A brief explanation of the energy field

a unique Qigong idea

A brief explanation of the energy field

a unique Qigong idea

Hi friends, I'm working on getting a video together for next week, but I think right now I'd like to share a short post about an important Qigong concept which is not so frequently explained in sufficient detail.

The concept we look at today is the Qi field/气场 Qi Chang, the idea that the environment around the body contains Qi which we can interact with in practice.

The English language term for Qi Chang is aura, but I prefer the word Qi field since in the traditional Chinese worldview there is Qi everywhere, but why did I mention this idea is a unique idea of Qigong?

Throughout most of China's history the term Qi did not mean energy, in fact it had many more than one meaning including:

气 Qi: a gas which can either be still or in movement,

炁 Qi: a form of formless substance which is generated as a result of the universe or new material things being created as well as during internal alchemy practice (the paid section of this article will be about this version of Qi, which is mainly used in Internal Alchemy),

元气 Yuan Qi: Original Qi, the Qi we are born with that provides the background capacity for the body,

真气 Zhen Qi: True Qi, a type of Qi which can fill the meridians and vessels,

呼吸气 Hu Xi Qi: the air we bring in and release from breathing which runs in the blood,

and these are only a small handful of the uses of the Qi concept used in traditional self cultivation practices.

Although they all arguably hint at the idea of energy, no one interpreted them this way until the advent of physics being introduced to China in the 19^th century.

It is hard to overemphasize that the old ideas about Qi did not need justification since there was no weight of verification placed on them by any other sources of knowledge.

Qi becoming energy during the 19^th or 20^th centuries is a snapshot of the trauma caused to China by its interaction with the west, it was a time when to the intellectual and leading class all the ideas about reality which governed China for hundreds of years simply ceased being real.

Rebranding ideas like Qi as energy can be seen either as adapting to a more powerful paradigm or as a way to prevent traditional culture from being completely decimated, although I tend to believe the best use of this form of narrative adjustment is actually in strengthening the paradigm by explaining real phenomena with new ideas more likely to be accepted by modern people and perhaps eventually more able to be exposed to the scrutiny of scientific research in such a way that their true function can be understood (although I view that as quite far away).

Anyway, modern Qigong wholesale accepts Qi as a form of energy, this makes it completely different to Daoism which views Qi as Qi and contextually relative to specific implications of the term relative to Daoist philosophical concepts.

This energy can take many forms including things like the function of gas exchange in the body, electrical activity in the nervous system etc... This relates again to the study of physics and biomedicine as applied to the body in Qigong practice and yes there is definitely research on this subject in China, some of which is excellent and much quite suspect.

There are very few people who claim that Qi is only one thing, in fact it tends to be used as an umbrella to describe multiple phenomena, much the same as the way the term was used traditionally, but now with a new body of explanation which prefers the veneer of science rather than traditional philosophical ideas from Daoism and Confucianism.

Because of the diverse applications of various Qigong systems there is no absolute agreement on the meaning of various terms related to Qi, which ones should be used, or how much importance to place on them, so for the most part Qigong systems need to be viewed on their own merit rather than as a collective whole.

When we view the concept of the Qi field/aura this is especially important since not every system places emphasis on this idea.

For instance the current accepted variation of Qigong promoted by the Chinese government which includes Ba Duan Jin, Wu Qin Xi, Yi Jin Jing etc.. does not include the concept of Qi Chang to any great extent and prefers to view Qi from the perspective of Chinese Medicine in which Qi circulates in the blood along the pathways of the meridians and vessels.

This is because these Dao Yin styles do not attempt to generate Qi with the intention but are instead mainly concerned with opening the body through light stretching.

This means Qi will be guided by movement and intention on movement rather than through specialized internal practices which use the mind to generate or lead Qi.

Of these styles which emphasize the Qi field, Zhi Neng Qigong probably does so the most and since I have trained Zhi Neng Qigong with my teacher who was a student of its founder Pang Ming and have twenty years experience, I will use Zhi Neng Qigong theory to explain the Qi field while adding some of my own insight.

Pang viewed the Qi field as the primary aspect of energy cultivation during the first stages of practice.

He believed that the area outside of the body contains a form of primordial energy which is available to us at any time so he established his first routine called External Hun Yuan practice to use the Qi field to strengthen our own Qi field.

The basic concept in Pang's practice was that by using mental intention to guide physical movements it was possible to gather Qi around the periphery of the body, thus building up an aura.

This aura was not only located outside the body but instead could be exchanged and added to the Qi within the body.

The idea of Pang's first level of practice is to create and exchange between the Qi outside the body and the Qi inside the body to build up the flow of energy within the body and strengthen and extend the aura directly outside the body.

This practice especially emphasizes the use of the mind by focusing on specific parts of the body such as the hands and fingers in relation to other parts of the body such as the head, feet, chest and space around the body.

There are many levels of complexity involved in this practice from absolute beginner to advanced level so it is impossible to list them all here, but you get the idea.

This is Pang's basic idea and it is quite practical since it can allow us to build up not only our inner Qi more quickly than conventional Dao Yin, but also help us feel the Qi in the environment.

Pang uses a combination of traditional and scientific language to explain his practice, but broadly we can understand it as:

• the external environment has primordial Qi,

• the internal environment has its own primordial Qi,

• there is pre heaven and post heaven primordial Qi,

• in Qigong practice we mainly use the post heaven primordial Qi (Pang also taught Neidan to his students, this could be said to be the pre heaven part, but pre heaven can also mean spontaneous or reflex in Qigong, it does not mean the same thing as Daoism or TCM),

• students should first master the external primordial Qi, then the internal primordial Qi, and eventually put them together by practicing movements that balance the two types of energy.

To Pang the cultivation of the aura was the first step on the way to realizing the later goal of practice.

Unfortunately Mr.Pang was removed from the public sphere by the Chinese government around the time when Qigong was criticized by the government. Mr.Pang is a member of the party and can be considered to have been retired from the public eye.

I've heard that he originally intended to launch five systems of Qigong practice, but he was only able to finish three before being removed from the public.

Today he promotes the Neo Confucian writing of Wang Yangming which he uses to justify Communist ideology, it is up to you to decide what you think about that.

Other Qigong systems also talk about the Qi field, but Pang took the theory quite far and especially focused on it in his practice.

The Qi field is also something used in Qigong medical treatment and can be viewed in various ways.

This practice was popular with many people including Pang, Lin Housheng, Zhao Jinxiang and hundreds of others of famous Qigong teachers.

The basic idea of Qigong medical treatment is to project Qi into a patient.

There are multiple ways of doing this including projecting with the hands similar to how Reiki is practiced, but people who have a high level of Qigong and internal alchemy practice can also send Qi with their lower Dantian, the brain, the whole body etc...

This practice involves the Qi field since two people's energy come into contact through the use of intention, but it does not cultivate the Qi field in one's own body since it actually depletes out Qi. This means that people need to be cautious when they give Qigong treatments since in order to do it you have to give up some of your energy.

That's the basic of the Qi field, just like every study there is so much more to it, but now I'll explain why traditional Neidan practice views this concept with contempt.

This section of the article is behind the paywall, if you are already subscribed just keep reading, but if you aren't then today is your lucky day since you can get a sample subscription for seven days and if you don't like the content you can always quit before the sample time runs out (if you do like it then please consider sticking around, your contribution supports my ability to make so much media including articles, videos and all the time writing and editing takes)...

It isn't that Neidan doesn't think there is Qi outside the body or that the body doesn’t emit Qi, it is that the idea of an intentionally built aura is a post heaven construct and is viewed as interfering with pure Yang energy development.