When I first heard about Qi I thought it was weird and mysterious and just a little bit cool. I didn’t get it. I really didn’t get it. Qi, for beginners, can be such an abstract concept to get your head around.
I can safely say after four years of study and ten years of practising and treating clients, I now totally get it. If you’re a beginner when it comes to Qi, my hope is that you will start to get it too.
Why bother trying to understand Qi?
1. It’s a great way of describing someone or something. So stage 1 as a beginner is to add Qi to your vocabulary.
2. If you’ve been learning acupressure with us, a good grasp of Qi means you’ll start to understand your clients more and what their needs are. So stage 2 is when you really “get” Qi as a concept.
What is Qi? A Summary for Beginners.
Qi is commonly described as energy, but it’s more than energy. It’s your mind, body and spirit, and it’s both within you and around you. It’s a product of you and it’s also something that comes to you from outside. It can be described as the life force. Without it, there is no life.
The Chinese character for Qi represents the steam coming off rice and literally translates as “breath”, “air” or “gas”. So in modern times we know that this steam is water vapour made from lots of little particles of hydrogen and oxygen darting around fast and furious because heat has turned water into gas.
The Chinese character for Qi
But back in the ancient day, everything was a bit more magical and they hadn’t yet deconstructed things down to their teeny tiny bits. Knowledge about the world was more about looking at things and life as a whole – and Chinese medicine still does that – that’s one of its strengths. I digress. Back to Qi.
Qi is that life force you feel running through you. It’s that energy you feel when you watch waves crashing onto the shore. It’s the energy you notice when you’re standing at the base of a huge mountain. And it’s the energy you feel when you have a new baby and you go into the shopping centre – it’s madness in there with Qi racing in every direction!
It’s that rush you feel when you love someone and you feel your heart beating out of your chest.
It’s that completely chilled out feeling you get after you’ve done a yoga class or you’ve meditated or had acupuncture when your spirit feels calmer and more relaxed.
It’s that crazy feeling of energy darting all over the place when it’s super windy and stormy outside and you’re caught in the middle of it.
It’s also that heightened flush you feel when a pregnant mama ecstatically births her baby after a long labour.
Some people have heaps of Qi and you could say they are like an Eveready battery. Others are lacking Qi so they may be tired all the time and can hardly get out of bed, such as in the case of chronic fatigue.
Improving Qi for Beginners.
Things in your life will affect your Qi in different ways.
Working regular night shifts will deplete your Qi as the human body just wasn’t meant to be awake during the dark hours so many nights in a row. So you may start out with good strong Qi, but work regular night shifts for a few years and you’ll see a change in how your body operates and unfortunately it won’t be for the better. Of course, for midwives night shifts often can’t be avoided but they can be spread out as much as possible and this is a good idea – for your health’s sake.
Processed food can stagnate your Qi. If you have a period of eating too much processed food, you may notice that your bowel movements aren’t as good, your sleep isn’t as deep and rich, you take a while to get moving in the morning and your head isn’t as clear. These are all signs of stagnation. Switch to nourishing whole foods to restore your Qi. Chinese herbal medicine can also help.
Things that move your Qi (counteract stagnation) include exercise for your physical body, massage for the mind and body, acupuncture of course (ha ha), meditation for your mind and emotions, yoga for your mind and body.
That’s the cool thing about Qi – it doesn’t just refer to physical stuff, it refers to mental and spiritual too. I think that’s why I love it so much. It encompasses so much and eloquently describes us as human beings.
We can never separate our mind, body and spirit, but Qi encompasses all of these aspects. So putting Qi into your vocabulary helps you maintain a holistic view of your self and the world around you.
Learn more Chinese medicine for beginners in our acupressure course for midwives and birth professionals.
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