Qi (氣), in Chinese, refers to all gaseous substances that make up the universe. Externally, it forms the air and gases in the atmosphere. Internally, Qi is regarded as the energy stored in human body.
The concept of Qi can be traced back to the Ancient Chinese Philosophy, in which people held the belief that Qi is the fundamental life force of everything; it forms all matters in the universe and ranges from external environment to the internal energy stored inside the body. Changing of the environment suggests that there are movements and interactions of Qi. For example, natural disasters such as landslides, earthquakes are results of imbalance of Qi in the world. Another characteristic is that Qi is invisible and changes constantly. A forceful illustration would be water, which is a physical substance, can be transformed into steam in the air. Understanding that Chinese views Qi as a whole entity, Qi is also a fundamental concept that is incorporated in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Qi in Traditional Chinese Medicine While Western medicine emphasizes on physical structures of human body, believing that various organic and inorganic substances made up of proteins, cells, tissues, organs and thus the body systems, Traditional Chinese Medicine views human …show more content…
Congenital Qi (先天之氣) is obtained from parents at conception, it is important for growth and development and comes from Qi inside the kidney. The latter, meanwhile, is derived from the food we eat, water we drink as well as air we breathe in. The main functions include formation of blood, distributing nutrients and regulating the metabolism (homeostasis) inside the body. Theoretically, kidney propels congenital Qi upwards, which combines with nutritional essence derived from the spleen, mixes with fresh air from the lung, and eventually gives rise to Qi inside the organs and within meridians.