What is Qi?
What is Qi?
The concept of Qi (pronounced Ch-eee) is fundamental to Chinese Medicine, and is often also known as vital energy, life force or Prana by other disciplines.
The Chinese character (Pinyin) for Qi is pictured opposite, this is commonly translated as depicting either ‘the mist that rises from the clouds’ or ‘the steam rising from cooking rice’. This recognises that Qi is in constant flux and can be BOTH material (rice or clouds) or the air, water, food that we take in AND immaterial (steam or mist), the energy itself that flows through the channels in our bodies.
There are two basic types of Qi:
Prenatal Qi is often considered as being our reserves - it is the Qi that we are born with, and is often thought of as being your genetic make up. This is influenced by the health of both parents at conception, and cannot be changed. Often this is referred to being your constitution. Similar to a banks savings account, it should be conserved and used sparingly!
Postnatal Qi is our nourishment, and provides us with the nutrients and energy that we need to maintain our health and wellbeing on a daily basis. This is influenced by our lifestyle, so the air we breathe, the quality of the food we eat, our physical activity and emotional balance all impact this. Qi is ultimately thought to be the measure of our vitality, and should be utilised in a similar way to a current bank account, in that, ideally sufficient Qi should be obtained on a daily basis to maintain a natural healthy and balanced state, without having to dip into your reserves (savings/prenatal Qi).
In Traditional Chinese Medicine Qi flows through 12 channels or meridians. These channels are mapped throughout the body, functioning as a network (in a similar way to the road and motorway networks). Specific points along these channels have been found to benefit and treat certain imbalances restoring health and wellbeing.