Drunk? Energy? Nonsense? What is QI in Tea?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ธ.ค. 2022
- Qi is a fascinating concept which requires a deeper look at its broader context before we can understand how it applies to Cha Qi in Tea.
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Absolutely the clearest, most lucid discussion of qi I've ever heard. And the tie-in with tea really expanded and deepened my idea of what tea drinking should be. Bravo!
Thanks Teacher.Don, every weekend morning I will steep a pot of tea and wait in front of the screen to have the new class. Even for a Chinese it’s hard for us to understand what is 气 absolutely,so appreciate your contribution to spread the genuine Chinese tea to every tea friend all round the world!
Hi Don, this video is incredibly deep yet easy to understand. I have had a much different outlook on life since I started to watch your videos. I really enjoyed the experience with Juice Journo where you touched on this concept how you feel throughout a session. Just being mindful of that makes it more than just a drink but a connection to the plant and the amazing people who cultivated it. Thank you for everything you do.
Thanks for sharing your perspective and insight! I always enjoy your videos whether they touch on philosophical topics like this on or if they're an announcement video of a new tea I'm going to want in my cupboard. Thanks for always giving so much more in education and experience to your audience and customers than we could ever pay you.
I’ve been so waiting for this video, since every body seems to be talking about qi and I didn’t even know what it was and how to look out for it. So, thank you, for another well structured explanation of a quite complex subject. I now have an idea at least of what to pay attention to, even though my mind with its roots in western theories of knowledge still has a hard time to wrap itself around the idea of qi and assimilate it into its fabric. Lots of food for thought during many tea sessions to come.
I almost always describe "qi" as "force", yes I say "force" like it is in the Star Wars franchise. It is conceptual, intrinsic abstraction about the ability to change beyond the basic sensory perception or combination of senses.
As we brew tea, we change the (state of) tea, and tea changes (state of) us. This is my understanding in the concept of Internal Gong Fu Cha where we connect with the tea through Qi.
I love these more philosophical videos.... more please!!?
Very well done! I wanted to add some thoughts that may be helpful for those who have less experience with Cha Qi. It can be very helpful to drink tea in a group. Having social interaction can help you pick up on what is 'different' about your mood, thoughts, and feelings. Of course it helps if your group are all focused on the tea and ceremonial aspects of Gongfu brewing. In a setting like this, you will find that all members of your tea session are having a similar or identical experience to yours. If you do not have access to a group of fellow tea lovers, Don's advice in this video will suffice: Be mindful during the brewing and drinking of tea. No cellphone, television, or any other outside influences. You will soon notice the forces of Qi.
Thank you for this video. I personally identify it as a physical buzzing feeling and/or vigor in the mouth. I am a regular drinker of Wuyi Yan Cha and I find them to often have this quality.
Sitting here with 2013 Autumn Light and trying to figure out if it has Qi. Thanks for the lesson, I really enjoyed it!
Long waited video. Greatly needed. Thanks, Don. It was amazing piece of knowlage. You are very skilled teacher 🙂
Perhaps the most important video done by Mei leaf. This is a concept (Qi/Elan Vital/Life force) that is so fundamental yet ignored/dismissed by many as pure abstraction or at worst reduced to scientific/quantifiable terms. For the longest period of time, Western philosophy/thinking is concerned about ascertaining the existence of things rather than the ability or potentiality of things to DO stuff and create effects. Cogito ergo sum has been the default way of thinking. Until 20th century when the ontological priority is reversed - we realize that it is not necessary to determine whether something exists before we assess the effects that the thing has on other things around it. In other words, the doing precedes the thing, or existence precedes essence. What most people cant wrap their heads around, is how do we conceive of a performance or a practical/instrumental concept independent of the object that manifests/instantiates that universal concept. How do we think about pure infinitudes/verbs like running, shouting, breaking, etc. as "limits" which are then subsequently embodied by various particular objects in this world? This requires a Copernican shift in our thinking, and much of modern science has corroborated with modern philosophy in this regard - that intensities/differences in itself are what define or constitute things. The function of a thing does not come prior to the thing, as we do not want to reduce goal-directed purpose to its essence (as Darwinian evolution emphasizes - the eye does not exist in order to see, the ear does not exist in order to hear). So we should never say that the object exists so as to perform its intrinsic function, thereby actually reducing Qi to the essence of the object. Instead, Qi is irreducible to a function, but to EVENTS or occurrences in nature which are described as EFFECTS in their purest verb/infinitive (boiling, sleeping, sliding, etc.). Afterall, the Dao which can be named is not the actual Dao, or the Being of all beings is itself not a being (Heidegger).
