I’m not even going to attempt to explain qi.
Pretty much every acupuncturist has an explanation of this on their website. Google up your local acupunk for one aspect of the meaning of qi. But, do keep in mind, what you read there is just one aspect. In China the character qi has a plethora of meanings, most of which are inextricably connected to the context of the sentence or phrase in which it is found. Its meaning at best is slippery, and on a bad day it can be downright stealthy and cantankerous. The difficulty is compounded not just because we are translating language, but culture as well.

So, what to do about this “qi” stuff your acupuncturist is talking about? Ignore it!

Ignore in the same way that you ignore what your mechanic says when he goes into an explanation of the intricacies of timing belts and gaskets. Ignore in the same way that you ignore the miracle of electricity, they way boats float, or that we can depend on June bringing us long days and low tides. There are some processes we don’t need to understand to use. There is much in life we can simply enjoy without a graduate level study into the underlying why’s and how’s.

Acupuncturists talk a lot about qi, and on first blush it might sound like a rather airy-fairy bit of mumbo-jumbo. Truth is, this is our shop talk. Like all professions we use a technical language that helps us to both understand our work at a deeper level, and be able to quickly communicate with our colleagues.

Just like you don’t need to understand the dynamics of the electricity that whirls your morning smoothie in the blender, or the relationship of timing belts to the lockstep motion of valves that help to power your car; you don’t need to be concerned about qi dynamics in your body. That is what your acupuncturist does.

Just find a practitioner with whom you feel a rapport, and leave it to them to “work” the qi!