Hello, this is Qi Gong Master Mikel Steenrod with Water Mountain Virtual.

For today’s talk, why don’t we take a look at qi consumption? What organ uses the most out of the body?

As a quick reminder, every cell within your body, and every tissue and organ, uses chi in order to maintain normal function. As that declines, function declines.

When it comes to chi use, most people think that it’s actually the muscles that use the most qi in the body. And that is true in the short term, during peak output. So, peak strength activity, peak cardiovascular activity, you will use a large quantity of qi in order to keep those muscles activated and responding correctly.

However, the organ that consistently uses the most qi… and so if you were to have a tally at the end of a week, that organ, even for somebody that is not using it a great deal, is the brain. The brain also uses the most glucose within the body and many other essential resources. So our brain, the thing that makes us us in many ways, is actually very expensive for the body’s physiological and energetic systems to keep.

Now, there are differences as to what activities use more qi than other activities when it comes to the brain.

1. Abstract Thought:

   • Abstract thought is very costly. When you’re thinking, and your thinking involves fine connections, putting together details that are difficult, difficult processes–those functions are expensive, and you will use a great deal of qi when you are doing it.

2. Creativity:

   • Creative thought, which overlaps with abstract thought, is also very expensive. It’s one of the reasons that artists and creatives can only produce so much material. They are actually limited by the fact that their brain is using large amounts of their energy, and they need to recharge if they’re going to produce product of any good quality.

3. Going Against Natural Capabilities:

   • All of us fall onto a spectrum of strengths and weaknesses when it comes to our mental features. There are things we can do easier than other things. Whenever we do things that are on the harder side for us, then we’re going to have to use more qi in order to accomplish that task. If it’s on the easier side for us, we will use less qi than somebody else.

   • So two people that have different natures, or different talent sets, doing the same task. If one person is closer–their talent set is closer to that task–then they are going to have an easier time of it qi-wise. So their energetic expense will be lower, whereas a person that is more distant from it will be higher.

Now, what is the impact of that?

I’m sure all of us have had the experience of spending a day doing a lot of brain work, whether that’s in academics, whether that’s in your day-to-day life, or in your hobbies. But even though you don’t use your physical body, you could be stationary–just seated there, just standing there. Whatever it happens to be, you find yourself very fatigued.

So what is being used up during that process?

You’re not engaged in much physical activity, right? Well, there are two things that are being used up:

1. The body is using up glucose and other essential nutrients in order to support that type of brain function.

2. You are using qi, and you’re using vast quantities of it, and you’re drawing it out of yourself. One of the things to keep in mind is that, while chi in the environment is infinite, we don’t possess that inside of ourselves. We have to draw it in. So the environment, or out qi when it comes to the environment, is a simple input-output system. We take in qi from the environment, and then we use it in our various activities. If we use too much, our base level of qi declines; if we use less than we’re taking in, our base level of qi increases.

Now the brain is a very hungry organ.

It uses a lot of resources and is very high priority. So it is entirely possible for us to deplete ourselves by using too much, meaning we have more output than we have input. And that puts us at a steady deficit from our reserves, and it uses us up. And that’s one of the reasons you can see, if a person is in a mental activity, while their skills can increase as they age, if they are not finding ways of putting qi back into the system, brain function will steadily become more tiring, more costly, and then more difficult.

Now it is so important that the body will harvest qi from other processes in order to keep that robust brain function.

But the truth is that as we age, the body’s base level of qi goes through a series of drops. So our first large drop is in the late 20s or early 30s. And then it continues… there are other thresholds that drop through and which are beyond the ability to convey in a short video.

The reality is that, because of that, we can see within many occupations, a person’s ability to handle complex tasks, multitude of tasks, decreases. Some people, as with any feature of the body, are exceptions to the rule, and they will be able to maintain that function into very late life. However, without maintaining the qi, that is highly unlikely. What we’ll see is that that individual’s ability to perform will decline with age.

Now, if, for some reason, the person is doing qi gong, or has something within their life which provides an equivalent to qi gong, then they can continue in a robust fashion.

So, keep in mind this huge qi hog we have mounted on top of our shoulders.

Qi gong helps to keep it viable, healthy, and fully operational by maintaining the proper balances of input and output.

Ok, thank you very much.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them down in the comments below. I will address them when I get an opportunity to do so, which is usually a couple days.

Ok, thank you.