What is Chi?

[LMNO]

Going along with the idea that the heart punch does work, it seems like a very specialized, very convoluted thing to know.  Not many of us will ever need to perform 1 hit kills, at close range, unarmed. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZpw8NgL_2M

[Richter]

I did that once.  The digging out takes LOTS longer.  (To be fair, I was only buried to the neck too.)

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I walked through a cow pasture one time.  Put my foot in some Chi.

[Triple Zero]

esoteric ways to open a beer bottle

three paper napkins.

i had several witnesses.

and no they were none of those foreign screw-off caps.

[LMNO]

How many times did you fold them?

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

I guess it's probably more reliable than using a blowtorch.

[Triple Zero]

How many times did you fold them?

enough to get a good edge on it. I guess 3 or 4 times, but I was a littlebit drunk when I managed it

[Kai]

Reviving this thread, for some more thoughts.

I've been reading through Bruce Frantziz's Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body again, especially in respect to my evening ritual. Right before I go to bed every night, I stand in a relaxed stance in the dark, and attempt to relax all the tension out of my body. After 5 minutes, I bring my awarness to all the things which are incomplete, things that are bothering me, etc, and I take them all and put them in this big mental wooden chest of drawers, and lock it up, letting the items go. By this point I'm starting to get sleepy, I'm relaxed and I don't have any more troubles on my mind. I think back and try to go through the entire day passively, observing. By the end, I get in bed, lay down, and usually fall asleep within 10 minutes.

I've been looking at Opening the Energy Gates again because it seems Bruce was on to something with his "energy gates", or not really his energy gates but the ones of his artistic lineage. From my practice, it seems the gates correspond to places in the body which end up holding a lot of tension, or are centers for regions that hold a lot of tension, muscular and circulatory tension I mean, physical parts. The process he outlines is called "dissolving the ch'i", where one systematically from the crown of the head to the balls of the feet move downwards, being aware of places of tension and coaxing it into "dissolving", or what I would call completely relaxing. The method is part simply awareness, part visualization, and part breathing excersize, I think. The flow of tension seems to move downwards in a wave as upper parts become more relaxed. I think Bruce would call this "sinking the ch'i".

So, I've been trying this, and there seems to be some physical effects. When I just try to relieve tension from the crown to the feet slowy downwards in a wave, it is not nearly as effective as doing this in combination with focus on the gates individually. Remember, when I say the gates I mean general areas in the body where tension is often centered. There are the temples, and the jaw, and right behind the eyes and the back of the neck for example. And its possible that tension is all around that area, not really localized in it, but when I focus on a gate and "open it" (IOW when I focus on a point of tension and work to relax it, the muscles and vasculatur) it tends to relax the whole area surrounding the gate.

Now, whatever it is that's happening, it seems to be working. The tension releases after some time, and feels almost as if it rolls downwards. It seems that when I am aware of tension and breathe out while focusing on relaxing that tension, it relaxes. This is interesting. Why is it that the tension only relaxes when brought under awareness? Is it that I am unconsiously holding these regions tight and I "suddenly" consciously realize they are tight and release them? In any case, this is definitely some sort of psychosomatic manipulation, or Ch'i work, however you want to say it. Damned useful too.

Question: would anyone be interested in a full overview of the salient points of this book? I've been thinking I might put those in this thread.

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

I certainly would, Kai. It sounds like I could use my gates opened.

[NotPublished]

lube oughta do the trick

Though Kai, yeah that seems like a good idea, I seem to be picking up tension where ever I walk lately.

[LMNO]

Anything that can distill practice from theory is useful, in my mind.  I'd like to hear more.

[Kai]

Okay.

So, the book is Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body by Bruce Frantzis. I unfortunatly can't find an online copy of this book, so if you want to read it, you'll have to find it elsewhere. In his introduction, Frantizis lays out his history of learning and teaching of Asian martial and "energy" arts. He is notable for being the only westerner to ever receive the title of lineage holder for a Taoist martial lineage, and is therfore adept at all three of the Taoist martial arts, Hsing-I, Ba Gua Chang, and Ta'i Chi Chu'an, as well as Taoist meditation and "energy healing" practices. He claims that Chi Gung is the base of any of these martial arts, and that it has significant healing and regenerative attributes, and he provides himself as example, healing from several disabling car accidents and diseases. Frantzis gives a number of stories of elderly people he worked with in training in Asia, which I am taking with a grain of salt since it's hearsay. He also seems to put supernatural aspects into this book, which I am ignoring as much as possible, except where it factors into the method itself.

In the first chapter, Frantzis describes some definitions. Of Chi he says it is "life energy", and of Chi Gung, "energy work...the practice of learning to control the movement of the lifeforce internally, using only the mind to direct energy in the body". Now, metaphysical aspects aside, Chi Gung is interesting in that it requires no cathexis, no ritual of external objects to work. In other words, there are no silly hats in Chi Gung. The other interesting aspect is it is not merely physical movement, but also movement of mind if you will. From the very definition, I see this is a psychosomatic art, manipulating the connection between the brain and the rest of the body.

"The mind directs the chi", he says. "You can learn to feel your central nervous system, which is a primary intermediary between thoughs and chi." Again, what I am hearing from this is psychosomatics. He continues on to tell some benefits of Chi Gung, that it teaches moderation (what he calls the 70% rule, but I have also heard called the 80% rule elsewhere), relieves tension and stress, can be done by the elderly and infirm with little risk to injury. Frantzis suggests Chi Gung as the solution to the western medical crisis of chronic diseases, which he also calls life-style diseases "because they are caused by living and working in unhealthy environments or by stress, alcohol, tobacco, poor diet or lack of exercise." I guess I can't disagree with that statement.

Now, here he talks about the physical benefits of Chi Gung, which of course I haven't falsified, so it's just what he says: relaxed power, strengthening and balancing of the internal organs, improved cardio-pulminary function, strengthened nerves, improved vascular function, prevention of injury to joints, bones and connecting tissues, speeding of recovery time from injury and operations, strengthening of  martial power, easing stress, and balanced emotions.

That's a good long list. I'd love to benefit in all those ways, but of course I have no idea if it's all true. I suspect that it makes for a more relaxed presence, eases stress, and probably balances emotions as a result. I would also suspect it improves cardiovascular function as well, with continued use. But how does one verify "prevention of injury" or "speeding of recovery" without actually trying to bust a knee or something? Also, I'm not sure how to interpret statements on strengthening the nerves and strengthening and balancing of the internal organs, as in, I don't know what the hell that means.

Chapter 2 and 3 will be next, on how Chi Gung works according to Frantzis, and "Chi Gung Theory".

[Telarus]

Sweet, looking forward to it.

[Cramulus]

yo, it would be so super cool if somebody could make a .pdf of this thread's "meat".

if you make it, I'll help pass it around


I shall call this
CHI-GASM

[Triple Zero]

oh somebody please do, cause I've been meaning to read this thread from whenever it started. yet i never come around to it.