What The Heck is Chi? Part 2
Chi is a Chinese word. What difference does that make? It makes plenty of difference! Quite often a simple translation is not enough to convey the real meaning of a word. If you want to have any reasonable idea of what went through the mind of a Chinese person you have to know about the culture in which the word was used. I believe that the image evoked to a Chinese person upon hearing the word chi is vastly different then the image Westerners get. To really understand chi you would have to have an intimate knowledge of all the underlying ideas that the original word includes. Basically, unless you were born and raised within the Chinese culture, you’re not going to get the same image in your mind of the word chi as someone who was.
In any case, I found myself in a precarious place; teaching others things I knew very little about. Probably closer to nothing! But all was not lost. Remember your basic Zen, Buddhist, Taoist idea of an empty cup? Well, it turns out my cup was empty and one day it suddenly filled up with a new brand of tea! Every time I see the word chi, think “movement”. Movement is something I can easily understand. I can see it, hear it and feel it; all the requirements for a noun to be classified as a concrete noun. Something either moves or it doesn’t move, there is not much room for interpretation. I could say, “the chi flowed through my elbow”, which to me is a bit ambiguous, or I could just say, “My elbow moved!”
To be clear, I’m not asserting that the word chi is translated as “movement”. I am not interested in translating the word chi. What I am saying is simply that whenever chi comes up I think movement. I will show you that if you make the same association in your own mind, it will revolutionize your study of kung fu. But a word of warning is appropriate here. For most practitioners, Chi Kung is usually accompanied by a healthy dose of imagination or visualization. If you make the switch, you must become grounded and centered in physical reality. You will need a deep and honest awareness of what you are doing with your body. It’s one thing to stand and visualize the chi moving up and down your spine. It’s quite another thing to actually make, to actually allow, your spine to move according to it’s inherent nature. If your spine doesn’t move, there is no chi. It doesn’t matter how clear of an image one may have of the chi moving in the spine. What matters is that the spine actually moves! Bottom line; you will be responsible to make it happen. You’re going to have to move many bones. You have to move them in the right direction, the right amount and at the right time. Suffice it to say, that is much harder than imagining things. But when it’s all over, when you’ve made the switch, you will find that kung fu is about as easy of a thing to do as sipping a cup of tea! But there is a bit of work involved to get there, so let’s begin.
