I’m Paul Willson I am a brown belt in Ju Jutsu, a centuries old Japanese martial art.
Chi in Chinese or Ki in Japanese is something that you will hear about on social media when it comes to martial arts. But is it real? The answer to that is an annoying absolutely not but well yes.
If you are expecting Chi or Ki to be some kind of Jedi power with the ability to manipulate people and objects which you will learn with enough martial arts training you are going to be most definitely disappointed because, even if it would be cool, that is bullshit. Just have a look on YouTube there is a lot videos of people promoting this, usually for a large fee.
However, like a lot of stuff taken from far eastern martial arts there is a western (deliberate) mistranslation.
The website https://japanology.org/2016/05/what-is-ki/ has an excellent description of chi or ki. Jesse Enkamp in his YouTube channel also has a good video about chi or ki.
So there you have it chi or ki means simply energy and in martial arts terms the efficient use of your own movement so you use the optimal amount of energy. Sadly no Jedi mind tricks.
Not Quite A Black Belt 
Hey Paul, great post.
It’s amazing to me how many people try to sell themselves as being able to stop and/or strike opponents or affect their environment with their invisible “chi.” I think a great deal of it owes its origins in the same manner as “magic” in medieval times did… Chemistry and science that was mistaken as something mystical. The Chi (or the Hara, as we always referred to it in karate) is recognized as the body’s energy. It’s proven science that the human body’s function is maintain by electrical impulses, which could have easily been interpreted as something mystical. Way back in the day, that is. But there’s nothing mystical about it.
Dedicated practitioners of traditional martial arts can use and allocate their energy in such a way that what we do may seem as though it borders on the mystical to some people. It doesn’t help that certain movies like The Bulletproof Monk or even more recently, Marvel’s Iron Fist depicts a person’s Chi as being capable of so much more than simply being the energy that keeps us alive. Definitely some food for thought.
Keep those posts coming!
LikeLiked by 1 person