Recently I've seen DVD's and other type of material concerning Ki (chi,qi). They claim to teach and help you train your ki. My question unto all is, what does Ki mean to you? Also do you think I should purchase thid DVD. Currently i take Hapkido and My master Instructor is always showing us and teahcing us Ki in all of our movements. Thank you all in advance i appreciate it. :Angel:
For me ki is a state of mind. By that I mean your understanding and exstention of ki is reflected by your state of mind. As for the DVD. I'd forget about it and stick with what your teacher is teaching. A DVD can't correct you if you do something wrong.
Ki In my humble opinion, as a 4 month Hapkido practitioner, I think Ki is... 1. A way of psychologically scaring the crap out of someone. 2. A way of pushing your energy out at a focused point. 3. A way of making sure you exhale to be more flexible or have less air to get the wind knocked out. I could be way wrong... Later
I took this from our website. I thought some of you might like it. It is beneficial in seeking a definition to explain 'ki', that we understand that there is only one Chinese calligraphy used to write the word 'ki'; and further to understand that this particular ideogram is only descriptive of this force, and is not used to define or write any other idea or word. Also, we must research the occurrence of this ideogram in conjunction with others, and then explore the definitions of the words made with these conjunctions. The calligraphy can be broken into two parts. one is which shows the spirit. The second is and represents the whole rice plant (roots, stem, and rice) before it is pulled from the ground, in it's natural form. It symbolizes the physical body. To achieve 'ki' means that the mind is surpassed and the spirit directly controls the body.
On a real basic level, I look at Ki as my basic energy that I use. My body takes food and air and "burns" it so when combined with proper body mechanics, I get the most efficiency out of my body when I need it most. For ki training, practicing proper breathing and body mechanics is the real key for class and for study. A DVD or book can offer some ideas and help understand more, but the first resource should be your instructor.
Ki is your internal strength. State of mind and the ability to focus on that inner strength and then direct it into whatever you are doing. If you are focused and relaxed you can produce some quite amazing results. There is no mystical force that Hollywood would like you to believe. It does not give you a magic shield as some would claim :cry: . As Thomas states there there is no substitute for your instructor although DVDs and books can help. I was told by my Master that the eastern idea of ki originates because the Ancient Chinese were not allowed to do autopsies on bodies as their beliefs held that the body had to be whole for them to go to heaven. ) I have not verified this so please don't crucify me ) Well, they knew that if you applied pressure to one point in the body it would affect another. They also had quite a good knowledge of the human anatomy, but not completey as far as the nerves, muscles etc were concerned. So they came up with the theory that there were canals inside of the body for the life force that all living things have flowing through them to flow through. This life force they called Ki. I would be grateful if there are any inaccuaries in this for someone to correct me and I appologise to those who flatly disagree. Like all things to do with martial arts there can be a certain mysticism that surrounds it, people make bold claims, tell untruths, and generally exagerate. This gets passed on from one to the other, each time with a little more added to it. There are are some out there who would like you to believe that they have the ability to redirect people or knock them out simply by "projecting their ki". I would be inclined to steer away from these people. Their claims have never been substantiated when put to the test on persons outside of their training circle. Having said all that it certainly is easier saying to a student "Project your Ki" than "Right, tap into your inner strength, focus on it, relax, and as you do the technique I need you to do all that as well, and let your inner strength flow through the technique............" Hope I've not confussed the issue too much and happy training.
Ki is energy flowing in and out of your body. when you can control this, achieved by practice and ki meditation, you can use it to attack your opponent by lightly striking them and cause dizziness and knockouts, as well as winding them quite easily. i havnt been ki training very long. but im starting to be able to use ki strikes, although the effects are merely cause dizziness to the opponent instead of a knockout effect.
