Quote:
Janet Rosen wrote:
Gee, I was proud of myself for the four second turnaround from reading to writing to posting....
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Uh huh.
Let me answer with some negatives...
First, Ki can mean a bunch of things, vitality or energy is one, power is another. It is possible you're being complimented on a variety of things, none of which are your "strength," meaning your muscular strength.
Think about the different concepts of force management. Mechanically, you have simple machines like wheels, screws and wedges. There are a variety of ways to power those machines - a wheel and axle can move by gravity, manpower, horsepower, motorized power etc.
We (people) tend to move our limbs as a lever system (muscles contract and cause limbs to move). The source of lever-action mechanics in the body is muscular (contactors and extensors). Where all this fancy talk is going is to claim that the human body does not need to move with lever action and other methods exist that do this work. In this case, we are talking about building pressure and converting pressure into kinetic energy - the "imagine your arm is a hose filled with water" analogy is a sample of this management system. The key difference is a hose does not change its size, the pressure build is based upon pushing material (water) into a set space. The human body can create the same pressure by compressing the space around a set material (tissue). Your muscle in enclosed in a sheath of tissue (fascia) and the extension of your connective tissue compresses the muscle encased within the tissue, thus creating a potential store of energy (pressure) that can be released into a kinetic state.
IF you believe in this alternate mechanical system, then "relax" is designed to allow the muscles to be compressed by the tissue, rather than firing and resisting the compression. This is also the "fill yourself with ki," and a variety of other phrases we use. If you believe in that sort of thing. I actually have a bell that rings true for every child that believes in ki - at one time, all of my friends could hear its melodious sound but then, one by one, the bell ceased to ring for each of them. But if you believe in ki, the bell will still ring for you...