Within the overall paradigm of Psionics (and a few other paradigms), the so-called Psi Ball is an exercise in creating
Constructs: a specific quantity of energy given Purpose and (or) Form, with the Purpose generally being more important than the Form. Psions would consider what most Magicians call
Spells to be Constructs, for example, yet most Magicians will not shape their spells into a ball or anything else. Constructs can be
Formless, and can also be combined in what some call
Construct Dynamics. Other paradigms use the ball exercise to, quite simply, learn how to Shape ones own energy - with a sphere being one of the easiest and simplest shapes.
Constructs can be as simple as a ball in your hand, but if you only leave it at that, it's a pretty useless skill. On the other end of the spectrum you can construct entire realms that you can explore in a Lucid Dream like way (read
this, and Magical Imagination by Nick Ferrell), or create complex, intelligent and sentient beings (read
this) to operate as servants, friends, or allies. More atheistic practitioners even conjecture that the gods themselves are all naught but constructs. But that is a topic far beyond Shaping your energy into a basic sphere.
~:Shin:~
