Chapter IV
Results
In this chapter the data analysis
techniques, research objectives, quantitative and qualitative results
from the study will be presented. The quantitative results are
composed of measurements taken on experimental and control groups.
The experiment group consists of 52 practitioners of qigong exercises.
The control group consists of 25 non-practitioners of qigong exercises.
The qualitative results are taken from ethnographic experience with
four individuals and one group each selected for their association
with energetic healing techniques.
Data Analysis
The health outcomes of a group
practicing qigong were compared to a similar group who did not practice
qigong. The hypothesis was that the qigong group would have
better health outcomes than the group that did not practice qigong.
Fox Pro was utilized to process the survey database and statistical
analysis was completed utilizing the Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences (SPSS). The data analysis of the Duke Health Profile
(the Duke) required the calculation of its scales, and this scoring
was used to examine the health outcomes of practicing qigong.
A T-Test was utilized to determine if any statistically significant
difference existed between the two groups in any of the measurement
scales. The T-Test is used to test hypotheses about the equality
of two means for variables measured on an interval or ratio scale.
An alpha level of <0.05 was used as the level of significance in
comparing the two groups.
Research Objectives
The purpose of this study was
to examine the health outcomes of practicing qigong by the use of
quantitative and qualitative data. A review of the literature
has indicated extraordinary claims for the health benefits from regular
practice of this ancient health exercise. Ethnographic interviews
and participant observation were conducted to provide a fuller context
in which to examine the practice of qigong in its various types and
forms. As much of my research from examining the literature
and ethnographic experience has indicated that the majority of qigong
practitioners in the Western world are martial artists, and since
the majority of individuals completing the qigong survey were as well
martial artists, I chose to have a control group composed of martial
artists for the following survey objectives:
1. Test the assumption that both groups should
be relatively healthy. As both groups are composed of individuals
that would, by definition, be expected to exercise on a regular basis
it would be expected that both groups would score "healthy" on the
Duke scales.
2. Look for any significant differences between
the experiment and control groups that could be due to the practice
of qigong. Most martial arts styles involve coordination of
breath control and movement to the point that some martial arts styles
(soft styles such as Tai C'hi but not hard styles such as karate)
are considered both a qigong and a martial art. Most exercises
in general require some type of breath control with movement
such as jogging. As breath is considered one of the primary
aspects of qigong a comparison of two such highly similar groups would
allow a determination of significant differences between the two groups
that could be due to qigong practice.
Survey Results
The Duke is scored on a 100 point scale for each of
its measurements. For the six function scales higher scores
are better, 1 being unhealthy 100 being healthy, while for the five
dysfunction scales lower scores are better, 1 being healthy 100 being
unhealthy. Table 1 shows the mean scores for each of the two
survey groups for each of the Duke scoring scales. The experiment
group that had practiced qigong for 6+ months is listed as Group 1
(G1). Group 2 (G2) is the control group of non-qigong practicing
martial artists. As was expected, from objective 1: Test the
assumption that both groups should be relatively healthy, both groups
overall scored well on the scales with the exception of the Social
Health scale score which was a bit low for both groups (G1=68.65;
G2=67.60). One possible explanation for this is that both groups
are involved in intensive training and exercise which leaves little
time for social activities. As indicated by the literature review
and ethnographic work some of the qigong exercises take from between
1 to 3 hours or longer per session everyday and then if the individual
is a martial artist that training must be done as well. From
my experience as a martial artist and with other martial artists the
bare minimum of beginning practice is one hour per session but, often
is longer and grows with experience and skill level and amount of
material learned.
A T-Test was used in examining
objective 2: Look for any significant differences between the
experiment and control groups that could be due to the practice of
qigong. Table 2 shows that the two groups demonstrated a significant
difference at an alpha level of <0.05 between them in two health
scale areas Perceived Health at a .021 alpha (G1=93.27; G2=78.00)
and Pain at a .004 alpha (G1=22.12; G2=42.00). Perceived Health
is an interesting area of difference between the two groups when taken
in context with the widespread belief among qigong practitioners that
qigong practice makes one healthy to the point of simply no longer
getting sick. This could lend credence to the ever more popular
and accepted view that the mind plays a significant role in health,
if you believe you are healthy then you will be healthy. This
same idea could, as well, apply for the Pain difference between the
groups, if you think you are not in pain then you can be pain free.
