Ki balls

Ottman · Blue Belt

Ki balls are fiction. The whole point of ki is to learn to think internally. For instance, when attacking someone, we tend to be thinking about how that strike will affect our opponent; we have a specific objective in mind: to knock our opponent to the left or the right or backwards, to sweep him, take him down; whatever.

Thinking in this manner gives our opponent more control over a situation, because as we are trying to control him into reacting according to our objective, and as we try to execute this control, we are no longer thinking about what our own bodies are doing, instead being focused on what the opponent is doing, or how he is reacting to our technique (i.e. we become obsessed with whether or not our control over the opponent, and our objective has been achieved. We are thinking externally.)

Thinking internally; or not worrying about controlling your opponent, but instead remaining focused on controlling yourself is much more difficult and requires much more focus, because in the action of reacting to our opponent's maneuvers, we are not (while using internal thinking) focusing on intercepting and controlling their force with our own opposing force. Instead, we are maneuvering our bodies without much regard as to how it will affect the opponent. We are focusing on executing the maneuver purely, as though the opponent was not there, and this way, he cannot win by capturing and controlling our energy, because we are in full control of our own internal energy, and this is because we are not trying to project this energy at our opponent in order control him. If we project it, and thus focus on the opponent's reaction rather than on controlling our own movement, he can then capture this energy and control it, and thus control our movement.

This may sound very mystical and supernatural, as I am using language like 'projecting' and 'controlling' energy, but it really is not. There is no ki energy that is shooting around from person to person, or that can be used to project some sort of supernatural control over another. Ki is simply an idealization of the transference of force between two people who are fighting (for instance), based on the laws of physics. We could write out the actual physics equations and analyze how all these forces would work themselves out under various scenarios of two people moving around one another and engaging in combat, but of course that wouldn't do us much good when trying to fight someone out on the street, so instead we must think of all those equations in terms of how our bodies should move, and how the different parts of the body should work together in order to use the correct ‘equation’ (per se) to maintain control over our own movement and force. Then we must actually physically execute these techniques using these ideal body mechanics. Ki is just an easier concept to use, (as opposed to, say, vector, or force physics) when understanding and using the proper body mechanics in a live, real time situation.

If you think about all the different parts of the body, and the infinite number of possible ways the parts of a human body can move together, that's a lot to think about at once when we are practicing martial arts (or fighting, or whatever) to make sure we are using the best combination of posture, of muscle tenseness vs. relaxation, the best balance, etc. for the situation at hand. The saying 'centering your ki' does not mean you are summoning some supernatural energy from out of thin air. Instead it refers to setting your mind into a mode of focus that allows you to handle thinking about all of those positions and body mechanics that you must use, perhaps instantly in a martial arts, or fighting situation (or etc.). Centering the Ki, is just a way of meditating to make sure you are certain of your movements without thinking about them, and this only comes from long, hard, disciplined training. There is no way to meditate for ten minutes and then shoot some accumulated energy from the process at someone. Ki balls are fiction.
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Tae Kwon Do - 3rd Dan, Instructor
Brazilian Ju Jitsu - Purple Belt, Level 1 Instructor