About Qi

Everything Is Energy

It’s impossible to say anything about TCM without talking about Qi (chee), the energy or life force within you and all around you. It’s all energy; everything is energy. We know this now from discoveries in modern physics.

When you break solid matter down into smaller and smaller portions, there is nothing solid or physical about it at all—it’s just invisible energy. So the basic “building block” of everything in nature and the universe, including our own bodies, is energy.

TCM’s Deep Understanding of Qi

Energy or Qi, as the Chinese express it, is at the very heart of TCM. With thousands of years of direct observation and deep experiential knowledge of Qi, this holistic medicine has a complete understanding of energy and how it moves and functions in the body and throughout nature. TCM’s deep insight and expertise on energy are what make it a profoundly accurate and effective healing system.

Qi Has Power and Intelligence

It’s true that Qi is energy, but the aspect of Qi relating to power or animating force is just part of the picture. Qi is also intelligence and function. What does this mean?

Have you ever wondered how the rising and ebbing tide keeps perfect pace with the lunar cycle? How a tree knows it’s time to sprout leaves? How your body adjusts to its own internal rhythms as the seasons change from winter to spring? Qi allows all things to communicate with each other and change at both visible and invisible levels. It is Qi that carries infinite messages and pieces of information, connecting all things and all dimensions. Both aspects are needed: you could say that the power of Qi needs the intelligence of Qi to give it direction and focus.

Qi Promotes Change and Healing

Qi is Life. Without it there can be no growth, no change. Your body cannot exist one second without Qi. When you die your Qi leaves your body—it’s transformed. If you view any health issue from the TCM perspective, with an understanding of the fluid and transformational qualities of Qi, it becomes clear that nothing is unmovable, unworkable, or permanent. At the level of energy, nothing is impossible to heal. It’s the level where miracles can happen. The requirements for healing just have to be met.