The Jedi's Abilities
A Jedi can perform many maneuvers which can not be performed by any other being.
To name an example, the Jedi is able to jump higher than any normal being:
Luke Skywalker uses this ability several times as he fell into the carbon freezing chamber in Cloud City. Suddenly after realizing what happened, he leaps himself stright up into the air and finds a hold on a coulpe of pipes around 20 feet above the pit's ground.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is able to jump about 30 feet high to continue his battle with Darth Maul. Note that he jumps that high that he can land on his feet at the higher level of the catwalks without the need to climb it up or get a hold like Luke had to do. And besides this, he moves for about 15 or 20 feet again through the air over Darth Maul to surprise the dark lord and eleminate him.
Another ability is to have extended senses and a visionaire sight of the future.
You heard that no human being is able to conduct a podrace, but Anakin Skywalker does this as a hobby - not being aware of his abilities.
Qui-Gon Jinn himself used to snatch the long tongue of Jar Jar Binks in Anakin's home while eating dinner.
Luke Skywalker was able to deflect the blaster shots from his enemies on Jabba's Sail Barge and in the woods of Endor. He was not perfect in doing this action, but he was still learning. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn performed this action high-skilled through their hard training.
To see the far future itself is more difficult than to realize and grasp this intuitional knowledge of the living Force. Yoda had not much success in seeing the future of Han and Leia on Dagobah, while he had a straight idea of the future of Anakin as "no good". But then, if you remember, Yoda was able to fore-shadow the future when he was on Dathomir as he spoke of Luke Skywalker as he would return a sort of order to the planet in several hundred years.
But there are more general abilities like the moving and alternating the nature.
A Jedi has the ability to move practically any object through the use of the Force.
Yoda moved Luke's ship on Dagobah out of the swamp.
Luke was able to propel his lightsaber several times into his hand - in the ice-cave on Hoth, and on Jabba's Sail Barge on Tatooine.
But the Force movement power done by the Jedi applies differently sometimes.
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn were fighting the Battledroids on the Federation Commandship. There, Obi-Wan used his powers to push the droids hard away, resulting in the destruction of the droids as they smash into small pieces even before they hit the ground.
As Qui-Gon Jinn is nearly finished with the rescue of Queen Amidala in the streets of Naboo, he disarms his lightsaber and raises his hand to throw two Battledroids against the wall. There he does it smooth and calm, but hard in the result because he allows the Force to penetrate the droids longer than the quick strike of Obi-Wan Kenobi. The droids break when hitting the wall, and not before it.
You see that there is a quick and hard way, but as well a long and calm way to use the Force.
In the end, a Jedi can push or pull objects using the force.
Even the darkest knights like Darth Maul used this power to push opponents a few times during the duels. Maul used a destroyed Battledroid to trigger a doorlock, and Luke used the stone (or skull?) in the Rancor pit to throw it straight at the doorlock, too.
Darth Vader himself used to rip several devices and parts out of the walls and floor to throw them at Luke Skywalker while he stood silently and calm while watching over his son in Cloud City on Bespin.
Mind Tricks, as many people call this skill, are used quite frequently by the Jedi. It is often seen as a step to the dark side when you push the mind of another being too far, and that is the reason why Jedi must use this skill only when there is no other way. You see Obi-Wan Kenobi waving his hand at the Stormtroopers in Mos Eisley as he ordered them to let them pass.
Qui-Gon Jinn used this skill several times in Ooth Gunga and on Tatooine.
But these mind tricks do not work on everyone. It is apparent that some races of creatures such as the Hutts or Toydarians are immune to the mind tricks and that they only work on the weak-minded.
As Obi-Wan Kenobi said, "The Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded." However, the Hutts might not be resistant to mind tricks. It appears that Jabba was definately not a weak-minded being...
There is one question that remains: Why do Jedi use gestures when ordering the weak-minded? Personally, I believe that this is just a sign that George Lucas used in his movies to show that the Force is used, but of course, people disagree with me here and say that it is required for a conjunction of mind and body, because one cannot be without the other. This reminds me of the Dark and the Light... one cannot be without the other.
But as next, there is a way to empower the body:
Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon used an incredible speed to evade the destroyer droids on the Federation battleship.
The ability to deflect the blaster shots requires a high concentration of your body, too. Without this inner strength, even the sight of the future would not be helpful.
Now there is the ability to have a strong Concentration. It will allow the Jedi to concentrate hard and focus on a task at hand. It is in the category of the empowerment of your body, it will give the Jedi more ability to accomplish a task.
To Magnify Senses is already self-explanatory if you understood the examples given above.
The ability to Transfer Force, or a healing method is seen when Obi-Wan Kenobi quickly brings Luke back to consciousness in the desert of Tatooine. Another path is to transfer a Jedi's personal life force into someone else... as one of the highest healing methods that exist when there is no combined power of Jedi behind it but a single one.
The Hibernation Trance allows the Jedi to go into meditation, and when he finishes this trance, the Jedi will be much stronger in his abilities and healed as well if the Jedi concentrated on this specific part - self-healing.
To induce a powerful dizziness and nausea in a Jedi's enemies is Oppo Rancisis' major ability.
This technique is completely incapacitating the enemy's body, but does not cause any lasting physical damage but instead great tiredness and weaking.
The Jedi Yaddle is skilled at all techniques and the dangerous knowledge of Morichro. This is reported as a forbidden Jedi art that rapidly slows the body functions of other beings, easily resulting in death. It is very close to the dark side. Today this ancient ability is seen when a powerful blast of energy evalutes through the body at another being. It is named simple as it is - Destruction.
However, a Jedi is not perfect. Corran Horn is not able to move objects, or the ability to alter the minds of others. Instead, Corran is able to have an Energy Absorbtion which allows him to consume and redistribute energy from other attacks - such as the Morichro powers. The Mon Calamarian Jedi Cilghal became specialized in healing other beings - even through the life-force transfer. Jacen Solo is highly skilled when communicating with animals, his brother Anakin Solo is able to understand machinery and to repair them at once. At last, Tionne was not skilled at the major Jedi's powers but more able and skilled at the way of training and teaching others.
There you can see, that Jedi tend to specialize in one art and region of their training, which makes of course a single Jedi very vulnerable, but a combined force of Jedi can be very strong and unbeatable. Perhaps this was the reason why Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine were able to take out single Jedi...
But what happens once a Jedi is no more?
When a Jedi is strong with the Force, then he can live for very long time.
You remember that Yoda said "Ohhh, strong am I with the force, but not that strong." as Luke told him that he can't (meant as a "must not") die.
Grand Moff Tarkin himself thought of Obi-Wan Kenobi and mentioned that he must be dead by now as Vader spoke of him on the first Death Star. Remember what Vader replied coldly... "Don't underestimate the Force."
In general, you can see that Jedi are very old beings. For example, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Oppo Rancisis, Yaddle and Yoda are ancient and venerable Jedi. As you take Obi-Wan Kenobi, he surprised Darth Vader, and Qui-Gon Jinn was reported to be over 60 years old before he died - and he still looked young.
On the other side... there is Emperor Palpatine, who was already an aged man as he became Supreme Chancellor and continued to reign an Empire for nearly 20 or 25 years.
But there is one thing that gets a high attention: Why do Yoda and Obi-Wan disappear when they die, while others like Qui-Gon Jinn and Anakin Skywalker do not? We'll find out one day, but you can find our answers somewhere else at this website...
...Jedi Mitth'raw'nurida
https://web.archive.org/web/20010419134332/http://212.168.23.160:80/creed/challenge.shtml