What Is Energy

The word energy generates confusion. In the West it is used indiscriminately — from nuclear physics to supplement advertising. In martial and meditative contexts, the term frightens some with excess mysticism, others with lack of rigour. It is worth clarifying.

In classical physics, energy is the capacity of a system to do work. In quantum physics, everything that exists is composed of subatomic particles in continuous motion — and this motion is energy. Not metaphor. Description.

Traditional Chinese medicine has developed a taxonomy of internal bodily energy that, while using a different language from the Western one, describes verifiable phenomena. Qi (氣) — translatable as “vital energy” or “vital breath” — is not a unitary concept but an articulated system:

Wei Qi is defensive energy — functionally similar to the immune system. Ying Qi is the nutritive energy that circulates through the meridians. Jing Qi is the vital essence, connected to vitality and longevity. Zong Qi is ancestral energy transmitted from parents. Shen Qi operates in the mental and spiritual sphere.

Each organ has its specific Qi. There is environmental Qi, Qi of heaven, Qi of earth. The system is articulated — not vague.

The crucial point is that these distinctions are not philosophical speculation: they are operative categories that guide therapeutic practices (acupuncture, tuina, herbal medicine) and cultivative practices (Qigong, meditation, internal alchemy). They work — not because one “believes” in them, but because they describe something real in the functioning of the body.

A useful perspective: think of energy as vibration. The higher the vibratory frequency, the more subtle the energetic form. From material, dense energy (the physical body) to subtle energy (emotions, thoughts) to even more rarefied energy (advanced contemplative states). Not a value hierarchy — a difference of frequency.

Heat is vibration. Light is vibration at an even higher frequency. The body generates heat during training — this is not mysticism, it is thermodynamics. Qigong works with this — with how to cultivate, direct and refine bodily vibration to increasingly subtle levels.

Those who practise without understanding this dimension are doing gymnastics. That can be useful — but it is not the same thing.