Master Tse’s Qigong Dao #136

 Zong Qi 宗氣

Once we are born, we eat and drink in order to get our energy. Of course we also breathe and we cannot stop breathing for too long otherwise we will die. Therefore we rely on breathing, eating food and drinking to keep us living and growing.  This energy comes from outside the body, and is the same for all living things.  We call this energy Zong Qi 宗氣, which means Source Qi. These are the basic elements for our energy.  So if we breathe fresh air good energy comes to our body, if we eat  healthy food and drink natural drinks,  such as water or other healthy drinks,  then we will have good energy and we should live healthily and live longer.   On the other hand, if we breathe polluted air and eat junk food and drink unhealthy drinks, this will damage our body. So it is important to live in a good environment, eat and drink healthily and then our Zong Qi will be good.  Of course our Yuan Qi, our genetic Qi, is important as well. We can live up to a point where our Yuan Qi becomes weak and then you can become ill, but our Zong Qi  can help us live longer,  so both are important.