First, ki is misunderstood and glamorized by legendary mystically beliefs. Ki, or Chi in Chinese, is not mystical or mysterious. It is not some mystical force that can be projected or used in a manner outside of the individuals body. It is not some projection of energy, energy and power are manifested by the ki within the body and that is how the mystery began.
Ki or Chi is the name given to a physical phenomenon that lacked the ability to explain certain physical feats of the time in which the term was first used. Ki does exist and it does manifest in both energy and power. Not the type of energy as if you were measuring the energy of an explosion or the fictional energy of the force or the energy of nuclear material.
Ki or Chi is the word coined to explain the seemingly mystical means by which legends were born to the martial arts, both Chinese and Japanese, and are told in the stories passed down through the generations. It was used to explain the then perceive awesome physical abilities that are depicted as flying through the air, flowing through walls and feats of power beyond explanation. This is how it would have seemed to those who witnessed the prowess of early martial artists.
So, if it is not some mystical power like the Jedi force what is ki? What is Chi? Ki and Chi are the same thing only spelled different or represented by characters/ideograms perceived and translated differently but the actual ki/chi are the same. For ease of writing this post when I state "ki" I mean both "ki and chi."
Ki is very physical. It is an energy that is manifested in martial arts as power. It begins as first a mind-set. I mean by mind-set where your ability to generate physical energy and power though your attitude. If you think you are weak, you will be weak. If you think you cannot do something, you will not do it. Your mind-set through the attitude you have, use and project affects the type of energy and power that your body will have and use.
Ki is very physical. It is an energy that is manifested through the fuel you provide your body. Junk in, Junk out. That fuel, the food and water you consume, is processed and the level of vitamins, minerals and nutrients will provide for the level of energy within your body. If you put dirt in a gas thank the engine will not start. If you put diesal in a gas driven engine it might start and it might run, but with no energy and power. It will run rough and fail quickly. If you put regular gas in a high-octane performance engine it will run - poorly and with minimal power and energy and speed. If you place high-octane fuel in the tank you will get maximum energy, power and performance.
Ki is very physical. When the stomach and intestines process the fuel it passes its high-octane nutrients, etc. into the blood stream and that circulates through out the body providing it with fuel, energy, and power along with all the benefits.
Ki is very physical. If a person has studied a martial art and has a grasp of the fundamentals of martial systems then they know all the parts that make up the whole that is ki. Karate and other martial arts are about energy and power for conflict and violence and ki is a part of that process connected to the fundamental principals of martial systems. A person who can make them work in any discipline has great ki or chi. Simply put they have gained proficiency in optimizing their body and mind to achieve extraordinary things much like the legends of Chinese, Japanese and Okinawan history.
Ki is also gaseous. Breathing is another means by which we gather, gain and use energy and power. The manner in which you breath promotes low energy or high energy depending on what physical activity you do. Lack of proper breathing means no energy, no power, no ability.
There is an energy that truly routes through out your body. From the blood, to the organs, into the muscles, bones, tendons, cartilage, etc. that permeates your entire body. The level of that energy derived from things like the fuel you consume, the air you breath and the actions you take both mentally and physically all are ki and all circulate and all provide you energy levels, power levels and ability levels.
Ki is the result of the actions you take, the mind-set of your attitude and the limitations you place upon yourself in what you know, do and perform. Ki is the very essence of the physical and mental of your body and you control it all with your mind. The level of ki is determined by you and you alone. It is not external except in the manifestation of the mind and bodies actions resulting from fuel, mind-set, and physical actions/activities, etc.
Ki can even be defined by perceptions as demonstrated through one's aura. It is that distance your mind perceives and detects as to close for comfort. It is not some force field but perception. Perception has an affect on your mind and body therefore on the energy and power levels used by the body and mind.
This is ki. It is not mystical and the control you have on it is personal and limited to the physical and mental given by the individual. You can't share it, you can't project it though empty space but you can transfer it as energy and power as explained through chinkuchi and other such explanations for martial prowess.
Basketball players have this ki, football players have this Ki, all athletes have this Ki. Everyone living has this type of ki and uses it to live well but martial artists and other professionals build it up through diet, exercise and mind-set into more than normal.
