When I was growing up, in the middle of the last century, a strange discipline called hte martial arts appeared. People could study the martial arts and defend themselves merely through the use of this strange energy called ki. Heck, women could beat up mugs and rapists, and even children could do the bad to bullies using this thing called Karate.
I explored Kenpo, and Goju, and judo, and several other martial arts, and I found little trace of this mysterious energy. Mostly, you just stood in line and hit the air, and I began to believe that ki might be more of a myth than a reality. Still, I saw pictures of people breaking bricks, and doing other things which, even though they seemed a bit muscular, touted this strange energy called Ki.
As years passed, and as I performed my katas thousands and thousands of times, a strange thing began to occur. I began to feel the world beyond myself. I began to see the world without eyes, and through intuition and a sense of myself that went beyond body. Slowly, I began to understand this ki thing, and to understand that circus tricks were the icing, and enjoyable, but that Ki was something else.
I studied Tai Chi Chuan and Aikido, and other internal arts. I began to feel a strange energy permeate my body, and I began to enjoy a profound health which made me feel more spry than even when I had been young. And I began to realize certain things about this mysterious subject called ki, or chi, which should be understood, should people wish to really delve into the truth of the subject.
When you do your forms you must lower your frame, for this will create a better energy connection to the planet. A better energy connection means more real energy will pass through the legs and into the tan tien. And the tan tien is nothing but a simple generator of energy on the body level.
If you can excite the energy center, then you can cause an energy to fill the body the body. This energy will excite a tan tien in the upper body, which will further fill the body, which will excite the tan tien in the head, and then cause a person to view his body from outside his body. Thus, the body becomes a battery charged with supernormal energy which is this mysterious energy known as ki or chi.
The energy of the body can be used in many ways, and this provides a whole new education for any who wish to discover the truth of the martial arts. To explore this education one should not use muscles, for energy locked into muscles stops the intention, and stops the emission of intrinsic energy from the tan tien. Instead, when striking, one should whip the body like a noodle, not even tightening the fist, merely occupying the space of an attackers body, and to loosen the motion and sensitivity of the body so it is empty, and able to seek an imbalance of the attacker even in combat, and further the guidance of his energy in a profound and magnitudious manner.
Ki, whether it is called prana or pneuma or chi or intrinsic energy or whatever, is not mysterious. It is simple to find and define and use, if one only pay attention to the simple things I have written in this article. Whether you study shotokan or goju or uechi, whether you practice yoga or tai chi, this thing called ki is available to you, and it is The Path of The True Art.
Author Resource:
Al Case has practiced the martial arts for forty years. He has written dozens of articles for the magazines and had his own column. You can find out if his Ki is worth a darn by getting his free ebook at Monster Martial Arts .
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