Holistic wellness
by Eloise Lonobile

PROFESSIONAL MASSAGES in PISA
& CHINESE MEDICINE TECHNIQUES

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Qi, the dance of the Universe

«Imagine being by the sea on a sunny spring day and squinting until you leave just a small crack to look at the reflections of the sun on the surface of the water moved by the wind. You will be able to see hundreds, thousands of small "stars", which seem to explode in a flash of joy at each moment, and then recreate themselves in the next. Perhaps then, by moving your gaze from the surface of the sea to the sky, especially if there is wind, you can also catch something similar in the air: like small flashes of light that fill the blue sky. Imagine closing your eyes and listening, after having calmed down and concentrated by bringing your attention to the breath; you may then, at some point, feel that the whole environment around you continues to be permeated with that vibrating and pulsing. And, if you remain with your eyes closed long enough, you may perhaps perceive as if your body, losing some of the solidity and shape that we usually attribute to it, is participating in this sort of dance of the Universe that surrounds us.

Here then our borders with the outside world become less certain, or perhaps dissolve completely. Until we can come to no longer perceive ourselves as distinct entities from the environment that surrounds us and everything begins to pulsate, sparkle and dance. There is dance without any dancer.

This is experiencing directly and concretely what the ancient Chinese called Qi.»

Free translation from: F. Bottalo - R. Brotzu, Fondamenti di medicina tradizionale cinese

Photo by Stefano Puzzuoli

As you can guess from this wonderful description, it is difficult to give an exact definition, in Western and rational terms, of what Qi (pronounced "ʧi" in its oldest form) is. In a completely approximate way, however, we can say that, in Chinese culture, it represents the energy or "vital breath" that permeates the entire cosmos and that manifests itself in all living beings. The sun that shines, the waves of the sea crashing on the rocks, the wind that blows, the petals of a flower that open, are all manifestations of the Qi of nature, just like man is. Thus, according to ancient Chinese medicine, if the Qi in a man is lacking, we feel tired and exhausted; if, on the contrary, the Qi is abundant and its movement harmonious, we feel strong and balanced.

Its ideogram represents, in its most concrete form, the steam rising above a pot full of rice, and therefore expresses the idea of movement and transformation of matter into nourishing energy. In a broader sense, it represents the breath, the vital breath, the smoke that transcends cooking and fire, therefore the combustion of matter and its ascent to heaven. The combustion, the movement, the explosion of life (lower left part) is however somehow enclosed (right part) in a form that hinders its dispersion, its destruction. Qi is therefore energy and continuous movement but also containment and distillation of energy and therefore represents life itself.

Ancient Eastern wisdom gave a vision of the Universe surprisingly similar to the one that modern Physics has gradually discovered more and more, intuiting how everything is intrinsically connected and in continuous interaction: a concept well represented by Qi.

«In the twentieth century, exploration of the subatomic world revealed the intrinsically dynamic nature of matter; it showed that the constituents of the atom, the subatomic particles, are dynamic configurations that do not exist as isolated entities, but as integral parts of an inextricable network of interactions. These interactions involve an incessant flow of energy that manifests itself as the exchange of particles, a dynamic reciprocal action in which particles are created and destroyed in an endless process, in a continuous variation of energy configurations. The interactions between particles give rise to the stable structures that form the material world, which in turn does not remain static, but oscillates in rhythmic movements. The entire universe is thus engaged in endless movement and activity, in an incessant cosmic dance of energy.»

Free translation from: F. Capra, The Tao of Physics

In this general scheme of continuous movement and harmony of the world, according to the Chinese every single object or living being acts with the others with a wave-like or vibratory behavior dependent, in the final analysis, on the rhythmic oscillation at all levels of the two fundamental forces: yin and yang, and this continuous movement is the basis of universal balance.

In a context of this magnitude, going into specifics, traditional Chinese medicine deals with the state of health of man when there is an imbalance in his fullness and his emptiness, when there is a block in the continuous flow of his bodily energy, the Qi that flows in his body, and according to what are the fundamental elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). To do this, it uses numerous forms of applications: acupuncture, moxi, cupping, qi gong, etc. But even the massage, which is the oldest of the wellness therapies ever experienced by man, is a fundamental part of it.

© Copyright Eloise Lonobile - Ogni riproduzione vietata

© Copyright Eloise Lonobile
Ogni riproduzione vietata