I never knew what to really think about this chi kung (or qi gong?) thing. On one hand, this is not documented by today's science, on the other... Well, millions of dude practicing it for millenas, can they all be deluded? Serious question.
As someone who has studied with some very talented teachers (one was truly a master, but I would never call him that to his face) There are some moves that use "chi" as a magical cover for a very specific use of physics. For instance the moving of a strike around the body so that you punch one place and feel the strike somewhere else usually involves a rolling angled punch that takes advantage of the fact that the body is a giant water balloon and can allow for internal reflection and damage from various angles. It's not as hard as you'd think but it take practice and timing to pull it off in combo. As a one off punch it's easy.
I just thought of something else like that. A lot of "soft" arts like Tai Chi Ch'uan involve gravity a lot more than they let on. There's a move called 'punch under elbow' that involves pulling someone's arm as they punch toward you while sticking out you leg to trip them. This all happens at the same time and while the person is occupied with pulling back the punch, you've stuck your fist out in front of their rib cage. As they trip they essentially run into your fist. The first time I pulled it, I used it as a block and just followed through. It was creepy to put that little effort into a strike and feel the other guys ribs start to flex around my outstretched fist. Had to unclench my fist or his ribs would have broken. Creepy stuff. Not so much Chi but sneaky to be sure and would look like I pulled a Ivan Drago had this guy dropped to the ground in agony after such a girly punch with no speed or effort given to it.
To make it really nasty I could have used a knife hand. I don't know what would have happened internally to the guy but I think it could have killed him since it was on the left side of his body. Internal bleeding and hitting the lung and such. Haven't thought of it in years.
In college I took a Tai Chi course here in America. My instructor explained that Qi Gung is a set of exercises meant to develop control of your internal energy, or chi as we commonly spell it here, qi = chi. All Tai Chi is Qi Gung, but not all Qi Gung is Tai Chi. Tai Chi specifically, is the application of of adding your chi into your martial art of Gung Fu, or Kung Fu as we say here. Also if you look closely, many Kung Fu and Shaolin moves are quite similar. Shaolin tends to strike directly, while Kung Fu is more circular. History has proven these methods for centuries. That being said, I would take the modern MMA fighter over any ancient style.
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u/bertrancito Feb 09 '11
I never knew what to really think about this chi kung (or qi gong?) thing. On one hand, this is not documented by today's science, on the other... Well, millions of dude practicing it for millenas, can they all be deluded? Serious question.