Great topic, I love it when it gets like this. It must be hard to cover this in under 20mins and I imagine it harder to do it justice in a comment. However, I'll say people who call out pseudoscience are lazier than those who just rely on body sensation as Ch Qi's definition. Take it as a journey. 🍵
The lazy thing would be crediting every bit of body sensation and your mind activity to this mysterious "energy" inside of the leaves. You can't discard it as pseudoscience as there's no element of science there in the first place.
@@HoovaHee Who made the "crediting anything to 'mysterious energy'" claim? Wasn't me. Yes, it is lazier to virtue signal under the guise of scientism and not even try to understand a different point of view. The most prominent scientists often claimed there are things beyond the mechanistic worldview. Perhaps lighten up a little. 🍵lol
I've got a man nong mountain shu puerh that has immense cha qi. Whenever I drink it I just feel like I'm busting at the seams with energy, I usually drink it before exercise or other physical activities.
To me qi is a very abstract term that's a culmination of a lot of things that we don't have proper explanation for. Like how media can move us in a lot of ways, how certain events influence us, how someone cheering you on can give you energy without physically doing anything to your body. Same goes for anything that you can feel has an effect on you, but not sure how it works.
And that's where the cha qi comes in. Having tea ceremonies, especially when you really dive deep into a tea, has a certain personal effect on each drinker. There are a lot of parameters of what kind of cha qi you will experience (reminds me of the 3 ingredients of tea; water, tea leaves and yourself), but there's definitely something there.
Interesting topic. Makes me think of a subtle change in mood to Sen Goku going Super Saiyan and everything in between.
Very happy to learn about this topic! Thank you, Don.
As a Qigong teacher and tea enthusiast this is one of my favorite videos you’ve made ❤
Thank you for this lesson, Don! I haven't really understood this term before but now seeing it in a different light 👍
I've spent a lot of time in Chinese martial arts, and I'm a natural skeptic that is of a western scientific mind. I always felt a lot of people in the west over complicate the concept of Qi and pretend it's some magical force. For me though, after many years of training and learning how important it is to coordinate the breath and focus with the unified movements of the body, it seemed pretty simple. There IS energy in our bodies and our breathing, the food we eat, the rest we get, and our overall health affects that. You can feel the energy in the form of your muscles warming up as you exert yourself in training. To me Qi is more of a concept that describes the effectiveness of these things working in harmony more than it is some magical energy that defies western science.
This was to short :( . It's always nice to hear your opinions on the more broader and abstracter topics around tea and the culture that tea evolved in.
I love videos like this. I hope youll do more of them. :)
Don, please share more of your tea philosophy thoughts with us. I love the new year talks, but I would love to see them more often! Thank you.
Very enlightening and informative. I’m excited to take the next step on my tea journey - thank you!
Mei Leaf tea is my favorite, and I enjoy this channel, and tea certainly makes my body feel certain ways. But, I thought it prudent that at least one comment assert that this is pure Eastern mysticism. From the Wikipedia article on Qi: "Qi is a pseudoscientific, unverified concept, and is unrelated to the concept of energy used in science (vital energy itself being an abandoned scientific notion)."
That is nonsense.
Qi is a metaphysical concept used to describe phenomena in a philosophical sense.
Qi isn’t scientific in the sense of being an entity that is measured.
Qi is conceptual and describes multiple phenomena simultaneously.
Just like the term consciousness.
I can rip apart every aspect of your body down to the sub-atomic particles and I will never find something called consciousness that can be separated, isolated and measured independently from the body.
The same holds true for Qi.
It’s not a thing in the scientific sense. It’s an explanatory concept.
Pseudoscientific is a completely relative term.
