QI:

Let's look at the Chinese character for the word Qi. It is composed of two parts.The bottom character means ‘rice’, which is a metaphor for the transformative energy from the earth which sustains us. Rice in our bellies becomes fuel or energy for our bodies, and rice symbolizes the vital life-sustaining energy of the Earth. The upper part of the character means ‘wind’ or ‘air’ and represents the vital energy of the heavens. Earth energy is Yin or feminine energy. Heavenly energy is Yang or male energy. To live in the balance of Yin and Yang is the goal of Qigong practice. In other words, Qi means the vital life energy from the Earth and the Heavens and is the very energy force or field that sustains all life on this planet.

But Qi means more than just the vital energy that gets you out of bed every morning and keeps you going through the day. Qi also means Universal knowledge or information. What does this mean? Well, we can safely say that all living things are composed of Qi. Without Qi, there can be no life. But then the question begs to be asked: if all living things are composed of Qi, why aren't all living things the same? Why are trees different from people; why are there different colours of trees, people, dogs, etc?
Why? Because of the Universal information contained in the Qi. For example, take the beautiful red hibiscus flower, the hummingbird and myself, all made of the same universal life force we now know as Qi. The hibiscus contains in its Qi the information or knowledge of its unique purpose on the planet. I cannot read what the unique purpose of the red hibiscus is, but the hummingbird knows immediately to go there for nectar and not to come to me. The Universal knowledge or information that goes into making me presents as a female of the Human species, and I too have my unique purpose on the planet, as do all of us.
In other words, we are all made of the same Universal material known as Qi, but the information contained in each being's Qi is unique to the species generally and each individual specifically.

Paddy Kennedy is a freelance writer and broadcast journalist from Vancouver, B.C., CanadaWhat is Qigong (pronounced "chee gong")