In the conception of the ancient Chinese, human life does not simply arise as we understand it today, through the chance conjunction of a sperm and an ovum, followed by the unborn foetus receiving nourishment from the mother's blood through the umbilical cord. In their view a human being also carried with him an "innate Ch'i" or congenital temperament.
所以，一般主張把氣功的氣，侷限在人的「真氣」、「元氣」、或稱「先天氣」上來談。在中國老祖宗的觀念裡，人的生命發生不只是因為精子與卵子偶然相遇，然後在母體內靠臍帶輸送血液養分孕育而已。