How do you feel/sense chi?

[cheya]

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.

Edited August 6, 2016 by cheya

[Wells]

.

Edited August 7, 2016 by spacester

[Jeff]

For me, I would say "vibrancy". Like all of the atoms are resonating in harmony...

[cheya]

Spacester,

And what do you feel inside when you sense chi?

 

Not asking for techniques here (that was the other thread), but for description of your own internal sensations...

unless of course the sensation is external for you!   

[Brian]

Very simple:

The most important detail is to sense highly concentrated into your body and chi will manifest in time as a tingling, a streaming sensation, a sensation of heat or cold, a burning sensation which seems neither hot nor cold, a sensation of electricity etc. depending on the individual. You might even hear it as a humming inside of you.

The best book on the subject by far imo is Waysun Liao's Tai Chi Classics book, which I highly recommend to you if you want to get deeper into the subject. It has a no-nonsense approach and covers all the subjects and details which you need to advance potentially very far in chi development. It covers sitting, standing and moving meditation.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Tai-Chi-Classics-Shambhala/dp/1570627495/

 

If you want to heal with chi, then you of course first need to develop a strong chi through a specific training

which aims directly at that goal and this book does provide you exactly with that.

She is asking, instead, for individuals to describe the sensations -- what do YOU feel.

 

For me, there are several. The most common when practicing is a combination of an electrical tingling and a feeling of moving through a viscous fluid.

 

I sometimes see and/or hear things, too. Smells occasionally.

 

Sensations associated with healings are distinct from but similar to those during practice sessions, and I feel energy almost constantly these days regardless of whether I am actively "doing something" with it.

 

Most of my energy work is being done in dreamtime now, BTW.

[Brian]

Spacester,

And what do you feel inside when you sense chi?

 

Not asking for techniques here (that was the other thread), but for description of your own internal sensations...

unless of course the sensation is external for you!

Looks like we were typing at the same time...

[cheya]

Yes, Brian, and I edited the OP a bit to be more clear.

Thank you!

[lessdaomorebum]

 

 

"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."

 

 

 

 

 

I don't mean to cast aspersions at your friends, but who says they actually are feeling or sensing chee? I have read a number of teachers talk about this in different ways. That is, just because people think they are feeling or even emitting chee doesn't mean they are.

[lessdaomorebum]

 

 

Not asking for techniques here (that was the other thread), ...

That was what the other thread turned into

[dawei]

So...How is it for you? Please have a go at describing what you feel when you say you feel chi.

 

My experience sounds similar to Brian's in both the sensations and how it has evolved into different ways of sensing... all the way to bedtime

 

My first attempts in energy work were through the books of Dr. Yang.  I followed his instructions to a fault and testing several of his ideas (MCO and forms) and had tingles and then later actual flow along lines.    He had one form which he said if done right, one would feel Qi flowing down front of the eyes... that was an amazing feeling of Qi trickling down the front of my face.   It felt like electric water moving down my face.

 

Later when I did Tai Ji and Medical Qigong, my sensitivity was expanded and then included pressure and heat.   Sometimes my hands would feel like the tips were being pricked.   Interestingly, I often felt the most Qi AFTER the sessions when we would just lay down... Qi would flow head to toe and it was a feeling of it running along various lines.

 

What's interesting is when you feel the Qi from someone else!  In my experience, that has been the strongest sensations that were mostly the tingling and flow.

 

At this point, with my current practices, the sensations have expanded more and include intense heat, sweating, or subtle twitch or shakes.   I've had three episodes of what can only be described as a full body electrocution feeling.   Qi flowed so fast throughout my entire body and vibrated at a fast rate that I felt like I was plugged into electricity. 

 

You asked

[dwai]

It feels like a flowing current inside. In the dan tiens it swirls and spirals like smoke. Qi has always felt "cool" to me. Like cool stream water flowing inside my body/meridians.

 

When it condenses on its own, it feels like there is a fluid compression inside...like hydraulic pressure, only much softer (if the liquid was several times less viscous than water even).

