One Inch Punch, and..

[Traymond]

but yet Ki (qi) is a mental stimulant....would you agree with that?

[JusticeZero]

Nope.

[Traymond]

Hmmm I see.

So to you Qi is just a visualized aid for martial arts?

[JusticeZero]

Essentially, yes. It is the finger that points at the moon.

[Traymond]

So lets take it into a scientific approach. What allows us to visualize qi

I ask this question because I do not know what allows us to visualize it.

[JusticeZero]

Um, our mind? I can visualize a lot of things. Many of those things can have a real effect, but that doesn't make them any more real.

[Traymond]

Is it possible that while we are visualizing certain things our brain can have a chemical reaction and send out different chemicals to power our body?

I.E. Endorphins, endocannabanoids, etc etc.

[JusticeZero]

It is impossible for the brain NOT to do that. But it does not mean that qi magic is an independently real thing.

[Traymond]

Now...what if we remove the term magic from the word Qi, and refer to the English translation of ki (qi) which is circulating energy, we take into mind Qigong an internal art based only on Qi effects.

When you take away the term magic its no longer a hard to understand figment of someones imagination. Its an art form all in itself.

Its a science as well as an art. Something that we have to turn into a certain sense such as if it were a smell or a taste. Because with this we allow it to attach itself to us and to become one with us.

Is it alive...no, only alive and present if we believe it to be and truly allow our hearts to open up to it.

[JusticeZero]

You did ask my opinion on the matter; my opinion remains as follows:

Qi techniques are an extremely valuable tool, possibly indispensable, for achieving the maximum effect from one's abilities. It is very important to develop skill in using these in order to best develop ones' abilities and press beyond the easily accepted limits that the limits of normal body control and mental conditioning may restrict one to.

However, I have not personally seen anything to lead me to believe that the tasks thus performed use anything beyond mundane dynamics of muscular contraction, balance, and skill; investigation into such "amazing" feats has always resulted in learning of ways to perform the task with learned skill and applied biomechanics or physics.

While qi exercises can communicate how to move more powerfully and relaxedly than simply telling the student to 'push this way' might give, the force thus generated still appears to me to be generated through contraction of muscle fibers, body alignment, and the like.

I have experienced entirely too many people who were far too quick to credit supernatural powers for my own entirely mundane accomplishments, and I have learned or learned of entirely too many ways to perform "impossible" feats without the need of any form of extranormal force. As such, I am hesitant to quickly apply quick and ultimately unsatisfying explanations such as "it's Qi" to feats that I do not personally know how to do yet. To me, to say such a thing belittles the practitioner and excuses mediocrity in the observer.

As such, I view Qi work as a tool to be used and incorporated into practice, but not in any way anything worthy of profound spiritual examination or elevation; further, I do not see it as anything with any real potential to be "alive", any more than my stretching exercises are "alive".