What is Qi?
The question may seem simple enough, but the answer is somewhat open to interpretation.
Translation of the Chinese language into English can baffle even the most articulate linguists, as the history of a word is lost in translation. Through my studies, reading and clinical practice, I’ve come to know ‘Qi’ to be a kind of ‘potential’. Flicking through my Chinese med books,
I believe this quote sums it up nicely.
“Qi is not some primordial, immutable material, nor is it merely vital energy, although the word is occasionally so translated. Chinese thought does not easily distinguish between matter and energy. We might think that Qi is somewhere in between, a kind of matter on the verge of becoming energy, or energy at the point of materializing. But it is far beyond this simple attempt to bridge the chasm of a Western dichotomy. In a single syllable, the word Qi proclaims one of the deepest root intuitions of Chinese civilization.”
- Ted Kaptchuk, The Web that has no Weaver.
