How to define Chi? Or Qi as it’s sometimes called.
I'll level with you first - it’s a big topic. But I will give you a taster, so you won’t be bewildered by this governing tenent of Feng Shui and it might not sound like industry jargon anymore.
Suffice to say Chi, was not part of my vernacular lingo as a child. Now, as a mum myself I myself am keen to introduce the concept of Chi because the earlier your introduced to the notion the more familiar and accepting you become.
When it comes to describing Chi, there isn’t one single comparable word in the English language. It is a collection of words - vital breath, energy, spirit, life force . . . . the common thread that unites these words, is that they are intangible, yet life giving, vital and - invisible.
Yet, Chi is everywhere and when it’s vibrant and energetic, you can feel it and in a way you could say it’s visible.
So for me the learning curve of what ‘energy’ was - that it is everywhere, that EVERYTHING is living matter… well lets just say these were things one just saw on Star Trek and Star Wars and they were science FICTION. Judge me as you will but these were boys’ domains. So as a Feng Shui consultant when I began to look at objects and say that’s matter - it was unfamiliar at first. And this concept can be challenging to describe to clients.
Enter Chima - my son went through a faze of watching Chima, it’s a Lego cartoon and he loved it but not as much as I did! Why? Well the characters, which are groups of animals all, have powers in varying levels. It's referred to as 'Chi' in the cartoon and it is their power, their strength, it gives them super powers. And there is a super sacred source held in a big container, that super charges them, boosts them, gives them fighting powers . . . you get the picture.
The thing about the super fount of super charged Chi was it was in a container, a vessel and this too is an interesting concept of Chi. We need a conceptual container, a vessel, a receptacle - to contain, to hold this intangible vital energy and this is where the collective Chi gets to work and energizes.
Chi is in the land, in places, it’s the spirit of a place and the energy is sometimes good and sometimes not so good. So when structures are built upon these lands it becomes the container, the vessel, the receptacle for that Chi. By now your probably realizing that space, places, your home, lush pastures, people etc are all containers for holding chi.
The gorgeous image above of a river in Portugal called the Blue Dragon River holds the chi of the land. This beautiful river is containing and channelling vital life giving water through the landscape. The dragon of course is a celestial animal with great significance and extremely auspicious meaning to the Chinese, so if a natural scape takes on the shape of an actual dragon this is highly fortunate. Sometimes one hears of following the dragon veins and this too refers to energy paths. Of course not all lands have such visual representations of actual dragons.
So the natural landscape is important because before there were cities and buildings, there were vacant plots, land was untouched - the environment was easy terrain to ‘see’ natures Chi markers. Put simply a Feng Shui consultant is assessing the interplay of chi markers in your home/ business. Naturally in cities and urban landscapes it’s harder to identify than in suburban landscapes and a skilled consultant is trained to 'see’ the flow of chi in manmade structures.
Having my son introduced to Chi on a level that he accepted was just awesome. We can build on the nuances of Chi, but it is part of his vocabulary now and so he won’t need to question it, but rather know and accept.
Chi is everywhere.
More info about what is FENG SHUI - check out here.