This idea has been used in hypnotism for hypnotically suggested anesthesia
to a surprising degree of success (see 1964 Elman). The power
of suggestion has been shown to have dramatic effect, as shown by
the placebo effect, and could have a large role in some qigong phenomena.
Additionally, when taken in the context of some of the training methods
used in qigong practice and long periods of intense concentration/
meditation, we can see how a qigong practitioner could by degrees
build up their resistance and tolerance for pain as their body adjusts
to the higher stresses put upon it by the graduated degrees of difficulty
used in qigong training.
Group 1 Qigong Practitioners, Group 2 Non-Qigong
Practitioners
* Indicates a statistically significant difference,
P<0.05
|
 |
Energetic Healers and Practitioners
The following ethnographies contain
accounts from experiences with practicing qigong for individual health,
practicing qigong for martial arts and healing, qigong as a healing
profession, energetics as a healing supplement for an alternative
practitioner in another speciality, and yoga and its similarity to
qigong. Many of these accounts could almost be called ethnography
by email, as I would have never found several of the subjects without
email. And, once I found them, I was able to speak with them
before and after scheduled interviews, thus, allowing me to maintain
close contact by the use of email discussions and questions.
Yan
Xin Qigong Group Practice-Qigong Practitioners
Yan Xin Qigong is a qigong that was developed from
traditional Chinese qigongs by Dr. Yan Xin. Dr. Yan Xin is one
of the most popular qigong masters in both China and the United States
and is often credited with achieving seemingly "miraculous" feats.
In addition to many healings he has participated in scientific experiments
some of which are presented in this paper in the Literature Review
chapter. Unlike many qigongs, Yan Xin qigong's Nine Step Child
Longevity method utilizes an audio tape to accompany training that
consists of Dr. Yan Xin instructing the proper steps and methods to
take in entering the "qigong state." Most practitioners I have
communicated with only do the first step of the nine step method.
It can be practiced alone or in a group but, in group practice better
results are believed to be obtained. In all cases the practice
method consists of listening to the tape and following along (as Dr.
Yan Xin is speaking Chinese in the background, while being simultaneously
translated into English on the tape, this can be quite an interesting
feat for non-Chinese speakers). The reason for this is that
it is believed that Dr. Yan Xin can "transmit" qi and information
via his voice which helps training progress faster.
I participated in a Yan Xin
Qigong practice at the University of Southern Mississippi on Good
Friday, April 10, 1998, from seven p.m. to approximately ten-thirty
that night. The fact that it was Good Friday was important to
Yan Xin practitioners as they believe that when practicing in a group
session on holidays better progress can be made as there are many
people in approximate mental states or outlooks. The group was
smaller than usual I was told, due to the holiday, and was composed
of five people: two females and one male from Taiwan, one female from
Thailand, and one older female white American (who was Catholic and
had just gotten back from church) with the group being composed of
people of various experience levels from beginner to many years.
The session was led by the group leader, one of the females from Taiwan,
and began with a discussion which consisted of us helping the girl
from Thailand translate some of Dr. Yan Xin's speeches into Thai.
We had copies of the speech in the original Chinese and a translation
into English which was an interesting process and exercise in linguistics.
The next phase of the session
was listening to an audio recording of one of Dr. Yan Xin's qi-emitting
lectures. These are lectures in which Dr. Yan Xin emits qi to
those in the audience and he tailors each lecture to his specific
audiences "needs" as he "senses" them and as well qi can be transmitted
by the audio recording. I have serious reservations about the
ability of qi to be transmitted by audio tape, however, as I have
now been practicing qigong for a long enough time to sense or feel
the manifestation that is called qi, I must admit that I did "feel"
a strong qi presence or effect that was not there before or after
the tape was played. Possibly this could have some relation
to subliminal messages, the power of suggestion etc., which are widely
believed to have an effect in people when they are implanted in audio
recordings. The recording was in Chinese but the group leader
translated it for us. For those of us who were non-Chinese speakers
it was at times a humourous situation as Dr. Yan Xin likes to jump
around to different topics, which often involved the tape being stopped
so that we could be further informed of what exactly he was talking
about.
Next, we progressed to the
practice of the first step of the Nine Step Child Longevity method
and our group sat in a circle. The method involves the playing
of an audio tape and following the instructions and visualizations.
