How exactly Does One FEEL Chi?

[The Genuine Article]

i was wondering if there are any way that a person could feel chi?

[ryansmith]

Put your hand over the object you want to feel and observe various sensations, tingling, heat, etc. Working on your water center helps one to better feel chi.

[DaoChild]

In my body, chi is always felt by an intense warmth (literally like I put my hands on a heating pad, when I do self-healings). Sometimes I feel tingle or buzzing too.

[11:33]

Some people have more or less ability to feel chi. In my school of qigong we're told not to worry about; some people feel it right away, some people don't feel it for years. Unfortunately, I don't know any kinds of exercises or tests you could do to make you feel it.

[awake]

Feel your body. Start with your hands.

[Martial Development]

Thus I have heard: you don't feel chi, you feel its side-effects.

[三江源]

Thus I have heard: you don't feel chi, you feel its side-effects.

 

I have heard this too. As you get deeper into practices you will find different sensations relate to different types of chi.. this may be different side effects, of course. Either way, it is interesting and fun.

 

 

If you hold your palms opposite one another and circle them , as if you were making a ball out of the air between your hands.... you should after a while, feel chi. Try it and see. It works for most people. Once you have made a 'ball of chi' between your hands you can stretch it, and see how dense you can make it, by circling more. Experiment.

 

Have fun.

[xenolith]

...much have you made clear....imaginary you know.

 

No judgment, just understanding.

[Epicurious]

...much have you made clear....imaginary you know.

 

No judgment, just understanding.

SPEAK ENGLISH BOY!!!!!!1

 

i was wondering if there are any way that a person could feel chi?

 

git zapped by john chang...

[Dot]

Thus I have heard: you don't feel chi, you feel its side-effects.

Yep. Everything I've studied and heard from teachers I respect agree with that.

[autopoetic]

Yep. Everything I've studied and heard from teachers I respect agree with that.

 

Ditto here. I was taught that any experience of chi is an experienced of imbalanced energy flow (which causes the side effects). Perfectly balanced and flowing chi feels like... nothing!

[hagar]

i was wondering if there are any way that a person could feel chi?

 

Sit totally and completely still, as if petrified, like a rock for 60 minutes.

 

You will feel chi.

 

h

Edited May 26, 2009 by hagar

[doc benway]

i was wondering if there are any way that a person could feel chi?

Waysun Liao does a nice job describing how to go about beginning to feel and work with Qi in his book The Essence of T'ai Chi. He has another book called Chi: How to Fell Your Life's Energy. I haven't read this one but if it's anything like "Essence", I imagine it could help you.

 

Another thing that I realized was that focusing on the physical sensations experienced during sexual arousal and orgasm is a useful way of beginning to understand the awareness of Qi. Try to localize the sensations in different parts of the body while they are being experienced. Later, after the sexual arousal is gone, try to again become aware of a similar sensation in different areas of the body while not aroused. In the begin you need to have a very open mind about this and, if necessary, don't hesitate to use a little visualization or imagination. That is, visualize a feeling of warmth or tingling, coolness or an itch, anything that you find pleasant and can focus your attention on. Associate this with a particular part of the anatomy. One of the easiest places to feel this is in the region of the prostate gland for men, I can't comment personally on women but I've been told it can be very intense between the breasts.

Edited May 26, 2009 by xuesheng

[三江源]

 

Sit totally and completely still, as if petrified, like a rock for 60 minutes.

 

You will feel chi.

 

h

 

Oooh. Nice one.

 

My example was too easy, wasnt it.

[11:33]

When I had the Three Gates opened along the Du meridian in my spine, I remember that I could immediately feel my chi flowing like little streams around my body much more than before (when I could barely feel it, even though I'd been practicing for a year). I think it is called the Three Gates or San Guan??? Usually the point at the mingmen, behind the heart and behind the head. Don't know all the technical acupoint names, though.

[三江源]

When I had the Three Gates opened along the Du meridian in my spine, I remember that I could immediately feel my chi flowing like little streams around my body much more than before (when I could barely feel it, even though I'd been practicing for a year). I think it is called the Three Gates or San Guan??? Usually the point at the mingmen, behind the heart and behind the head. Don't know all the technical acupoint names, though.

 

I took the opening question to be something along the lines of "how could the unitiated feel chi?"

[11:33]

I took the opening question to be something along the lines of "how could the unitiated feel chi?"

Yeah probably I thought someone reading this might find it useful to know about. I didn't even know what the San Guan was at some point, so the more information the better for anyone reading.

[hagar]

Oooh. Nice one.

 

My example was too easy, wasnt it.

 

Nop. Way better.

Mine was just a supplement. At times when you need to make sure. Its hell on wheels.

 

h

[Birch]

Can you feel the wind on your face?

Is it warm or cold?

What do you feel after the wind hits your face?

What is your first thought immediately following that?

