We use this term a lot in Chinese, “chi”. There is no real translation for this word in English. In Chinese, depending how the character is paired with other characters or in context with other words, it could mean energy, breath or essence.

The word is made up of two parts. One outside and one inside. The inside part means “rice”. The outside part looks like vapor as in breath. In the Chinese culture, rice is served with every meal as the base for nutrition and good health. When digested, it transforms into energy, gives us life, so we breath. For as long as we are breathing, we have breath and we have chi… from inside to the outside.