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“A nineteenth-century Taoist ink drawing by an unknown Chinese artist, showing the circulation of “ch’i” (or “qì”) through the human body. The early Taoist philosophers and alchemists considered ch’i – which translates literally as breath or air, and figuratively as “life force” or “material energy” – to be a vital force found in the breath and bodily fluids. With the help of different techniques, one could learn to alter and control the movement of ch’i within one’s body, attaining physical longevity and spiritual power. It is a central and underlying principle found in Chinese medicine, philosophy, and martial arts. This remarkable late-nineteenth-century image is originally from a plank found in the White Cloud Taoist Temple in Beijing.” - The Public Domain Review: A project of the Open Knowledge Foundation, “Circulation of Ch’i (1886)”
I have often written and spoken about chi or ki as it is termed in Japanese martial arts. Chi or Ki are not originally marital discipline terms but actual medical terms as well as terms used in ancient Chinese classics such as the I Ching and the Tao Te Ching - both classics studied and absorbed by both Okinawan and Japanese cultures.
It is not about some mystical force that one can project as some believe. It is simply the development of our internal physical attributes toward health, fitness and mental/spiritual mind-body-states and so on. It also is about using our minds and bodies at the epitome of its natural efficient potential in all things be it life itself, longevity and in martial arts self-defense its energy toward application of force and power.
What I mean is through breathing properly and applying physiokinetic principles along with both philosophical and theoretical principles we can therefore make use of the technique principle in martial applications of self-defense but that is not the full extent of chi/ki utilization, development and achievement.
To allow fluids or chemicals of the body along with other things like the nervous system we can create a body that will last and perform. In martial arts mental and physical performance are critical to martial discipline and application. Note: take some time to research the bodies integumentary system as well because that is part of the whole that protects from bodily damage, i.e., loss of water (hydration/dehydration) or abrasion from outside and it is composed of the skin including hair, nails, etc.). All comprise what they called our “Chi or Ki” systems.
Now, with that covered enough to stimulate further research the only part of the quote I tend to question is controlling the movement of chi and spiritual power. There is not enough explanation leaving it for the individual to perceive a meaning, a meaning that may not address the actual intent of the author.
Controlling movement is a misnomer in my view. I have tried to discover if there is some mental way we can control fluids, the nervous system or the integumentary system. Yes, you can control your breathing and through such breathing methods cause effects on the body. Breathing out when applying techniques is one way but often the dynamic tension application is not conducive to force and power but rather a bleed of of energy reducing force and power.
I do know that breathing does, at least in my body, effect the heart beat thus the circulatory pressure called “Blood pressure.” If you study adrenal stress conditions you know that the heart beat level effects such things as the release of said adrenal chemicals (you could refer to them as fluids - kinda). We can effect things that way.
In the end it comes down to the limitations of the body whereby through training and practice we adjust the body and mind to maximize what our bodies capabilities have to deal with overall. We have only so much strength; we have only so much mass; we have only so much speed; we have only so much energy and so on. How we manage and use these are key and that is where chi/ki come in, how we maximize those systems to achieve maximum output of the body and mind. One key aspect, there are no limits on what the mind can achieve psychologically and that is called mind-set and mind-state.
In a nutshell we cannot alter or control the movement of chi but we can train our bodies and minds to allow it to move with the least amount of restrictions often caused by misuse of our bodies, i.e., when we fail to achieve alignment; fail to use centeredness; fail to achieve proper structure; fail to feed the body, mind and body systems the appropriate fuel; we fail to breathe and many other factors. You could say this means alteration and/or control but in essence that is not exactly true.
It is more about training and practicing to release our body and minds potential where failure simply creates obstacles, etc., that reduce our finite available energy, force and power. This is the true nature of what I believe the ancients meant by Chi.
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