There is a paradox that clearly reveals the limits of modern Western medicine. Over recent decades, we have invested trillions in genomics, artificial intelligence, and molecular technologies. The genome has been decoded. Biomarkers have been identified. Yet chronic diseases—diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer—continue to rise. The reason is not a lack of data, but a flawed perspective: we view humans as a collection of organs and genes, rather than as an integrated energy system.

More than two millennia ago, Eastern medicine spoke of Qi—the vital energy that sustains balance, recovery, and longevity. For the traditional healer, Qi is not a metaphor; it is life itself. For a long time, Western science regarded this as philosophy—until 2008, when Prof. Douglas Wallace of the Center for Molecular and Mitochondrial Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, published a strikingly titled paper in the authoritative journal Genetics: “Mitochondria as Chi.” In it, he articulated one of modern biology’s boldest insights: mitochondria are the molecular face of Qi.

This is not a poetic coincidence. It is a functional one.

Mitochondria are often called “cellular batteries,” but that description is far too limited. They do not merely produce energy—they govern life. They determine how we respond to stress, when we recover, when we age, and when a cell activates programs of protection or death. When mitochondrial function declines, diseases emerge not as isolated problems, but as localized expressions of a global energy collapse.

Even more striking is that each person carries their own “energy software.” Mitochondrial DNA is inherited through the maternal line and defines our individual energy signature—endurance, stress response, risk of metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases, and even longevity potential. Different mitochondrial variants are adapted to different climates and life conditions, which helps explain why people age so differently.

Seen this way, aging no longer appears as simple “wear and tear,” but as the gradual depletion of our internal energy infrastructure. Over time, mitochondrial defects accumulate within cells, energy capacity declines, and the slow systemic breakdown we recognize as chronic fatigue, cognitive decline, and degenerative disease begins.

When Eastern medicine spoke of harmonizing Qi through herbs, massage, breathing, and meditative practices, it was—without the language of molecular biology—working on the deepest “energy layer” of the organism. Today, we can describe this more precisely: many of these approaches influence mitochondrial function by reducing oxidative stress, optimizing energy metabolism, and enhancing cellular resilience. It is no coincidence that examples such as artemisinin* and Ginkgo biloba fit so well into modern models of mitochondrial action; they remind us that empirical “energy medicine” existed long before we had laboratory tools to measure it.

This is where the great bridge between ancient wisdom and modern science emerges: when the Eastern healer speaks of “balancing Qi,” they are, in essence, speaking of mitochondrial optimization. And when they recommend longevity practices, they are pointing toward protecting your individual energy software—the mitochondrial capacity that sets the framework for endurance, recovery, and the pace of aging.

This completely reshapes the vision of the medicine of the future. True medicine will not be merely anti-disease, but pro-energy—focused on maintaining and restoring mitochondrial function, preserving energy resilience, and building a stable biology of longevity. Paradoxically, modern science today is simply confirming what Eastern medicine has known for centuries: health is not merely the absence of disease, but the presence of energy, balance, and vital resilience.

Mitochondria are our Qi—the inner source of vital force.

* Artemisinin is one of the strongest bridges between the ancient concept of Qi and modern molecular medicine. It is derived from the plant Artemisia annua (qinghao), used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than two millennia for conditions described as “depletion of vital energy”—fevers, exhaustion, and malarial syndromes. For a long time, this was considered an empirical herbal practice, until the active molecule artemisinin was isolated in the 20th century and became the most effective antimalarial drug in the world—an achievement recognized with a Nobel Prize.

The true revolution, however, lies in its mechanism of action: artemisinin does not attack disease “superficially,” but enters the parasite’s mitochondria and triggers an energy collapse—it disrupts ATP production, increases oxidative stress, and activates mitochondria-dependent cell death. In other words, it acts precisely at the level we now recognize as the molecular face of Qi—the energy layer of life—transforming ancient philosophy into functional, clinically proven biology.

Source: Douglas C. Wallace, “Mitochondria as Chi,” Genetics, 179(2):727–735, June 2008. Wallace is the founder of mitochondrial medicine and Director of the Center for Molecular and Mitochondrial Medicine at UC Irvine.