 

Yeh, I guess that sounds stupid, but do we need to have Chi shouting at us to feel it? My suggestion would be to drop awareness (down ?) to the point where you can feel something. I guess that some people would just prefer the volume turned up;-) Then sex is your amplifier;-)

 

Anyway, as someone I listened to the other day mentioned, it would be really crap to feel absolutely everything all the time.

[xenolith]

...much have you made clear....imaginary you know.

 

No judgment, just understanding.

Sorry about that. Very.

[Zhuo Ming-Dao]

Sorry, the system lagged and my post repeated.

Edited May 29, 2009 by Zhuo Ming-Dao

[Zhuo Ming-Dao]

The easiest way to start is to just vigorously rub your hands together. For a few moments after you will feel a slight buzz under your skin. Hold onto this sensation for as long as you can. It may take a little practice, but you will very soon be able to hold the buzzing sensation for as long as you want and summon it on command.

 

Next, move the sensation using your will alone. If you have trouble doing this imagine that your other hand is actually tracing a line on your hand or up your arm. The sensation will follow your imaginary finger. Keep in mind though, this is not about visualizing, this is about feeling.

 

If you keep this up you will get to the point where the sensation, the chi, will go wherever you place your awareness (or your imaginary finger). With practice you will be able to direct it anywhere inside or outside of your body. And by spiraling the awareness, you will cause the sensations to intensify.

 

 

 

This simple exercise works with just about everyone, no matter how much or how little previous experience they have had.

 

 

As you get more experienced with opening up the meridians and become more balanced the sensations will become progressively more gentle and subtle, but since your awareness is stronger you will be able to feel it flowing freely throughout your body much more easily. Eventually it will take no mental effort and you will be able to move into the sensation of full body awareness (including your insides), which in turn stills the mind and brings peace to everything you do.

 

 

 

Ditto here. I was taught that any experience of chi is an experienced of imbalanced energy flow (which causes the side effects). Perfectly balanced and flowing chi feels like... nothing!

 

I disagree strongly with those who say that you will eventually feel nothing. If you feel hear or see nothing within your body, then you must be sealing your senses and turning your attention away from the body... which is not a very Daoist approach. The sensations will no longer be prickly or harsh, but they will be there in a much deeper, softer, and ever present way.

Edited May 29, 2009 by Zhuo Ming-Dao

[11:33]

I disagree strongly with those who say that you will eventually feel nothing. If you feel hear or see nothing within your body, then you must be sealing your senses and turning your attention away from the body... which is not a very Daoist approach. The sensations will no longer be prickly or harsh, but they will be there in a much deeper, softer, and ever present way.

 

I agree. I feel more qi now than ever after all these years of practice. The flow feels gentle and smooth, but it my feeling of qi hasn't gone away over time.

[autopoetic]

I agree. I feel more qi now than ever after all these years of practice. The flow feels gentle and smooth, but it my feeling of qi hasn't gone away over time.

 

Have you reached the top level of practice possible, where nothing whatsoever obstructs the flow of energy and that flow is perfectly balanced in you and with the world? If not, then you still have some imbalance, therefore (as I understand it) some sensation. And don't get me wrong - I think that for those of us who are not finished our progress (ie. practically all of us), imbalance can be a good thing.

 

I disagree strongly with those who say that you will eventually feel nothing. If you feel hear or see nothing within your body, then you must be sealing your senses and turning your attention away from the body... which is not a very Daoist approach. The sensations will no longer be prickly or harsh, but they will be there in a much deeper, softer, and ever present way.

 

Just to clarify, I definitely didn't say that I don't experience sensations which I understand as the effects of chi. But I was taught not to seek after sensations. In my lineage, they are not understood and good or bad signs - they are just sensations. Having experiences of energy does not make a person wiser. They are just like any other sensation. Neither does having an experience of chi necessarily mean you're getting healthier - sometimes it is a healing imbalance, sometimes, just an imbalance. In my understanding, the experience of chi is not especially relevant to cultivation - that is, no more relevant than the feeling of hunger or fullness, sleepiness or agitation, anger or joy. They're all just sensations. They should be noted. They should be allowed to blossom fully, then let go of.

 

But I probably shouldn't talk about things I haven't experienced myself. I don't know what the end of the path looks like. Maybe it doesn't make sense at that point to talk about having sensations or not. Perhaps what I understand as 'sensation' at my meager level of development is radically different from what an accomplished master would experience. Perhaps someone far more advanced than I am has awareness of energy, but not what my teacher has called 'sensation'.

Edited May 30, 2009 by autopoetic

[11:33]

Have you ascended to the utmost level of practice possible, where nothing whatsoever obstructs the flow of energy and that flow is perfectly balanced in you and with the world?

 

If not, then you still have some imbalance, therefore (as I understand it) some sensation. And don't get me wrong - for those of us who are not finished our progress (ie. practically all of us), imbalance can be a good thing.

 

I think you just get more able to sense the flow of chi after years of practice.

 

For example, when I first learned years ago, I couldn't feel the energy as I can now, and yet I had MUCH MUCH MUCH more imbalance then.

Edited May 30, 2009 by 11:33