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Recently we had a long thread on techniques that might help a person feel chi. Here I'd like address a related but different topic. What do you feel inside when you say you are feeling chi? How do you sense energy? What senses do you use? I am not after more techniques, but looking for descriptions of what you notice inside that you call feeling or sensing chi. In the other thread I wrote: "For many years, I've been meeting with four other women in what we call a healing circle. We often talk about energy, chi, and do healing on each other, discussing what we're noticing. A year or two ago, I finally asked an obvious question that we had never discussed. "What does chi feel like to you?" Was THAT ever an eye opener! None of them described what I felt! Some got a visual sensation, some actually "see" the energy". One had some kind of astral (my word) outside-the-body knowing, and then there's my sense, usually a kind of hydraulic internal movement. All these seeming differences, yet we had been pretty much agreeing about our energetic experiences for years! That still cracks me up." Since then I've been asking other people, and one even said they see the shape of a human with bright lines on it and other markers of the energy. They even see this when sensing into their own energy! Apparently there are many ways to feel or sense chi, and of course, multiple ways to sense different kinds of chi or for different purposes, even within a single person. So...How is it for you? Please have a go at describing what you feel when you say you feel chi.

This is a Taiji Ruler (and Taiji Bang) handbook "imparted by Feng Zhiqiang" and compiled by his son-in-law, Wang Fengming. Half the book is in Chinese, the other half an English translation. I'm sure this is a great book in Chinese, but the English translation is truly awful. Having almost tossed the book at the gitgo, slowly I began to understand a little of it as I kept rereading it. This last time through, I understood a little more. Practicing helps me relate better to what the authors are getting at. At least I think it does. :-) The authors say that practice of TJR will develop what is translated as "Integrated Primary Qi", and Wang says primary qi is also called congenital qi. This is a central concept in the book, and I would love to know more about the meaning of the Chinese words so translated, and what they actually refer to in terms of experience in the practice. I wrote Wang once, asking, and he suggested I come to a workshop. Which is a great idea, just not practical for me. Anybody got the book and also read Chinese? Or just understand what he's getting at? Or know from experience/practice with the method? Or just want to share their experience of the practice in general?