Chi

Chi is an energy or life force that flows through everything; people, animals, trees, the earth and inanimate objects. Some people use Feng Shui to channel the flow of chi around their homes and places of work; the Chinese medicine known as acupuncture uses special points on the body for applying thin needles to aid the flow of chi and cure illness. Acupuncture is so widely used and respected now that it is available through the National Health Service in the UK, and is being promoted globally by the World Health Organization. Some people also use ancient exercises such as Chi Kung and martial arts like Tai Chi to channel the flow of chi in a beneficial manner around their bodies, through their bodies and into the earth and sky.

What exactly is Chi?

It is easy to think of chi as a kind of electromagnetic force, a very small electrical charge like the one that shocks you sometimes when you touch someone, or something metallic that people have touched. Chi is used in people to enable them to move, breathe, see and speak, in much the same way as electricity powers a television set, making it come alive when the switch is opened. Everything you do in your life is because of the chi within you, when you have high levels of chi you can be very creative and active, building up your levels of chi can help you achieve more, because you will have more energy. Everything on Earth, and in the universe, is interconnected by chi. Chi Kung exercises allow chi to flow freely around your body through the acupuncture meridians, making you feel like a warm current of tingling water is circulating through your body.

The terms Yin and Yang refer to interacting opposites everywhere in the universe; it is thought that keeping the yin and yang chi levels in your body perfectly balanced creates a state of optimum physical and spiritual health. From a health point of view, a yin condition means a lack of chi, which needs to be replenished. A yang condition means that you have too much chi in your body, which needs to be reduced.

When yin and yang are perfectly in balance you are said to be in a state of Wu Chi. The state of wu chi is a spiritual dimension in which you are aware that you and everything around you is interconnected; that the world around you is as much inside you as you are in it. The concept of chi and yin yang in the body can be compared with magnetic energy; just as a magnet has a positive and a negative pole, so does your body have negative yin meridians and positive yang meridians. When yin and yang are balanced and your chi is flowing smoothly and unobstructed, you feel warm, calm and at peace – the state of optimum mental, physical and spiritual health known as wu chi.