Chi: The Vital Energy of Life

Some words do not translate easily into English because they represent a concept that does not exist in our language. The Chinese chi (or Japanese ki) is one such word.

Chinese medicine works on the belief that chi flows through the body’s meridians and that blocked or depleted chi causes disease.

Acupuncture and herbs restore the body’s chi flow. We can also cultivate chi through meditation and movement such as the Chinese health exercises known as chi gong.

So, what is chi? According to Harriet Beinfield and Efrem Korngold in Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine, “Life is defined by [chi] even though it is impossible to grasp, measure, quantify, see, or isolate. Immaterial yet essential, the material world is formed by it. An invisible force known only by its effects, [chi] is recognized indirectly by what it fosters, generates, and protects.”

Chi is the vital energy of life or the life force. We are born with chi, and when we die our chi leaves us. Chi fills the universe, including the earth. Feng Shui, the art of environmental design, is based on the belief that veins of energy run through the earth and that designing our environment to be in harmony with this energy is important to our well-being.

Chi is also an important aspect of the “internal” martial arts such as T’ai Chi Ch’uan and the Japanese art of Aikido. By cultivating chi, one can develop a power that goes far beyond mere physical strength.

This immateriality of chi is what makes it difficult for the Western scientific mind to grasp. But perhaps we gain the most by letting go of an intellectual pursuit of chi and opening ourselves to the experience of chi.