“Be water, my friend.”
Bruce Lee
Qi in it’s different forms, just like water:
According to TCM “Qi” or energy is everything. Whether it is in the form of a thought, sound, digestion, or a femur bone doesn’t matter, it is all just energy. With that said we often make the distinction of psychic energy (the energy of the mind), qi (the functional energy of the body), and essence (stored energy in physical form). This section is devoted to “Qi” or the functional energy of the body.
Energy comes in many different forms and makes up what we would think of in the west as similar to all of our hormones, chemicals, blood; All of the parts you can take out of a human being and measure.
Qi changes form just like water depending on what job it is working on. Just like you cannot swim in frozen water, drink steam, or ice skate on the ocean the form Qi takes is different based on it’s environment. The 2 main forms energy takes in the body are Qi and Blood.
This is good to understand because when I talk about “Qi” it is a new concept, but if we think of it as a form of “Blood” then the concept becomes very familiar and easier to understand.
A Balancing Act; Nourishing and Moving:
Qi has 2 primary jobs. On the one hand it nourishes and repairs your mind and body; on the other hand it provides the energy needed to function, digest, move, and think.
When your mind and your body are both at rest (laying down and not thinking) energy is able to gather in one place where it nourishes and repairs things throughout your body. However if we rest for too long energy continues to gather where it is no longer needed and becomes “stuck” causing things like lumps, inflammation, and swelling.
There must be a balance between resting and moving. Interestingly both lack of rest and lack of movement can cause similar symptoms such as fatigue, depression, aches and pains.
Not Enough, or the Wrong Form:
Going back to our water analogy we could say that based on your need (swimming) there are 2 possible problems:
- Not enough water; you can’t swim in 6 inches.
- The water is in the wrong state; you can’t swim in a frozen lake.
In the same way your bodys Qi can fail to meet your needs if:
- It is deficient or there is not enough of it. In simple math it would be: Production < Demand.
- It is stuck or not moving. Just like stagnant water gets bacteria, Qi needs to move or disease can build up.
- It can go in the wrong direction. It’s moving just not moving properly, like traffic going the wrong way on the highway.