, forests growing, rivers streaming, and creatures proliferating are all manifestations of Qi.
In the human being, all functions of the body and mind are manifestations of Qi: sensing, cogitating, feeling, digesting, stirring, and propagating.… It is the fundamental mystery and miracle.” Master George Xu, our T’ai Chi teacher, asks us to focus on our dantien, our center and to allow all movement to come from that place. The energy moves from the center into the body and into the limbs to create movement.
Why? Because Chi is stronger than muscles, and movement that comes from Chi is more deeply powerful. More powerful than muscles? In the West, muscles are almost akin to a god the way we worship them and what they represent. Covers of magazines and TV commercials extol rock hard abs and buns of steel.
What is stronger than rock and steel? In T’ai Chi we quickly learn that muscles are no match for the power of Chi. Like the flow of water that created the Grand Canyon the power of Chi takes you much further and faster than vulnerable muscles whose duration is very short lived.
Your dantien is the best home for your Chi and the best place for you to focus your energy so that you can come from a balanced, whole place in yourself. Your dantien is just below your navel and a few inches in toward your spine.
In Chi Running, Chi Walking and Chi Living we encourage all movement, all action, all choices to come from this center, that deep place in yourself that is home to your greatest potential and power.
- Zen Shiatsu Shizuto Masunaga Video (Part 2of4)
- The Effects of Shiatsu on Lower Back Pain-pubmed study