| When I was growing up, in the fifties, there was | | | | will pass through the legs and into the tan tien. |
| this strange beast called the martial arts. People | | | | And the tan tien is nothing but a simple energy |
| could defend themselves with little effort, merely | | | | generator. |
| through the use of this strange energy called Chi. | | | | If you can excite the tan tien through the use of |
| Heck, women could beat up attackers, and even | | | | forms, then you can cause an energy to filter |
| children could defend themselves using this martial | | | | upward through the body. This energy will excite |
| art called Karate. | | | | a middle tan tien in the upper body, and then |
| I explored Kenpo, and Goju, and judo, and several | | | | cause a person, through the excitation of the |
| other martial arts, and I found little trace of this | | | | upper tan tien, in the head, to view his body from |
| mysterious energy. Mostly, you just stood in line | | | | outside his body. Thus, the body is filled, point by |
| and hit the air, and I began to believe that ki | | | | point, and becomes a battery charged with |
| might be more of a myth than a reality. Still, I | | | | supernormal energy. |
| saw pictures of people breaking bricks, and doing | | | | The energy of the body can be used in many |
| other things which, even though they seemed a | | | | ways, and this provides a whole new field of |
| bit muscular, touted this strange energy called Ki. | | | | education for a student of the martial arts. To |
| As years passed, and as I executed my katas | | | | explore this education one should attempt to not |
| thousands and thousands of times, a strange | | | | use muscles, for energy locked into muscles |
| thing began to occur. I began to feel the world | | | | stops the body, and stops the intention which |
| beyond myself. I began to see the world without | | | | drives the energy, and stops the emission of Ki. |
| eyes, and through intuition and a sense of myself | | | | Instead, when striking, one should be like a noodle, |
| that went beyond body. Slowly, I began to | | | | eventually not even tightening the fist, merely |
| understand this ki thing, and to understand that | | | | driving it through the attacker, and occupying the |
| circus tricks were the icing, and enjoyable, but | | | | space of his body, and to loosen the motion and |
| that Ki was something else. | | | | sensitivity of the body so it is empty, and able to |
| I studied Aikido, and Tai Chi Chuan and other | | | | evaporate under attack to the imbalance of the |
| internal arts. I began to feel a strange energy | | | | attacker, and the guidance of his energy in a |
| seep through me, and I began to enjoy a | | | | profound and magnitudious manner. |
| profound health which made me feel more spry | | | | Ki, whether it is called prana or pneuma or chi or |
| and energetic than even when I had been young. | | | | intrinsic energy or whatever, is not the |
| And I began to realize certain things about this | | | | mysterious it has been built up to be. It is simple |
| thing called Ki which should be understood, should | | | | to find and define and use, if one only pay |
| people wish to really delve into the truth of the | | | | attention to the simple things I have written in |
| subject. | | | | this article. Whether you study shotokan or goju |
| When you do your forms you must lower your | | | | or uechi, whether you practice yoga or tai chi, this |
| hips and your center of balance, for this will | | | | thing called ki is available to you, and it is The Path |
| create a better connection to the planet. A better | | | | of The True Art. |
| connection means more and perceivable energy | | | | |