Qi ((pronounced chee) is a Chinese word that, roughly translated into English, means "life force".
Traditional Chinese medicine asserts that we all have streams of qi flowing through our bodies along special pathways called meridians.
Illnesses and injury disrupt the flow of qi in the meridians, causing its flow to be blocked or to become out of balance with the flow of qi in the rest of the body.
Acupuncture and other traditional treatments work to restore the balance of the qi and restore a harmonious flow of it in the body.
The word history of the Chinese ideogram (above) for qi represents "steam rising from rice as it cooks" (source: Wenlin dictionary), which could be interpreted as indicating the link between matter and the energy it develops. Matter and energy are said merely to be different states of the same fundamental substance. (source: Qi - Wikipedia)
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