I'm thinking about taking up a martial art to keep me busy these days (when I'm unemployed after the summer). At first I was planning to take up
Krav Maga again, which I studied during my time in the Navy. But then I realized they had Qigong/Tai Chi classes in my city. Now, I'm leaning more
towards that.
I'm not going to pick it up just because I feel the need to learn how to defend myself - if that were the case, I'd go with Krav Maga, which was my
original plan. But I remember enough of that to be able to defend myself in a fight - plus, I fight dirty. So self-defense isn't a concern for me.
Rather, my guts is telling me to go with Tai Chi/Qigong (they teach both in the same class), so that's what I'm going to do. Besides my gut feeling,
the whole idea with Tai Chi and Qigong intrigue me, a lot. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something about it screaming, "Pick me".
Anyway, reason for this post is, does anyone have experience with Tai Chi and Qigong? What can I expect? Also, specifically, as tied to the original
post of the thread, what can I expect in regard to Qi/Chi, as a mere beginner without any previous training in martial arts (besides some basic Krav
Maga), and with some previous dabbling in meditation?
Thanks in advance. Hope the OP don't mind my hijacking the thread like this.
And now, in regard to the original post. It's been made quite clear there is nothing paranormal about Chi. It's not pyrokinesis or telekinesis or
whatever. It's manipulation of energy, something we do daily in our lives anyway. The only energy we don't really manipulate in our daily lives is
the one in our own body - our chi.
Now, I don't know physics, but that doesn't sound too unreasonable or far fetched to me. I think it is very possible that it does, in fact, exist
and work.
And of course, take something like that a slew of centuries ago, and the reaction from most uninitiated, back when not everyone was well versed in
physics and science, would be calling it magic. Just food for thought.
[edit on 17-8-2010 by David_Reale]