It can only be applied when somebody attempts to claim that consciousness can be measured as a isolated entity.
That would be a pseudoscientific claim.
But a thing in itself cannot be pseudoscientific.
To say Qi or consciousness is pseudoscientific is an incoherent nonsensical claim.
Even if it were true that Qi as a concept had nothing to do with science (which is nonsense), that wouldn’t make it pseudoscientific. Merely non-scientific.
It would be of no shock to me that the author of that Wikipedia article (a non-academic source) has not even the slightest understanding of philosophy.
@@Liliquan I like this video’s definition of qi. He basically said it’s a thought experiment for any emergent quality that is different than the sum of its parts. That’s great. It’s not how I have ever heard it explained before, and is easily applicable and understandable. It’s also a really useful concept for being a good human. Consciousness is also an emergent quality, so you are right that they are one of a kind in that particular way.
However. I have never heard it ever softened that much before, or this removed from spiritual practice. I have almost always heard it explained as a self consistent concept that itself creates change, inherent in the universe, not an illusory part of the human experience of change. In everything I have read, it is portrayed as a fundamental force that exists regardless of humanity. When people study things like acupuncture and find it to be no different than placebo, no believer says placebo (also an emergent quality) is a type of qi, they say science is wrong. When you ask them what kind of test would change their minds, they say nothing would. If a concept cannot be disproven, it becomes either too broad to be useful for scientific study or invulnerable to criticism.
That is why you are wrong about pseudoscience, as a definition and in practice. It is any concept that is portrayed as provable (or proven) that either cannot be examined by the scientific method, or is exclusively proven through a fundamental corruption of that process that cannot be repeated with more rigor. I have never heard of a scientific experiment to study qi, or even a suggestion of one that has succeeded in providing new understanding. Consciousness, however, has been and continues to be experimentally explored. The study is complex, as are all highly emergent concepts, but there are things about it we have proven. More importantly, things about it have been *disproven.* That is different than what you are describing.
Now, the best thing about the scientific method is that it is constantly self correcting. If someone found a way to test some specific type of or practice of qi in a rigorous way, or if it was redefined simply to mean “emergent quality,” science would accept it. I suppose the closest thing is the study of meditation. We know it does specific things to the brain and body, so it is accepted by the scientific community. I expect that it is the exception that proves the rule.
I think it prudent to mention you just refuted the opinions and balanced explanations of a person who has mentioned their lifetime's understanding of Qi from an emic and etic perspective by quoting a wikipedia article.
Don, thanks for clarification of the term cha qi. I still have some questions, for example: Can the cha qi of one particular tea sample have different impact on the people who are having a shared tea session? Or is the impact always individual? 😊
It's a true pleasure hearing your explanations and commentaries.
That was great. Thank you 🙏
do you think we will ever get a crossover episode where you and James Hoffman taste each other on teas/coffees? Seems wild that two of the foremost experts on tea and coffee both live in London and yet, have never done a video!
We tried to organise but couldn't make it happen. Maybe someday!
In Bengali also we call tea as "cha". Interesting, Darjeeling cha which is grown here which is a species of Chinese tea itself.
This is such a fascinating concept to me. It seems like using teas as a psychadelic, and as medicine.
What intrigues me the most is that this expands to any substance. The Rooibos that I have has extremely strong Chi, as does cannabis, or alcohol.
This has given me alot to think about. Thank you!
I used to grow psychedelic mushrooms for myself because it was so easy and cha qi really is almost like a micro dose. I remember I was helping my son with his homework while sipping tea and then it suddenly felt like I had taken something 😅
Went nutz for this video! Very helpful and sooooo interesting. Thankyou Don!
a great video, thank you! it seems I too was misinterpreting the concept of qi. however, there's a thought that bothers me now: isn't it incorrect to say that tea (or something in general actually) is "strong" or "weak" in qi? if I understand the concept of qi correctly, each tea just HAS qi, and it cannot be weak or strong - while body's reaction to the tea's qi actually can. so, isn't it more correct to say that a particular tea's chaqi tends to have strong or weak effect on drinker's body rather than saying the tea itself is strong/weak in qi?
