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Do you harness the power of Chi?
Chi?
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That would be referring to it as they do in the Indian Ayurvedic system.
Prana is an Indian yogic term. Chi is Chinese, Ki is Japanese.
In the west, given our habitual resistance to recognising such possibilities as a tangible essence, we simply refer to it as 'Energy' which is grossly general...
AFAIK, that's the original term... and it migrated to China (as chi) and Japan (as ki).
it is similar to Jhāna > Chan > Zen
The current discussion is not about terminology, it's about harnessing Chi.
Terminology and what your preferences are, aren't really relevant, here, are they? :scratch:
I don't know if it is elitist, but the prana term is (IMO) more related to something scientific/provable like the chakra system... while chi and ki has many tendencies toward magical/folk'sy tought.
It's not easy stuff to understand though. There is so much of it that is not practical. But I have actually felt chi. It is like electricity or static formed into a physical matter. When you learn how to harness chi you can turn the air around you into a substance that feels like water, and form that into a ball that can actually be felt like you're forming a ball made of chi. You can't see it, you can just feel it.
But I bet if you had the right equipment you might be able to see it. So I've got to that point before of being able to form a chi ball during an intense Qigong session. It was so profound and distinct I kept forming it and feeling it into a compact ball for a few minutes. It's not at all easy to do though. Unfortunately not all Qigong works, the same with some Eastern medicine.
Not all of it works. I've done some Qigong that doesn't work, and some of it does. The same with Taichi. Some will affect your energy, some of it won't. This is the hard part of finding a good teacher and finding the exercises that actually work. And often the good teachers won't be free anymore. So it's real, it just isn't easy to actually feel in the physical world unless you have a good teacher or you get lucky and interact with a spirit physically, because they tend to be made of this stuff.
When one thinks of the term "Mind, Body, and Spirit" the spirit is your chi, or energy, prana, whatever word you want to use. People can feel it too, even if you don't know how to manipulate it. Your chi is a frequency that people pick up in person. So you can change this frequency even without being an expert at manipulating the actual physical energy.
It's a whole other discipline to learn a lot like psychology and a bit like Western medicine, but instead of being based on the body and mind, it's based on the spirit. So it's fun I like to learn more about it.
I bet Chi can be seen via Kirlian photography. They have cameras these days that can photograph the electromagnetic field around plant and animals. I think Chi is electromagnetic in nature, what do you think? Acupuncture is definitely electrical.
Just as not all Western medicine works, not all Qigong works. But some of it does, for sure. When you actually feel the static electricity in your hands you know it works. One can search "Doo Wai white tiger" on youtube. He is one of the Qigong teachers I learned from. This guy is extremely genuine in what he teaches. I would say his style of energy manipulation is one of the best in the U.S.. I have heard stories that his advanced students are tested by bringing dead bugs temporarily back to life with energy. I'm not sure how true that is, since I couldn't afford studying at his school long term, but I wouldn't doubt it.
What he teaches works. Because he often says when he is teaching;
"Try it, if it doesn't work, then don't do it."
This is because when you're learning from him it does work. It was in his school where I made the energy ball.
I can say for me it's a provable premise, because I have seen it and felt it and witnessed it working.
But others who doubt or dismiss have every right to do so, if they themselves have had no such evidence.
Before I had evidence, I too was hugely cynical.
Now - I'm convinced of it, 100%.
But others who have had no such benefit, must seek it for themselves.
It really doesn't matter who said what first. it's just all the same stuff under different headings.
kind of feels like a recycling system that circulates.
though it feels like a lot of energy is moving, there really is no incentive for me to use it.
nor do i have any idea on how to use such energy.
these energies are most apparent when abiding in open presence awareness.
@taiyaki
the "hara" chakra is the storage of any excesive prana that you have. Sometimes it is useful to quickly burst this prana (specially when combined with kundalini); for that just forward the prana towards the secondary chakras (mostly hands, visualized as the finger tips).
the access to more prana is necessary for most (or all) siddhis (attainment) and for buddhist's phala (fruits).
this isn't magical tought; and has a refreshing worldview that doesn't have a tunnel vision.
You can also feel it, just put your palms facing each other about 6 inches apart & move them closer, then farther apart, repeat the movement 10 times. Do you feel anything?
my hara is kind of like a fist holding onto energy. i usually keep my mind down there since i practice korean zen.
are there links to what you are speaking of? i don't find the hara bothersome but i do find my third eye bothersome at times.
thanks for the suggestion.
When you throw in the word magical and tunnel vision, you make it seem like you think chi is magical and that prana is the only absolute way of energy. But the reality is I have had a master of tantra yoga (a monk) who was familiar with both all that prana stuff and Qigong, tell me that Qigong harnesses the same principles that tantra does. That it basically affects the same glans, the same meridians, the same form of energy. So really prana, chi and ki they're the same. They're just different words from different cultures that all mean the same thing.
There are different ways of harnessing and manipulating your own energy. It isn't the way of prana or the way of chi that is more correct, it's just finding whichever way actually works for you. So no way is the best or absolute. The way of manipulating prana is different from the way of Qigong, but ultimately the results can be both beneficial and both very alike.
There are other ways besides Qigong and Prana too that will lead to the realization and manipulation of spirit energy. It just comes down to ones individual determination, education and experience to seek the truth regarding these energies.
The link is fatuous.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneuma
The way she described it was "Kuutz" (pronounced Kootz). She said that there are three types of people. Rabbits, Lions and Tigers. It is the Tigers that are able to most utilize and manipulate this bodies energy "kuutz" more than any other type of person. It also tends to be the Tigers that are more fearless, more rebellious, and more likely to be responsible for change, or to be leaders, than the two other types.
The Tiger represents power of spirit, the Rabbit for mind, and the Lion for body. She had a lot of interesting things to say, but she definitely came from a Western shamanistic culture that knew all about this energy. They just had a different word for it.
We say "I've no energy today", which is of course impossible (if you had no energy, your heart wouldn't beat and your brain wouldn't send nerve impulses to your body). We are mis-labelling a psychological state and conflating it with a term indicating the excitation of sub-atomic particles (.
I don't believe there is such a thing as "Chi" or prahna or "life energy", as there is no need for such a theory to explain life. It is not a form of energy, in the same sense that electromagnetic energy or kinetic energy exist: it cannot be measured in Joules. Life is a product of biochemical processes (chemical energy) - there is no spirit or soul, and no special energy necessary to produce life or consciousness.
So, as a rationalist and a scientist, I am pretty convinced that Chi is a myth. However, sometimes myths and traditional ways of looking at the world have truths which go beyond objective reality. After all, all words are merely symbols of the reality they are describing: words are not the things they describe, no matter how scientifically accurate.
So perhaps Chi is not energy, in a way that Newton or Einstein would have recognised, but nevertheless, it might be a good way of explaining things we struggle to find the words for. As a scientific term, it fails, but as a "word picture" of intangible experiences, perhaps it can be useful. After all, the expression "I've no energy today" might be nonsense to a physicist, but it is an experience we can all relate to. So in that sense, it is 'real'. So perhaps Chi is too.