RAF
09-30-2003, 11:49 AM
http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/newsh/items/blank/item_5844.html
Spirituality & Health Magazine
Issue: March-April 2003
Qi vs. Cancer
Cathy Kerr
Across two millennia, Chinese sages and physicians have described the function of qi ("chee"), or vital energy, that courses through the body and the spirit, and have pointed to blockages in the body's hidden qi channels as the source of physical ailments and disease. Qi skeptics counter that the energy channels described in ancient Chinese texts and drawings do not correspond to any real structures in the body, and that the concept of qi is both elusive and impossible to verify scientifically. Lost in these abstract debates are the questions that real people facing health crises might ask. . .
Recently, after some unexpectedly good test results, Rami asked whether I had done anything differently with the practice that might have contributed to the result. I described a change in my arm position during a particular standing exercise. Exasperated, he cut me off, "Don't you get it? It's not about any one exercise. It's about balancing all of them. It's about deciding to do the exercises every day even when you don't want to. It's about cultivating stillness inside while you do them. It's about creating an internal context that lets your entire system function better."
I do get it, most of the time. As a researcher I remain interested in the how and why. But as one who has finally begun to learn to live in her body, I no longer need a scientific study to help me interpret what I feel in my bones.
Cathy Kerr practices qigong in Watertown, Massachusetts. She is also an instructor at Harvard Medical School, where she investigates somatosensory responses to therapies such as accupuncture and qigong. You can reach the author at catherine_kerr@hms.harvard.edu.
Brain Imagery and Qi — Tracing the Body's Emotional Wiring
Recent studies of accupuncture's effects on the brain
(not available for downloading)
Spirituality & Health Magazine
Issue: March-April 2003
Qi vs. Cancer
Cathy Kerr
Across two millennia, Chinese sages and physicians have described the function of qi ("chee"), or vital energy, that courses through the body and the spirit, and have pointed to blockages in the body's hidden qi channels as the source of physical ailments and disease. Qi skeptics counter that the energy channels described in ancient Chinese texts and drawings do not correspond to any real structures in the body, and that the concept of qi is both elusive and impossible to verify scientifically. Lost in these abstract debates are the questions that real people facing health crises might ask. . .
Recently, after some unexpectedly good test results, Rami asked whether I had done anything differently with the practice that might have contributed to the result. I described a change in my arm position during a particular standing exercise. Exasperated, he cut me off, "Don't you get it? It's not about any one exercise. It's about balancing all of them. It's about deciding to do the exercises every day even when you don't want to. It's about cultivating stillness inside while you do them. It's about creating an internal context that lets your entire system function better."
I do get it, most of the time. As a researcher I remain interested in the how and why. But as one who has finally begun to learn to live in her body, I no longer need a scientific study to help me interpret what I feel in my bones.
Cathy Kerr practices qigong in Watertown, Massachusetts. She is also an instructor at Harvard Medical School, where she investigates somatosensory responses to therapies such as accupuncture and qigong. You can reach the author at catherine_kerr@hms.harvard.edu.
Brain Imagery and Qi — Tracing the Body's Emotional Wiring
Recent studies of accupuncture's effects on the brain
(not available for downloading)