Ki or Chi is real, just not what most believe. Today's world of science allows us to see, feel and understand the concept of ki where in ancient times there was no way to achieve this understanding resulting in the legendary mystical legends told in stories and depicted in movies of modern times.
More on Ki or Chi …
Ki is real, absolutely and truthfully it is as real as breathing, seeing and hearing. It is NOT some mystical fantasyland mumbo jumbo you hear about on the Internet but a real thing, it is literally “energy.”
Energy is just present in the universe unless it is “generated.” Some physics oriented process needs to be present and occur to generate energy. If energy is ki and we do have and generate energy/ki in our bodies and minds then how does this work.
First, the generator power source is the mind (spirit, attitude, motivation, esteem, etc. all fuels for the mind). Our instinctual brain, lizard brain, controls a lot of the body’s mechanisms such as breathing naturally, seeing, hearing, heart beats and so on. How our mind works is important as well, positive and negative thought processes affect our ability to generate energy/ki. How we think and how the mind build that base according to such things as family influences growing up, societal influences as well as we go through life and of course our deliberate training and practice toward the development of the mind, body and spirit.
When we are exhausted, muscles fatigued, and we are under the influences of the adrenal flood our minds make the determination as to whether we go on or simply quit. The mind is the most powerful tool we have in life, it literally generates all that we do both internally and externally, therefore I have come to believe that our mind is how we run the generator of our energy/ki.
So, now you might be wondering, what is the generator of energy/ki? The body, it is the manipulations of our body in actions as we walk, run and act in our daily lives. Martial arts are about learning to control and use our bodies efficiently and that means efficient use of the energy generated by our bodies as controlled by our minds.
The body/mind needs fuel and that is where our activities in fuel consumption come in. We need various types of fuels. First, we need air, air is the bellows of the furnace that generates energy/ki. How and what we consume as to foodstuff matters in how we are able to generate energy/ki. The fuel consumed affects the digestive processes and that means those processes matter as to what fuel and what kind of fuel gets into the body. Look at it as either “high-test” or “regular” or “unleaded.”
Pause: sounds a lot like high school biology doesn’t it?
Body energy/ki generation truly begins its work through the processes the body takes in motion for motion is the process that generates energy/ki. It is how the blood flows through our bodies carrying the fuels to the cells that make our muscles, tendons, cartilage, etc. work and it is the motions we use along with external effects such as resistance to movement that create stronger bodies and greater energies/ki.
Some may think now that if this is so why can’t we generate that energy/ki and project it outside our bodies at other things? It is about nature, the Universe, the laws of physics and many other things, in other words “it ain’t possible in this universe!”
Ki, lets use that to represent energy/ki for brevity, is not some mystical energy that makes us super human but simply a process of interconnecting and applying principles of the mind, body and spirit toward maximizing our physical and mental potential. It is a bit like saying we humans only use a very small portion of our brain capacity so it is true to the capacity of our mind and bodies contributing to the depth and breadth of our spirit. It is a matter of learning how our bodies achieve ki development and than exploiting that knowledge to enhance, build and apply it in all we do.
Our ki is transferred in martial arts by our abilities to blend into a cohesive one the fundamental principles of martial arts like structure. It is known by some professionals that the ultimate strike comes not from muscles, tendons and cartilage’s but from the alignment of our structure along with energy generation as discussed along with the movement of the body of mass, speed and force. Maintaining alignment of the skeletal system actually produces more power and force of a strike than the strike that is tensed at and into/through impact at the target, the snap punch for instance. It is the most difficult aspect of martial arts to master and the most difficult to actually apply in real life conflict and violence.
Ki is the efficient maximization of the mind, body and spirit. If we are able to make all of it align in the chaos of life we find that we can do anything within the laws of physics and the laws of the Universe.
In addition, this comes to martial artists as the begin this journey in the form of the ken-po goku-i, especially the first two lines about the circulation of our ki along with inferences to heaven and earth, sun and moon, etc.
Ki is real, it is manifested in all living things, it is the energy that makes us run and it is controllable indirectly by our practices, training, education and experiences. Take a trip to a fully qualified and experienced Chinese acupuncturist and/or medial professional and you can begin to understand how the terms ki, Japanese, and chi, Chinese, came into use for health, fitness and long life (long life often came from prowess as a military professional or warrior).
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