Jennifer,
If you really want to understand Choy Li Fut, the martial arts of Southern China, and the ki/qi stuff that folks are talking about, I suggest you stay away from Carlos Castaneda.
I was going to write a long post and cite to some scholarly reading material. But that doesn't make my point that well.
Instead, I suggest you rent A Better Tomorrow and watch that instead. Here's the preview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR7q9_8qmak
Then ask yourself how seriously any of the guys in that movie would have taken Castaneda. Whoever taught him, wasn't teaching him crap, since I saw an interview with him where he said that all the students sucked except the teacher. Not. A. Good. Sign.
And if A Better Tomorrow is too dated for you, try the recent Donnie Yen flick, "KillZone"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uJg-6GvFF8
When Choy Li Fut, Hung Kuen and Wing Chun were becoming famous as effective systems, those are the kind of guys that were making it work. Not people like Castaneda.
****before anyone gives me a hard time, yes I know about Hong Xiuquan. But that was an exception. And he wasn't gaining his fame fighting hand to hand either. Also he flipped out. Not a good role model, kids.