What is qi?

What do you mean by “qi” or “energy?”

Daoist priest and Chinese medical Dr. Robert Hoffman calls 氣 qi "the process and the product of life." There are similarities to the Yoruba concept of áṣẹ and the Sanskrit word prāṇa.

Lisa Rohedler et al. describe qi as "the warm hum of being alive." It's what you feel when you laugh out loud with a dear friend or gaze out at the ocean. The feeling you get sitting under a pine tree is different from the feeling of skiing down a snowy mountain: Wood qi is different from Water and Earth qi.

Everything and everyone has qi. Hua-Ching Ni, the eldest living steward of the Ni lineage, write about the "universal energy net" that connects us all. When your lifeforce is flowing freely in relationship to the forces of nature and your loved ones, you feel energized. That's qi.