 

Jin feels different though - it feels like silk/satin in my body. Can't think of any other description

 

Externally it feels like a force field. Like how an unpoppable bubble might feel. When it flows sometimes through me I can feel it like air flowing through me.

 

When I do see it, mainly in the dark, it is like mild glowing white smoke.

Edited August 6, 2016 by dwai

[cheya]

 

You asked

 

Yes, I did!

And man am I glad!

This is GREAT!

Edited August 6, 2016 by cheya

[cheya]

I don't mean to cast aspersions at your friends, but who says they actually are feeling or sensing chee? I have read a number of teachers talk about this in different ways. That is, just because people think they are feeling or even emitting chee doesn't mean they are.

 

Fair question, LDMB!

 

Let's see if I can answer it sufficiently vaguely to be okay with my friends... and sufficiently concretely to be meaningful to you.

 

Two of these women are professional healers, with long time very successful practices, one actually booked up solid for weeks. The other ran a healing training for many years in four or five cities, as well as maintaining a local practice. A third ran intuition training for a major corporation. When she travels, if she starts scanning someone, other people start getting in line!  I don't think they would be booked up or paid well for what they do if nothing was happening!

 

Of course none of that proves anything. But I can say by experience, all of the women run chi. On me. I have felt it. Their runnings each feel a little different. Having all four work on me at one time is a gas! One time I told one of the professional healers, running energy on me by herself, "If you could bottle that stuff, you'd be rich!"

 

Usually I feel individual chi flows, sometimes I just feel happier and happier while they charge me up.

 

It's so fun to talk about what they sense in whichever of us is on the table. They each sense chi in different ways, but they can usually agree on where something is happening and how to approach. Individually they would give different "diagnoses" of what's going on or even where. That seems to be contradictory, but there are many ways to start the chi moving and increase the whole body flow. Amp it up from here, pull it up to there, too much in that place, clear it out!  We each have different favorite points and methods of "leveraging the chi".  It's a really fun dance!

 

And STILL this doesn't prove anything! Until you feel it. Unless you feel it.

And even that may not be "proof"... but it's awfully convincing.   

Edited August 6, 2016 by cheya

[Bindi]

My experience sounds similar to Brian's in both the sensations and how it has evolved into different ways of sensing... all the way to bedtime

 

My first attempts in energy work were through the books of Dr. Yang.  I followed his instructions to a fault and testing several of his ideas (MCO and forms) and had tingles and then later actual flow along lines.    He had one form which he said if done right, one would feel Qi flowing down front of the eyes... that was an amazing feeling of Qi trickling down the front of my face.   It felt like electric water moving down my face.

 

Later when I did Tai Ji and Medical Qigong, my sensitivity was expanded and then included pressure and heat.   Sometimes my hands would feel like the tips were being pricked.   Interestingly, I often felt the most Qi AFTER the sessions when we would just lay down... Qi would flow head to toe and it was a feeling of it running along various lines.

 

What's interesting is when you feel the Qi from someone else!  In my experience, that has been the strongest sensations that were mostly the tingling and flow.

 

At this point, with my current practices, the sensations have expanded more and include intense heat, sweating, or subtle twitch or shakes.   I've had three episodes of what can only be described as a full body electrocution feeling.   Qi flowed so fast throughout my entire body and vibrated at a fast rate that I felt like I was plugged into electricity. 

 

You asked

 

 Is it correct to describe kundalini symptoms as Qi?

 

Does kundalini energy cultivate the dantians?

Edited August 6, 2016 by Bindi

[cheya]

Hey Bindi,

If you don't mind, could we stick to describing our own feelings of chi, not implying labels on others' responses?

 

How do you feel chi?

 

Thanks.

Edited August 6, 2016 by cheya

[Kar3n]

It feels like an electrified current flowing throughout my body and sometimes pooling in areas most call charkas or dantians. It ranges from intense to pleasant hum. With these flows any number of things can accompany; tones, smells, tastes, sensations on my skin and in chakras. Sometimes I get sleepy and take a nap

[silent thunder]

All sorts of feelings:

Magnetic fields in front of the palms is very common.

Puffy hands... hands that are two or three times thicker than usual.

