Whats the difference between chakras and chi?!
Question: Are they the same thing and what are there similarites and differences?
Answers: Are they the same thing and what are there similarites and differences?
The two most well known cultures which have developed systems for working with energy are India and china.
If you want to be technical about it, the idea of people having an energetic field that should be worked with is a much larger part of Chinese culture than that within India. However, India has been much more exposed to the west than china (since they were colonized by the British for a while), so much more of their practices have become known over here. A couple of people earlier on took some of the Hindu and yoga practices and blended them into a discipline called theosophy.
More recently, theosophy and parts of christianity were blended together to create the new age movement, and since a large part of it comes from indian practices, the notion of Chakras has become quite well known in the west.
In india they have a narrower discipline of working with the bodies energies (termed prana), and one of the main things they focus on within that system is doing stuff with the chakras, energetic centers in the body. The people in the west that latched onto this system (in my opinion) didn't fully understand it, so as a result a huge emphasis is placed on the chakras and they are viewed as the great key to spirituality and everything which could possibly matter.
The chinese system terms the bodies energy "chi" and they have thousands upon thousands of ways to work with the energy in your body. In some ways it's correct to say chi=prana, but the indian definition is much narrower.
One of the reasons so many methods exist is because a lot of different energetic systems exist within the human body (one of which is the accupuncture meridian lines), and each energetic system requires a different method to be worked with.
One of those systems is the "energy gates"* which are basically points on the body which act as transformer stations and boost the strength of chi flowing through your body. The overlap isn't perfect, but the 7 chakras basically correlate to some of the main energy gates in the body.
Hope that helps! If you need to know anything else about this feel free to message me.
If you want to know more about this (specifically how the whole energy gates system works), there's a very good book on the subject, that being "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body."
*there isn't really an english term for it.
Differnt idologies behind both.
One is chinnese and the other is hindu.
Thats the biggiest differnce.
Chakra is the mental energy used.
Chi is the meditative gathing of energy used.
I'm pretty sure they're the same thing...they're pretty much spiritual energy,correct?
also one's in naruto and one's in dragon ball z.....lol seriously who watches those shows? Dragon Ball Z takes 60 episodes for one little brawl and Naruto takes 60 episode to take a step...you decide which is worse
qi=east asian
chakra=south asian
Chi is the Universal energy of the Everything. The chakras are energy stations that use chi to support the energy body and the physical body. Each chakra has a different job. Most modalities speak of at least 7 major chakras while there are hundreds of minor ones.
Chakras are energy centers of the body and Chi would be like the currency of the realm so to speak. without chi the chakras would cease to exist.
The term "chakra" is commonly found in yoga. A chakra is an energy nexus in the body. There are about 7, arranged along the spinal column from the top of the head to the tailbone.
"Chi" (or qi, or ki) is often referred to in kung-fu and other martial arts. It refers to the vital force or life force of the body. Martial artists (and acupuncturists!) will talk about extending chi, strengthening chi, etc.
I know that these terms are also used in the "Naruto" anime, but the meanings they assign to these words are totally different from the generally accepted definitions. If you used the terms the way they are in that show, a yogi or martial artist would just look at you and scratch their head ...
Chi is another name for energy, often used in China.
A chakra though is an energy centre or "vortex" in the body (or more correctly in the aura located at different places around the body).
Imagine that a Chakra is like a power station and the Chi is the electricity that runs through the various power stations.
Chi means "life force"as a whole. Chakras are energy centers located throughout the body. When Chi is blocked , it can result in physical problems. These blockages can be freed by Reiki treatment