There are two main ways to categorize the somatic experience of qi: inside of one's own body, interoception, or outside of one's own body, exteroception. And, people can have an easier time with feeling either of the two ways compared to the other, or may be equally adept at feeling both. Interoceptive abilities include being able to feel the various movement sensations inside of your own body. There is a spectrum of ability to be able to feel with some internal processes being more overt and others more subtle. An example of this spectrum may include being able to feel your digestive process (overt), an awareness of blood circulating and/or of the blood vessels themselves (less overt, or more subtle sensations like the internal movements of qi (subtle). Exteroceptive abilities include a similar spectrum, including things like the ability to tune into the electromagnetic energy a laptop computer while you're using it, feeling the electrical energy of a cell phone tower as you walk past, or more subtle sensations like the energetic fields surrounding other people.
Some people have little to no interoceptive sensation and may have difficulty with perceiving even the more overt energetic movements (for more on this, read Qi perception is a variable trait). Sensitive people can easily feel the radiant energy emitted from another person’s body as heat or cold, as well as the qi that the channels and certain acupuncture points emit from the body using their hands. In addition, especially sensitive people can also pick up on specific qualities of energy, and can use this ability to develop a “library of feelings,” a term coined by Stephen Harrod Buhner, to describe the process of attributing certain energetic qualities to specific meanings. And, all of this ties back to the foundational energetic movement patterns of East Asian Medicine, rising-descending-expanding-contracting. All of these patterns also represent qualities that can be reliably felt inside of the body through interoception. Similarly, the qi of the seasons and of the corresponding energetics of herbal medicine, hot-neutral-cold-bitter-sweet-sour-salty-bland, can also be reliably determined by felt sensation in this way. In summer, one can feel the qi rising and moving outward in the body, just as one can feel the same energetic movement upon taking an herb or formula with a hot thermal nature. This provides an easy way, and arguably the only way, to verify how the correlative correspondences relate to the human body.
For example, when the Nèijīng describes the yin-yang pair of defensive qi (衛氣wèi qì) and nutritive qi (營氣yíng qì), the pairs are distinguished from one another according to felt sensation. Nutritive qi refers to qi that can be felt flowing within a defined space such as the vessels and channels, whereas defensive qi can be felt flowing outside of the vessels and channels. Nutritive qi is "yin" due to the fact that it is more interior and stays within a contracted space, analogous to the energetic pattern associated with winter and moving similarly to water flowing in a river. Defensive qi is "yang" in comparison because it flows without being confined by any internal structures, moving from the interior toward the exterior expansively, the energetic pattern associated with summer and moving similarly to mist or steam floating through space. Sùwèn 43 elucidates this difference between camp and defensive qi:
營者水穀之精氣也。和調於五藏，灑陳於六府，乃能入於脈也。故循脈上下，貫五藏絡六府也。
Camp [qi] is the clear qi of water [and] grains. [Once the] five zàng are harmoniously regulated, [and the qi] has washed over the terrain of the fǔ organs, only then can it enter circulation. Thus it follows circulation, rising and descending, linking the five zàng and connecting the six fǔ.
衛者水穀之悍氣也。其氣慓疾滑利。不能入於脈也。
Defensive [qi] is the yang(1) qi of water [and] grains. This qi disperses illness by sliding and cutting through. It cannot enter into circulation.
(1) 悍 hàn, for which the modern meaning is “fierce or brave,” is translated as “yang” here, as the seal script for the character contains the components of a heart (忄) with the sun (日) shining over a flowering sprout (干), all yang energetic correspondences relating to the season of summer.
The differences between defensive and nutritive qi are not purely theoretical, these two types of qi sensations can be reliably felt for those with attuned interoceptive abilities. Defensive qi sensations can be felt as mist floating through the internal space of the body. In contrast, nutritive qi sensations feel comparatively more consolidated, like water flowing along a river.
Both intero- and exteroceptive abilities are extremely helpful for understanding East Asian Medicine theoretically and clinically. Interoceptive abilities are important for understanding the qi dynamics that provide the foundation of herbal medicine, whereas both intero- and exteroceptive abilities are important for understanding the practice of acupuncture and the trajectories and qualities of the channels. It is clear from the extensive knowledge of qi and its dynamics preserved in Chinese medical classics that there were some people in ancient China who had these abilities at an impressively high level, imparting understanding and accuracy. It is also clear from the contradictions in writings in the Nèijīng from text to text, or even among different commentators, that not everyone shared the same degree of knowledge or experiential understanding. The same is still true today.
For more on ying and wei qi: Ying and Wei Qi (營衛氣) in East Asian Medicine
Citation
Juniper, Evren. “Qi Perception: Interoception and Exteroception.” Universal Qi, 2022, https://www.universalqi.org/post/qi-perception-interoception-vs-exteroception.
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