Qi: What on Earth is it?

This week we’re looking at Qi (Pronounced, Chee), the ever mysterious force that acupuncture balances so as to bring good health. But, what is it? About.com explains what Qi is below:

“What Is Qi (Chi)?
Central to Taoist world-view and practice is qi (chi). Qi is life-force -- that which animates the forms of the world. It is the vibratory nature of phenomena -- the flow and tremoring that is happening continuously at molecular, atomic and sub-atomic levels. In Japan it is called “ki,” and in India, “prana” or “shakti.” The ancient Egyptians referred to it as “ka,” and the ancient Greeks as “pneuma.” For Native Americans it is the “Great Spirit” and for Christians, the “Holy Spirit.” In Africa it’s known as “ashe” and in Hawaii as “ha” or “mana.”

Balanced & Free-Flowing Qi = Health
The fundamental insight of qigong and Chinese Medicine (acupuncture and herbal medicine) is that balanced and free-flowing qi results in health; while stagnant or imbalanced qi leads to disease.”

I also found an article on acupuncturetoday.com by Yin Lo, PhD who offers a scientific approach to Qi: 

“What Is Qi?

By Yin Lo, PhD

The standard explanation in the ancient text is: When qi does not flow, pain occurs. When qi flows, pain disappears. Pain is treated to enable the flow of qi. But what is qi?

Normally an acupuncturist will have to wave his arms to explain to his patients with words like, "Qi is a sort of energy that flows in the meridians and carries some information from one acupoint to where the pain is." Can we say something more precise than that now, in scientific terms? Yes. The answer is:

Qi is vibration.

Qi is oscillation of the meridians. More precisely, qi is quantum oscillations on the system of meridians.

Qi is what carries the effect of acupuncture from one acupoint to other parts of the body.

            The oscillations on the meridians are like oscillations on a piano wire. When we hit the piano wire, the wire oscillates, and we hear the sound. We cannot see the propagation of sound from the piano wire to our ear, but we feel the oscillation of the piano wire if we use our hands to touch the wire. The sound in the air is the oscillation of air molecules. We cannot see the oscillation of air molecules, but when sound hits our eardrum, we hear the sound. Sound has energy, and carries a type of message to the ear.

A meridian acts like a pipe guiding qi along its path to various parts of the body. We can understand the above phenomena simply by using the analogy to sound. If we hit a piano wire, we hear a beautiful sound, but if we hit a stone, we hear an ugly sound. If we hit cotton, we hear no sound.

The analogy to sound actually goes further. The smallest lump of sound energy is called a phonon, which is described completely by quantum field. The idea of the phonon is extremely powerful, and goes beyond our daily understanding of sound. It is essential for the establishment of the field of solid-state physics, which is the basis of semiconductors, transistors and computer chips. For example, the energy of phonons accounts for most of the heat energy of a solid. The warmth of a solid is due to the flow of phonons inside the solid. The interaction of phonons with electrons at low temperature is instrumental to bring about superconductivity as first shown in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory more than 40 years ago.

The smallest lump of qi energy is defined by us to be qion. Qion is like phonon and is described as completed by quantum fields. The idea ofqions would become extremely powerful. Qions would be important to human life. Without the flowing of qi or qions, a warm, living human body would become cold and dead.

The only physical theory at the moment that deals with creation and annihilation of anything is quantum field theory. The quantum field theory was originally created to describe the creation and annihilation of light, and then used to describe the creation and annihilation of sound, electrons and other substances. To use quantum field theory to describe the creation of life and death is very natural, because creation and annihilation operations are intrinsically incorporated in each quantum field.”

I personally have often thought of Qi as more of a science than a spiritual force. When I think of Qi, I think of the Law of Conservation of Energy; which states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed. Humans are energy, so perhaps if you have an imbalance of energy (Qi) in one area of your body, this is what causes stagnation and leads to disease? I’m no Physicist, and I find the matter quite mind-boggling, but it is definitely interesting to delve into all the possible explanations.

Until next week!

-Daisy