May the Qi Be With You?
By Patrick Senn & Travis Brewer PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATORS
cps601@jaguar1.usouthal.edu
Published: Monday, August 17, 2009
Updated: Monday, August 17, 2009
Qi, which is best described as the real-life equivalent to "the Force," is not the cultivation to the paranormal and instead is seen as being completely natural by those who practice it.
For thousands of years, adept masters of various martial arts all over the world, especially in Asian cultures, have been dazzling their students with fantastic displays of power derived from a supposedly mystical force known as Qi.
One international studies major at USA replied to a mass e-mail asking the student body for any paranormal experiences they may have had, to relate his own astonishing account.
The student described his own experiences with a Qigong master under whom he had studied who could reportedly set things on fire with his hands, trigger electrical impulses in a person's body, and shock skeptics from a meridian point just below the navel known as the “dan tian.”
To help us understand Qi and the experiences we had been told of by the international studies student, we turned to Mobile's own resident Shaolin monk. Master Liu is Sifu (translated: “teaching father”) of the Liu Institute International, a Shaolin Kung Fu and Qigong center; the primary Mobile office is located in a small unassuming building next to a Big Time Burger at 704 Lakeside Drive, Mobile, Ala., 36693.
Master Liu is a 31st-generation Shaolin monk. He trained from a young age in the Shaolin Temple of China, then later at the Traditional Chinese Medical School of Wushu, China, achieving an OMD degree (Doctorate of Oriental Medicine).
He also has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Mobile and a master's degree in exercise physiology from USA. His thesis “Physiological effects of a 7-week taiji exercise combined with Chinese meditation program,” is on file at the University library.
USA Parapsychological and Supernatural Investigations (PSI) conducted two interviews with Liu to understand the nature of Qi from the traditional Chinese perspective. He quickly made it clear that he did not consider Qi or its cultivation to be paranormal at all; he views this energy flow as completely natural.
The easiest way we can think of for a modern 21st-century American to understand this concept is to think of the movie “Star Wars.”
Remember “the Force”? It was the omnipresent, arguably omniscient life energy permeating the universe and conducted by all living things. When channeled by an experienced user, this energy could make them capable of seemingly supernatural feats. If you are not familiar with “Star Wars,” you may be surprised by how relevant the teachings of the Jedi can be.
In real life, this stuff is called Qi and, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, it enters and exits the body through places called meridian points; while you may not be able to lift a spaceship, a person properly trained to use Qi can be capable of incredible feats.
Liu agrees that phenomena like those described in the e-mail are indeed possible using a combination of Qi and sleight of hand. The USA alumnus laughingly dismisses these effects as mere “parlor tricks,” although he is much more open-minded about the scientific investigation of Qi.
In fact, the monk consented to an informal test to determine whether Qi can cause a reading on an electromagnetic field (EMF) detector.
In the first test, we asked Liu to concentrate Qi with his body, specifically to create a measurable EMF. The martial arts grandmaster meditated with his hands in a circle below his navel. In a room in which base EMF reading was zero, Liu produced on request an EMF measuring approximately 0.5 milligauss (mG); the field measured slightly higher in the circular space between his hands.
We then asked Liu to meditate with the intention of projecting a measurable electromagnetic effect outward. Again, Liu produced a field of approximately 0.5 mG; when the EMF detector was moved back about 3 feet, the reading held at 0.5 mG.
In the second test, we asked Liu to demonstrate more Qi meditation techniques but no measurable effect was produced.
In the West, there have been theories similar to Qi such as Vitalism, the idea that living organisms are imbued with “vital energy,” making living things distinct in kind from nonliving things. This theory was supposedly disproven in 1828 when Friedrich Wohler created urea (an organic salt compound) in a lab. However, there is no proof that vital energy would not flow equally well through artificially-produced organic components.
To this day there is much debate concerning whether Wohler's discovery truly debunked anything at all, and some practitioners of current chiropractic medicine make use of modern theories derived from Vitalism.
USA PSI's investigation into Qi and related subjects is ongoing. We are attempting to reproduce our initial successes and need volunteers for experiments to create EMF readings via meditation.
If you or anyone you have experience in meditation of any kind, please contact USA PSI immediately at
cps601@jaguar1.usouthal.edu. Also, look out for our follow-up article on Qi in a few weeks and possible further research.