In this qigong you can stand, sit on the edge of a chair or sit or
lie down on the ground. Then your hands are placed facing upwards
in a specific manner depending on your sex. Your tongue is then
placed in various locations in the mouth depending on certain diseases
or health states. You are then led through a series of visualizations
in which you are to imagine yourself as a young child at different
ages depending on your sex. Then progressive visualizations
are added. The process reminds me very much of deepening techniques
in hypnosis (see 1964 Elman). Thus, if you wished to look at
qigong as a form of self-hypnosis then Yan Xin Child Longevity Qigong
would most likely produce one of the deeper and more profound states
of self-trance when all nine steps are able to be visualized.
The ending procedure slowly brings one out of the "qigong" state and
involves some additional visualizations and rubbing and massage of
the body. There is a supplementary closing exercise for those
that are having trouble coming out of the state. When the closing
was completed everyone in the group had a profound sensation of heat
and one individual had even removed his shirt, which is not recommended
by Dr. Yan Xin. The American female, a newcomer to the group,
had told me before the session that she had never had any sort of
sensations during practice, however, during this session she as well
felt the profound heat. This was one of the more powerful qigong
sessions I have personally "felt" or experienced during a first time
practice of a method among the various qigongs I have practiced or
been exposed to.
Rich
Mooney-Qigong for Martial Arts and Healing
Rich Mooney has done seminars across the world covering
martial arts, drug abuse awareness and prevention, personal self defense,
and stress management. He is considered by many to be one of
the top martial artists in the United States. He now practices
a very powerful form of qigong known as Lin Kong Jing which translates
as powerful empty force. This is a qigong that must be practiced
for long periods of time over several years. It basically consists
of a standing meditation and a sitting meditation. This practice
eventually allows one to externally project chi for martial application
but it can be used for healing as well. Among the many martial
arts styles he has studied from 1970 until the present are:
Southern Shaolin Tiger Crane Fist and Grappling Method with specialties
in Chin Na, spear, staff, and cane. He trained with Master Chan
F. Lum, Mott Street, Chinatown NY from 1970-77. His current
rank is 8th degree black sash recognized by Dragon Society International,
U.S. Fighting Arts Institute, and Federation of United Martial Artists.
He also studied a variety of Jujutsu Styles starting in 1977 thru
1995, with a current rank of 5th Dan.
Rich has participated in numerous
martial arts tournaments from 1988 through 1993 to include:
Florida Games 1988-92 in Tampa, Year of the Snake Kung Fu Championships
in Miami, World Cup Championships in 1992 in Miami, All Florida Kung
Fu championships 1993 in Bradenton, Florida. As well, Rich has
held the following positions in martial arts organizations as Florida
State Director of: Federation of United Martial Artists 1989 thru
present, World Taiji Boxing Association 1991 thru present, World Martial
Arts Development Foundation 1992 thru 1995, and Shaolin Chuan Fa Temple
Association 1992-1993.
Rich has appeared often in
several magazines' articles, for example:
Karate International Magazine, Taiji Combat
and Healing, and Journal of Chinese Medicine. As
well as the following books: How to be a Blackbelt in the Art of
Life, by Jack and Bev Gustafson; Empty Force by Paul
Dong and Thomas Raffill; Complete Book of Tai Chi Chuan by
Wong Kiew Kit; The Art of of Shaolin Kung Fu by Wong Kiew Kit;
and The Art of Chi Kung by Wong Kiew Kit. And he has
produced the following videotapes: Basic Taiji Ruler,
by Zanshin productions; Standing Meditation, by Zanshin Productions;
and White Sash Level 2 Person Chin Na Form, by Zanshin Productions.
The following TV programs included Rich: Martial Arts World 1991 (international),
Partners in Healing 1996 (Sarasota Florida), Healing Alternatives,
1997 (Omaha Nebraska).
Rich's Qigong and healing training
includes the following methods: Taiji Ruler System under Master
Ma Teh Feng from 1987 thru 1994; Lin Kong Jing, Wai Qi Liao Fa, Shaolin
Neijing YiZhi Chan and yin and yang diagram healing qigong under Paul
Dong 1993 thru present. He considers his specialty to be energy
healing with Qi and is also a Reiki III with 5 years of practice and
a 5th generation Reiki Master after Usui, the founder. He teaches
stress management and reduction through the practice of Qigong as
well as enhancement and self awareness training. He has additionally
trained personally with Dr. Delores Krieger in therapeutic touch.