That was a good and coherent explanation of Cha Qi! I had always just described is “the vibe”🤣
excellent video, this is what I wanna watch
I'd say processing definitely changes chachi, if not the strength, at least the character : for example, shengs are often very floaty for me, often altering my perception of time ; whereas hongdians may be very energetic, exciting...
do you have this gaiwan instock?
I think there is an issue when we draw separations between western and eastern science/medicine. Science is science, it’s a methodology aiming to rationally draw conclusions. Qi has yet to be not only measured, but demonstrated to… be a thing. It’s also such a vague concept that it can be defined in ways that allow a reconciliation (as yours does I believe) or others that simply don’t (when getting on the more esoteric end of the spectrum).
I haven't started watching yet but I see gaiwan I've never seen yet in your videos. Is it going to be in your store?
We were planning on it but it was too expensive. Would you spend about 90-100 USD on it?
Someone have experience with the cha qi of other herbs?
Like a tisane which might give comparable effects?
My God ?!? IS there anyone doubting acupuncture can realease damped energy in anybody ?!?! If any, please give it a go ! You'll be totally amased ! A living proof of that I am ! Thank you SO SO much Doctor LiLi !
I had six weeks of sessions with a very well respected acupuncturist. It did very little for me, and when studied by the scientific method, it is no more effective than placebo. Placebo, absolutely *does* have an effect, as does long sessions with and empathetic caregiver, as well as the meditation and deep breathing exercises that often accompany it. There is inherent value in that, but it isn’t unique. In general, the needles and the skill of the practitioner don’t add much.
@@Tinyvalkyrie410 I would quotewhat you say as "bollocks". That did so much for me andI shall only but advise to do regular energy boosting sessions! And herbs too.
@@ericsimon8906 you disagree with me, fine, but that was my experience, as well as the scientific consensus. Who specifically are you quoting? What do you even mean by herbs and energy boosts? That is so broad to be meaningless. Acupuncture is fairly well understood. It is a placebo effect. I also feel like you didn’t even watch the video because his definition of qi has nothing to do with “energy” manipulation.
@@Tinyvalkyrie410 scientific consensus bollocks! I quote me ! Scientific consensus like mRNA vaccine prevents contagion and disease ? Precisely what I'm saying ! Bollocks !
@@ericsimon8906 so here is an important question: what evidence or argument would change your mind? I know exactly what would change mine, scientific evidence. If the answer is that nothing could convince you that acupuncture is placebo, or that vaccines work then you don’t care about truth, you care about feeling right even if you are dangerously and cruelly wrong.
You can’t quote yourself by the way. I *highly* recommend that you rewatch this video, and really try and understand it this time. Also, your naming if a specific doctor makes you seem like an advertisement, not an advocate.
... and this whole time I thought you guys were talking about the guy from Happy Days.
Metaphysically Qi is both matter and energy.
It is everything substantial and unsubstantial in the cosmos.
One of the meanings of Qi is breath.
That is the main metaphor used to describe all things.
When one breathes in the lungs expand and vice versa.
The cosmos is the same.
When Qi condenses the form of matter becomes apparent.
When it expands, things become formless and intangible.
This is the Yin Yang 陰陽 contrast of concreteness and emptiness 實虛.
The endless interplay between these two temporary states describes everything in the cosmos.
This movement of things in space over time is known as transformation 變化.
The question is then what guides it?
That is where the mysterious aspects are evoked.
Mysterious here means beyond our perception and comprehension
What governs it is Dao 道.
Dao however is merely a name and an attempted description.
Dao is defined in contrast to what was described above.
Which is the interplay of Qi 氣 through the concrete-empty 實虛 change/transformations 變化 of Yin-Yang 陰陽 through space-time 時空.
Dao 道 is what never transforms. Dao is the singular constant 常 of the cosmos that underlies all change and transformation.
Hence it itself doesn’t go through such processes.
道可道非常道 The Dao that can be known is not the constant Dao.
We are beings of change and transformation.
Therefore logically incapable of perceiving constancy, that which doesn’t change.
Just like the fish surrounded by water.
Dependent on but unaware of its presence.
What guides Dao then?
道法自然 Dao follows what is so of itself.