Cloud hands.  As the hands move the sensation of mist or clouds streaming between the fingers and around the lower arms.

Air flowing, out of the feet and palms.

 

Water flowing under the skin, usually in the legs but all over the body at various times.

 

Electrical pulsing and crackling in the feet.  This occurred in the beginning but left off after a year or so.

 

Almost immediately at the beginning of every form, a magnetic flow along the right side of my abdomen, leading from the MDT, downward to the LDT.  This can sometimes stay and pulse throughout the form, or else it dies off after a couple of minutes and does not return.

 

Warm waves emanating from the core during the final phases of any moving form.

 

Expansion of individual parts of the body, face, arms, torso:  feeling like they are 3-10 times larger than normal.

Expansion of the entire body.

Sense that the body is made of dense mist or fog.

[Aeran]

My first experiences with the sensation of Qi, practicing exercises intended to lead to the opening of the MCO from a book, were of an intense heat, which I suspect was maybe not the Qi itself but just the effect moving energy intentionally for the first time had on my body. I also experienced intense pain in my legs, a prickling heat, which turned me off the exercises entirely (for the better I suspect).

 

Later on, practicing the Middle Pillar ritual, which, in Qi Gong terms, opens the central channel by bringing energy down through the Bai Hui, it felt something like what I can only describe as feeling like slightly condensed sunlight - soft and warm,  and as it moved down the torso and expanded through the body it would bring on twitches, heat, tingling and a pleasurable feeling of arousal expanding from the genitals and lower abdomen.

 

Practicing Pore Breathing, I would feel an expansion and contraction of pressure surrounding the body, a kind of magnetic feeling (although why that word seems suitable I'm not sure, since I've never "felt" magnetism that I know of). If I held the Qi in my body instead of releasing it on the out breath, this sense of pressure would build in the body, along with a charge of physical vitality and a mild, energizing euphoria. However the effort itself seemed to create a bit of a strain, and after a certain number of rounds I would find it harder and harder to draw the energy in and feel strained doing so, much like a muscle growing tired from excessive work.

 

The Flying Phoenix system of Qi Gong again had a slightly different feeling to it. The best way I can describe it is as something like the sensation you get when you pass your finger through a candleflame (the name of the system immediately felt appropriate), except instead of growing in heat and burning the body with continued exposure, it would spread and circulate in different ways, depending on the exercise, creating a sensation similar to the easing of muscular tension you experience when sinking into steaming hot water. The energy seems to have almost a volition of it's own, and it feels like it moves to where it is needed most and then settles in to work on healing whatever problem exists there. 

 

Finally, the Qigong taught by my Taiji teacher seems to create a soft, vibrating sensation of pressure running over the whole body, this sensation is very relaxing, and different patches of tension almost seem to subconsciously adjust during practice. Occasionally it would create patches of heat, which would sometimes move around the body before quickly clearing up. After practice, I would feel vitalized and calm.

Edited August 7, 2016 by Aeran

[Wells]

.

Edited August 7, 2016 by spacester

[lessdaomorebum]

 

I know. But I saw the same issue as lessdaomorebum and therefore answered as I did,

naming the best way to start imho to develop strong chi which then can be used for healing

instead of describing my personal experiences.

But the OP specifically asked people not to do this. I do believe that your and my replies on this thread are not at all connected.

[Wells]

.

Edited August 7, 2016 by spacester

[Wells]

.

Edited August 7, 2016 by spacester

[cheya]

Edited: don't need to go there now.

Thank you, Spacester!

Edited August 7, 2016 by cheya

[dawei]

IF we moved this to Daoist section, you can use Owner's Permission to keep it cleaned up... including deleting my post 

[dawei]

Expansion of individual parts of the body, face, arms, torso:  feeling like they are 3-10 times larger than normal.

Expansion of the entire body.

Sense that the body is made of dense mist or fog.

 

Yes... this is quite an interesting feeling when it occurs and I've wondered if this is really feeling Qi or something more like the shared presence that connects us all... which maybe is just an energy field of Qi anyways ...  nice to see this