I'm a massive sceptic, yet I've felt chi/qi myself in several martial arts. Doesn't make it "real". Does mean I can leverage it as a self-control metaphor though. It's a low-level trance state, which is exactly where you want to be for that kind of thing.
It's a metaphor for doing it right. It's a way of thinking about (or rather 'not thinking about') your musculoskeletal system and mind working harmoniously. An example would be during Tai Chi's "pung" force-transference exercises. You're told to visualise chi running through you and into the ground, moving the external force into the earth. When you get the posture right, it's amazing how much shoving you can take - and it feels right too. You're taught this is correct chi flow, because those are words to describe something we haven't long had words for.
Qi/Chi is more understandable (especially considering a system a few thousand years old!) than explaining how to balance your skeleton, musculature and mind in order to leverage the physical properties of correct posture/movement. You teach that "feeling of dynamic rightness" as chi control. I'm sure you've felt that kind of feeling when a climb is really going well and you're just hitting everything and it's like you're flowing up the face - when you're in the zone.
I think you can do both - science and chi - but you don't see it in most sports 'cos it's not something trainers would train with. Martial arts contests, I bet you'll see both.
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It's a metaphor for doing it right. It's a way of thinking about (or rather 'not thinking about') your musculoskeletal system and mind working harmoniously. An example would be during Tai Chi's "pung" force-transference exercises. You're told to visualise chi running through you and into the ground, moving the external force into the earth. When you get the posture right, it's amazing how much shoving you can take - and it feels right too. You're taught this is correct chi flow, because those are words to describe something we haven't long had words for.
Qi/Chi is more understandable (especially considering a system a few thousand years old!) than explaining how to balance your skeleton, musculature and mind in order to leverage the physical properties of correct posture/movement. You teach that "feeling of dynamic rightness" as chi control. I'm sure you've felt that kind of feeling when a climb is really going well and you're just hitting everything and it's like you're flowing up the face - when you're in the zone.
I think you can do both - science and chi - but you don't see it in most sports 'cos it's not something trainers would train with. Martial arts contests, I bet you'll see both.
-mmmmmattt