What Does "Cultivating Chi" Mean?
I get emails from people -- some of them starting out in the internal arts -- and they've been told that they do certain exercises such as standing or chi kung to "cultivate chi."Ā More than once, people have told me that when they do tai chi they don't "feel the chi," and they ask me what they're doing wrong.
My opinions on these matters tend to differ from the standard schpiel that you get in internal arts classes.
I tell them to stop worrying about feeling chi and worry about strengthening the legs, developing peng and silk-reeling and whole-body movement and the skills that will make their internal arts high quality.
Cultivating chi is a very interesting concept. In my opinion, cultivating chi means that you are growing stronger and more healthy, and learning to develop the body mechanics for good internal arts.
From a movement perspective, cultivating chi might mean practicing a tai chi form until you understand and can execute the movements with the relaxed strength that corr...
The Further Dumbing Down of America
On Wednesday, Oct. 24, a new show will debut on NBC involving Uri Geller, who claims to be able to bend things (like spoons) with his mind. He's teaming up with magician Criss Angel for a new show calledĀ Phenomenon.
Geller became famous in the Sixties and Seventies with his famous bending trick, and everyone assumed he could actually bend spoons with his mind, because Americans can be easily fooled (ummm, like when they believe in chi masters and chi "healing"). Johnny Carson was a magician and with the help of James Randi, heĀ exposed Geller to be a fraud on national TV.
Geller has survived because there are a lot of people who believe this type of garbage no matter what the facts show (ummm, see the above comment about chi masters), and in this new show, he and Angel will be searching for people who possess miraculous and supernatural powers.
This will be very interesting.
James Randi is still around. He exposes frauds all the time (like chi masters who claim to knock people down ...
The Power of Belief in Chi
Dr. Tom Morris received his Ph.D. in both Philosophy and Religious Studies from Yale University. For more than 15 years, he was a Professor of Philosophy at Notre Dame.
In one of his books, he writes about the power of belief and tells the story of when he bought a gas grill. The delivery men from Sears wouldn't hook up the propane tank because of the dangers. So Tom hooked it up, holding his breath while he worked so he wouldn't breathe any fumes. After a minute he would walk away and breathe clean air, then go back to the grill. He accidentally took a few breaths while at the grill and could smell the propane. The fumes began making him light-headed and he began feeling sick, and even when he hooked the tank up, he could still smell the gas.
He called Sears to report the problem. They asked, "Where did you fill up the tank?" He hadn't filled up the tank, and didn't realize that Sears delivers a new grill with an empty propane tank.
Tom's family got a big kick out if this, and as ...
Author - Instructor
Ken Gullette
I have practiced martial arts since 1973 and began studying the internal arts in 1987. My goal is to cut years off your development time by coaching you in the real skills for high-quality Tai Chi, Xingyi, Bagua. To see more about my bio, click the "About Ken" link on the menu at the top of this page.
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