He has to date worked on over 625 people, treating a wide variety
of complaints, ranging from simple headache and toothache to recovery
from pains due to surgical intervention (Carpal Tunnel, appendectomy,
and renal cancer). In this work he has maintained a meticulous
journal of each and every person who he has worked on since 10/91.
I was a participant observer
in a seminar Rich conducted over the period of a weekend that consisted
of both martial applications and healing applications of the powerful
empty force. I had seen a video tape of Rich before I
attended this seminar and had been left with the impression that he
was quite an individual, but he was much more colorful in person.
Rich has quite an appearance as his torso, legs and arms are covered
in large Oriental tatoos of martial arts significance. Rich
also has a remarkable interest in and knowledge of many subjects,
he even knew what a medical anthropologist was when I told him I wanted
to interview him for my thesis.
Most of the people at the seminar
had never met Rich before and he was able to demonstrate some amazing
and seemingly impossible skills. The first half of the seminar
was devoted to martial applications of the powerful empty force.
I had an opportunity to meet Rich before the seminar started, as we
were both staying in the same hotel, and was able to experience Rich's
empty force projection with the host of the seminar, one of his students
and myself being "test subjects/targets" for some of Rich's applications.
The applications involve, the seemingly impossible, moving an
individual without physically touching them. Rich made the impossible
quite possible as he was able to move the two other gentlemen present
in the hotel room each in turn. Then my turn came, Rich assumed
a "projecting stance" with his arms held out towards me and an intense
look of concentration on his face. The others had moved
almost instantly, back or forwards as Rich could both push and pull,
I stood with a healthy scientific scepticism waiting to see if this
little trick could work on me. Rich began "projecting" and at
first nothing happened. I was trying very hard not to expect
some sort of tingling feeling to hit me in the stomach or chest
and maintain some scientific detachment and I blanked out my mind.
I was determined to stand my ground and not move but, just before
Rich stopped "projecting" I felt an imbalance and weakness in my body
that wanted it to move back which I fought and overcame and I did
not move. Next we took turns holding a wooden knife to Rich's
throat as he stood still and tried to press it into him. Again
each of the other men was almost instantly affected with their knife
welding arms being pushed away. My turn again and I held the
knife intent on forcing it down and confident in my ability to resist
this "force." However, as I tried to press the knife down I
felt all strength leave my arm, like water running out of a hose.
My arm was not forced away but it was too weak to press with any force.
This session completed Rich "brushed us off" with his hands to undo
any after effects that might happen from his projection upon us.
I questioned Rich why I was not as intensely affected as the other
two men. He explained that different people have different energy
metabolisms with some being able to take more than others. I
asked him if this was related to the sensitivity of individuals to
pressure points. From my knowledge and experience in the martial
arts and from researching TCM I have observed that there is a wide
range of sensitivity that individuals have to the pressure points;
I am not very sensitive to them. Rich confirmed my suspicion
that those resistant to the pressure points have high energy metabolisms
and are more difficult to affect than those that are sensitive to
them. As well, just as with the pressure points, more force
is required to affect those who are resistant and this greater force
increases the potential for serious injury or death. Rich explained
further about the powerful empty force:
My own theory is that the brain is a wonderful, complex
mechanism, and that the
body is put under tremendous stress while in the
standing meditation posture. I
feel that the brain is made to secrete certain chemicals
during the standing, and
these chemicals, some of which may be endorphins,
either saturate the body or
cause the mind to use another area of the brain that
is not normally used in
everyday life. We all know from science that
mankind uses such a small amount
of the brains capacity. Who is to say that
the empty force abilities are one of
those manifestations that lay quietly dormant within
each and everyone of us?
I still needed more convincing than just the first hand
experience of the powerful empty force to fully accept this astounding
demonstration and, luckily, the seminar was still ahead. The
seminar was full of a variety of different people from different martial
arts schools and styles around the area so this would make for an
interesting group to observe. At the seminar we did warm
up exercises, then the first three postures of the Lin Kong Jing standing
meditation, then projection exercises and then the sitting meditation
which took us about an hour and a half and was quite difficult and
strenuous for such a seemingly simple exercise. Rich then went
on and presented applications; as a start he went through the same
one's we had done back in the hotel room, then he moved on to having
a student run at him with a wooden knife. Rich yelled
loudly and the student collapsed to the ground. He then had
two lines, of about eight people each, form and place their hands
on the person's shoulders in front of them and close their eyes.
