Harnessing Life Force: The Power of Jung Qi Shin

The idea of “life force” has fascinated human beings from the earliest days of prehistory to the modern age. We know it’s something important — it’s what allows us to be alive as a part of the natural world. We know countless intellectuals and nearly all world religions have explored the mysterious concept — but what is it, exactly?

The insights of Korea’s ancient SunDo Taoist lineage teach the life force concept of Jung, Qi, and Shin. Learn more about how these energy centers bring benefits such as optimal health, powerful breathing and much more... 

The breath of life

The connection between breath and life force runs deep in spiritual and even scientific thought. We can see this in the linguistic roots of the word “inspiration,” which contains the root for the Latin verb spirare, which means to breath. Accordingly, inspiration, the experience that creates an uplifting, life-giving feeling, is something we “breathe in” from the world around us. This sacred feeling drives us to action, most often creative acts of expression, but sometimes religious as well.

Spiritual historian Stefan Stenudd theorizes that many beliefs in life force may have been attempts to explain the necessity for living creatures to breathe and absorb a vital invisible substance in the air. Nearly all cultures have had names for this unseen conduit to life force — prana in Hinduism, ruach in Jewish mysticism, spiritus in Roman antiquity, pneuma in Ancient Greek philosophy, and qi in Eastern thought, as we’ll discuss shortly.

The concept of life force in SunDo

The multi-dimensional nature of living beings is a common thread between Eastern and Western ideas of life force. In the New Testament Paul described the human being as consisting of three parts: spirit, body, and soul. Thousands of years before Paul was even a name anyone spoke, the ancient practice of Kouksundo (referred to in the modern world as SunDo) was created to harness life force through the development of the body (jung), mind (qi), and spirit (shin). 

Through the ancient and timed-honored practice of SunDo one was able to preserve his or her own health, promote longevity, and unlock the highest potential in oneself. 

​The life force concept in SunDo is called Jung Qi Shin Samdanjeon. In this theory, the energy of the human body is Jung, the energy of the mental alertness and concentration is Qi, and the divine spirit and character of living things is Shin. The health of each of these elements are deeply interconnected and all need to be developed to create the most pure life force.