The term used to describe Dao is actually the term now used in modern times to refer to nature.
Qi is not mysterious. It’s easily perceived and measured.
Dao is and has to be logically.
Because we exist in a part/whole relationship with cosmos.
The part can never grasp the whole because it can never observe it from the outside.
It’s always dependent on it from the inside never to be separated.
By the way, the etymology of Qi 氣 is quite complex.
There is an article in The Routledge handbook of Chinese Medicine which exams those difficulties.
For more on the topic of Qi there is a great introductory book called Chinese Metaphysics and its Problems. Highly recommend.
Also, I would like to make clear that the theory of Qi 氣 is monistic 一元 (single source) not dualistic 二元 (two sources).
Even though there are multiple relativistic terms used like…
時空 Space and Time.
陰陽 Yin and Yang.
實虛 Substantial and Insubstantial.
變化 Changes and Transformations.
Etc.
氣 Qi and 道 Dao have no opposites.
道 Dao --> 氣 Qi --> 陰陽 Yin Yang --> 萬物 Everything Everywhere All the Time.
Don, very insightful and well-presented video (as always)! it may help anyone interested, to seek understanding about the other 2 "treasures" as well; Jing and Shen (pronounced Sh-Un). Ron Teeguarden's Tonic Herbal book is great place to start, he also has great info about 3-Treasures on his website: Dragon-herbs. As they are all connected with each other: an analology of a candle is used... So Jing is the Wax/wick, Qi is the fire, and Shen is the radiant light/heat coming off the flame.
"Cha Qi" 🍃🤗🍵🍃🌬 definition 🤓📲 min.10.35 - 12.10 🙏😉
How was your process learning Chinese?
To me it sounds like Qi is quite simmilar to mood or motivation in western. Tian qi - the mood or motivation of the day, that sounds quite poetic for describing the weather.
I find it funny that Einstein and Daoism say the same thing : everything is energy. Yet one of them is taken seriously., while the other one is mocked by most "rational" minds.
I loved the clarity of the explanation. From a Buddhism point of view I've heard Qi being analogous to the term Impermanence, Qi it's pure change and if your pay enough attention you can just sense it very vividly..
Placebo is one hell of a drug. Okay that's unfair, I don't think it's complete nonsense. I do however think that this is all too vague and all too much wishful thinking that the actual properties of the tea itself have a detectable effect on your body and mind. What I will never argue against is that time, mood and setting can impact how you perceive a tea and that the process of drinking tea (or drinking anything in a more "ceremonial" way) can enhance feelings, relieve stress etc.
I think if you expect to feel a certain way from drinking tea, chances are it'll be quite effective. I'm sure you can convince yourself that you're "tea drunk" if you really desire that. Personally I rather just need the bathroom after a lengthy tea session. But I do not credit cha qi with the ability to increase pressure on my bladder.
Well, caffeine at least is legit, I think few people would deny that. L-Theanine also seems to have some effects. When it comes to other substances in tea, maybe more research is needed, some of it might just be placebo.
@@MsJavaWolf Obviously, but that's not what is referenced when talking about qi, or you'd be able to simply measure it.
@@HoovaHeeNow you are just saying: "chaqi is obviously woowoo so of course it couldn't refer to caffeine, theanine or the placebo effect because those are real".
If your definition of Qi is that it's nonsense and you exclude anything you recognize as being real from possibly being (part of) chaqi by default, of course you'll always reach the conclusion that, indeed, it is nonsense.
Couldn't ChaQi be real as a holdover term historically used to describe the obvious effects of caffeine on the body before people had the words/knowledge to describe it as a neurochemically active molecule? Would that be so unscientismic?
i would say qi is a word /concpet difficult to explain, but not for that reason not existing, like for example the word/concept of god , thought, love and many others..... there is no scientificway to calculate love or tought, but not for that it means it does not exist.....
and from a more zen point of view i would say that we should not get too busy tring to understand what qi is, means or translate to english; qi is qi and let's just take it for qi...
I've always seen my sessions as a type of meditation in a way, this is an interesting topic to think about. Thanks for everything Don🤍🤙
Qi is also Hildegard of Bingen's Viriditas