Power beyond strength- Ki

Power beyond strength- Ki

Have you seen clips of bizarre feats performed by people with so called "extraordinary" powers.

For example; bending steel rods with the throat, standing on sharpened knife edges, walking on red hot coal pits, breaking a coke bottle with a mere tap of its bottom, hitting 4 inch nails through a plank with the palm, lying on a bed of nails with a man standing on the chest simultaneously trying to pierce a sword through the neck.

If you are curious or an extremely visual person you may like to check out the following clips.

Please do not try to enact them, these are trained/ gifted people..not sure if its nature or nurture but definetly too dangerous to follow.

Check out this link, Taiwanese hard Qi Gong being put to practice- an interview by a BBC reporter. Click here

After watching that clip- what are your thoughts?

Do you think those are just mere camera trick, or perhaps an unseen force do exist..

I believe that Qi or Ki ( in Japanese) do exist. Despite it being unseen and not measureable using our conventional scientific measuring tools, it does exist. Most Asians are very familiar with the Qi concept. It is widely referred to as a force in traditional healing as well as martial arts.

Qi - A Chinese Concept

According to Chinese medicine text, Qi is a type of life force that exist in all living things.

An imbalance in Qi will usually result with health problems. The main aim of chinese medicine in curing such individuals are correcting the yin and yang balance and hence affecting the overall Qi of the person.

The Qi is also widely believe to be a vital component in Chinese martial artist.

The strength or level of competency of the martial artist is determined by the level of Qi.

Those who can manipulate their Qi are able to use their Qi to defend or attack an opponent.

Based on many chinese wuxia ( martial arts) literature, the Qi component is widely mentioned as a force that is used by the practitioner to perform amazing feats i.e. deadly palm attacks, walking on blades of grass, destroying stone boulders with the Qi generated from their hands or swords, invincibility from strikes of sword or spears etc. Basically Qi can be used as a defensive or offensive force.

The Qi can also be destroyed by an opponent with stronger Qi. The Qi can also be "harmed" if the practitioner is unable to control it during its manifestation. Intensive training of Qi incorrectly can lead to a state called "possessed by demon" These people will usually display symptoms of dementia, lunacy or may even result to a violent death with blood coming out from 7 orifices.

Ki- The Japanese Version

In Japan, Qi or better known as Ki is also widely recognised as a force in martial art. Aikido practitioners are very familar with this concept. The word Ai- Ki- Do literally means art of conjoining Ki. If you are not familiar with Aikido, you can read more about the history and the practice of AIKIDO from this site.

How is Ki manifested in Aikido practitioners?

Can we walk on sharp knifes, break steel etc..?

I have yet to come across a practitioner or a master who is able to display such capabilities; however I have witnessed an amazing act.

Ki power demonstrated

Picture this..

2 plastic cups are filled with water and each placed on a separate table. A bamboo ( diameter about 1 inch) is placed on top of the cups acting as a bridge. The master then uses a wooden sword (bokken) that is rather blunt and with the speed of a single heart beat, he chopped the bamboo into 2 pieces WITHOUT SPILLING a single drop of water or breaking the cups.

Others have tried but failed miserably; either breaking the cups or the bamboo not broken into 2 pieces.

So, is Ki working behind this master's ability?

When asked, the master simply replied that it is the Ki generated from his arms and extended to the wooden sword. He also added to be able to perform what he just did require many years Aikido training to unleash the power within.

I have yet to achieve what has just been described, however; like most Aikido yudansha ( black belt equivalent) I would be able to perform the unbendable arm.

Unbendable Arm

The unbendable arm is a unique demonstration of Ki power in Aikido.

As the name implies, unbendable arm is an ability of the Aikido-ka ( practitioner) to resist a challenger from bending his arm. If the Aikidoka does not use the aikido way to react to the folding of the arm by the challenger, he will succumb to the force and will also experience stress & pain due to the bending force.

On the contrary, if the Aikido technique is applied to neutralise the bending, the aikidoka's arm will be free from pain and no matter how hard the challenger tries the arm will not bend. For the challenger, it feels like pushing against a wall.

To add perplexity to the feat, the Aikidoka's arm feels soft during the application of Aikido technique indicating that muscles are not flexed.

In fact, if the muscle are flexed and counter strength is used to prevent the bending, it will result in a tug of war. The stronger will then prevail but pain will be felt.

If the Aikidoka is physically weaker than the challenger, he will still be able to perform the unbendable arm if he uses the Aikido method instead of his strength.

It is fairly easy to learn this method but, to be able to resist the bending with the slightest effort can be difficult. Practice under a master is strongly recommended because one has to learn how to deviate the opponent's Ki in order to demonstrate this skill. I hope to film this demonstration and share with you in the next post.. till then.. I will end this blog with a clip of more Ki in ACTION.

The person demonstrating is Tohei Sensei, one of the founder's direct student but he has branched out to the pure Ki form of Aikido called shin shin toitsu