Caveat: This post is mine and mine alone. I the author of this blog assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this post. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding.)
Ki is real, absolutly and truthfully it is as real as breathing, seeing and hearing. It is NOT some mystical fantasyland mumbo jumbo you hear about on the Internet but a real thing, it is literally “energy.”
Energy is just present in the universe unless it is “generated.” Some physics oriented process needs to be present and occur to generate energy. If energy is ki and we do have and generate energy/ki in our bodies and minds then how does this work.
First, the generator power source is the mind (spirit, attitude, motivation, esteem, etc. all fuels for the mind). Our instinctual brain, lizard brain, controls a lot of the bodies mechanisms such as breathing naturally, seeing, hearing, heart beats and so on. How our mind works is important as well, positive and negative thought processes effect our ability to generate energy/ki. How we think and how the mind build that base according to such things as family influences growing up, societal influences as well as we go through life and of course our deliberate training and practice toward the development of the mind, body and spirit.
When we are exhausted, muscles fatigued, and we are under the influences of the adrenal flood our minds make the determination as to whether we go on or simply quit. The mind is the most powerful tool we have in life, it literally generates all that we do both internally and externally, Therefore I have come to believe that our mind is how we run the generator of our energy/ki.
So, now you might be wondering, what is the generator of energy/ki? The body, it is the manipulations of our body in actions as we walk, run and act in our daily lives. Martial arts are about learning to control and use our bodies efficiently and that means efficient use of the energy generated by our bodies as controlled by our minds.
The body/mind needs fuel and that is where our activities in fuel consumption come in. We need various types of fuels. First, we need air, air is the bellows of the furnace that generates energy/ki. How and what we consume as to food stuff matters in how we are able to generate energy/ki. The digestive processes are affected by the fuel consumed and that means those processes matter as to what fuel and what kind of fuel gets into the body. Look at it as either “high-test” or “regular” or “unleaded.”
Pause: sounds a lot like high school biology doesn’t it?
Body energy/ki generation truly begins its work through the processes the body takes in motion for motion is the process that generates energy/ki. It is how the blood flows through our bodies carrying the fuels to the cells that make our muscles, tendons, cartilage, etc. work and it is the motions we use along with external effects such as resistance to movement that create stronger bodies and greater energies/ki.
Some may think now that if this is so why can’t we generate that energy/ki and project it outside our bodies at other things? It is about nature, the Universe, the laws of physics and many other things, in other words “it ain’t possible in this universe!”
Ki, lets use that to represent energy/ki for brevity, is not some mystical energy that makes us super human but simply a process of interconnecting and applying principles of the mind, body and spirit toward maximizing our physical and mental potential. It is a bit like saying we humans only use a very small portion of our brain capacity so it is true to the capacity of our mind and bodies contributing to the depth and breadth of our spirit. It is a matter of learning how our bodies achieve ki development and than exploiting that knowledge to enhance, build and apply it in all we do.
Our ki is transferred in martial arts by our abilities to blend into a cohesive one the fundamental principles of martial arts like structure. It is known by some professionals that the ultimate strike comes not from muscles, tendons and cartilage’s but from the alignment of our structure along with energy generation as discussed along with the movement of the body of mass, speed and force. Maintaining alignment of the skeletal system actually produces more power and force of a strike than the strike that is tensed at and into/through impact at the target, the snap punch for instance. It is the most difficult aspect of martial arts to master and the most difficult to actually apply in real life conflict and violence.
Ki is the efficient maximization of the mind, body and spirit. If we are able to make all of it align in the chaos of life we find that we can do anything within the laws of physics and the laws of the Universe.
In addition, this comes to martial artists as the begin this journey in the form of the ken-po goku-i, especially the first two lines about the circulation of our ki along with inferences to heaven and earth, sun and moon, etc.
Ki is real, it is manifested in all living things, it is the energy that makes us run and it is controllable indirectly by our practices, training, education and experiences. Take a trip to a fully qualified and experienced Chinese acupuncturist and/or medial professional and you can begin to understand how the terms ki, Japanese, and chi, Chinese, came into use for health, fitness and long life (long life often came from prowess as a military professional or warrior).
Supplemental Reading for Ki/Energy:
Primary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
MacYoung, Marc. "In the Name of Self-Defense: What It Costs. When It’s Worth It." Marc MacYoung. 2014.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Meditations of Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence" YMAA Publishing. 2008.
Secondary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
Ayoob, Massad. “Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self-Defense”Gun Digest Books. Krouse Publications. Wisconsin. 2014.
Goleman, Daniel. "Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition [Kindle Edition]." Bantam. January 11, 2012.
Miller, Rory. "ConCom: Conflict Communications A New Paradigm in Conscious Communication." Amazon Digital Services, Inc. 2014.
Miller, Rory and Kane, Lawrence A. "Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision-making under Threat of Violence." YMAA Publisher. New Hampshire. 2012
Miller, Rory. "Force Decisions: A Citizen's Guide." YMAA Publications. NH. 2012.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected." YMAA Publishing. 2011.
Elgin, Suzette Haden, Ph.D. "More on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense." Prentice Hall. New Jersey. 1983.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Last Word on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1995
Morris, Desmond. “Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior.” Harry N. Abrams. April 1979.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1993.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Written Self-Defense" MJF Books. 1997.
Maffetone, Philip Dr. “The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness.” McGraw Hill, New York. 2000
Strong, Sanford. “Strong on Defense_ Survival Rules to Protect you and your Family from Crime.” Pocket Books. New York. 1996.
and more … see blog bibliography.
Jahn, C. R. “FTW Self Defense.” iUniverse. Amazon Digital Services. 2012
Jahn, C. R. “Hardcore Self Defense.” iUniverse. Amazon Digital Services. 2002.
My Blog Bibliography
Cornered Cat (Scratching Post): http://www.corneredcat.com/scratching-post/
Kodokan Boston: http://kodokanboston.org
Mario McKenna (Kowakan): http://www.kowakan.com
Mokuren Dojo: http://www.mokurendojo.com
McYoung’s Musings: http://macyoungsmusings.blogspot.com
Martial Views: http://www.martialviews.com
Shinseidokan Dojo: http://shinseidokandojo.blogspot.com
The Classi Budoka: https://classicbudoka.wordpress.com
Wim Demeere’s Blog: http://www.wimsblog.com
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