Rich then proceeded to push and pull the two lines, both at the same
time and individually at times knocking everyone down to the ground
domino style. Rich explained his idea as to what was going on:
The Earth is the energy source, I am the conductor
of the energy and the person I
am projecting at is the ground. We all know
that when you rub your feet on a
carpet, and touch a person, or a pet, that a shock
is felt. This is a discharge of static
electricity. This also shows that we can induct, or take in
energy. It is
evident that we can store this energy, because it
takes time for us to walk over
and touch the friend or pet. We can emit, or
discharge this energy upon touching
the grounded target. The practice of Lin Kong
Jing allows the practitioner to pull in
a lot of energy, which the Chinese call Qi.&n In all probability this
is a type of electromagnetic bioenegetics
force.
We then proceeded to partner up
and try projecting on our own. I was quite skeptical about this
exercise, as this training was supposed to take years to develop,
how could any of us project any force? I stood facing another
student with our palms facing each other about six inches apart and
we practiced "projecting" and strangely we both agreed we could feel
some sort of occurrence like a magnet when it attracts and repels
another magnet. After we practiced this on multiple partners
this half of the seminar ended. There were still a few doubters
that stayed after to let Rich attempt to move them and most of them
were convinced. However, there was one Tae Kwon Do teacher that
was resistant to Rich's projection at safe levels and remained somewhat
doubtful. Rich told him that if he needed more proof he could
wait a few hours and he would start feeling sick and getting a headache
if he did not get "brushed off." The Tae Kwon Do fellow apparently
had seen enough to convince him he should opt to be brushed off.
After we ate lunch we traveled
to the location of the second half of the seminar at the Phoenix House,
an alternative healing center, where we were to learn of the
healing applications of the powerful empty force. Many of the
martial artists who had been at the first half of the seminar were
joined by many of the alternative healers and people who were affiliated
with the Phoenix House. The seminar began in much the same way
as the first half with the warm up exercises and the first standing
posture being the same. However, after this the arm positions
changed and were held for less time than the martial postures.
Having already recently done the standing once that day my legs and
arms were quite challenged by a repeat performance and trembled and
shook quite a bit. This was, according to Rich, a good sign
and a measure that the exercise was being conducted properly.
We then proceeded to the sitting meditation but, due to time constraints
we had to cut it shorter than Rich would have liked. We were
instructed to partner up and Rich took us through some healing techniques.
Rich, who is also a Reiki master, explained that as Reiki is a gentle
energy healing technique the qigong healing was a powerful method
that could be overdosed on. The time required to train and begin
qigong healing was also much shorter than that required for martial
application. Rich told us that after about six months you could
start doing small healings, such as toothaches, but more painful conditions
require more energy and thus, more training to be effective.
Our first technique involved brushing our hands down our partner's
shoulder then the arm and spreading our hands out at their hand.
This produced a strange tingling sensation down your arm and at the
fingers. Rich told the people who were being "treated" to flick
their fingers to disperse the energy. We went through some more
techniques with each producing some tingling feeling or warmth.
Rich then asked if anyone had any pains that they wanted healed.
A female from one of the martial arts schools began to say something
and then shyly stopped. Rich encouraged her to continue and
she explained that she had recently had surgery and that her ovary
was in pain as well as where the incision had been made. Rich
had her lie on her back and he began to "work" on her. He told
her to tell us what she was feeling and she explained that it felt
as if the pain were running out of her head and feet. Rich continued
until the girl said all of her pain was gone. Next, an older
female said she had sore feet so Rich proceeded to work on one foot
and the female very soon after wanted him to work on her other foot
as well. Rich then went on to demonstrate how to work on headaches
and toothaches to close out the seminar.
Rich also has written the following
concerning qigong healing:
Desirable effect the patient may experience:
1. An overall relaxation of the body and a
deepening of the breath. If the patient is lying
down, they may even fall asleep.
2. Tingling of the area that is being worked
on.
3. A heating up of the area being treated as
the energy is projected to it.
4. A reduction in the size of the painful area
until it is no longer palpable, or else a feeling
that the pain expands and disintegrates into nothingness.
5. A sensation of pain traveling down the limb.
This is nothing to worry about as
long as all the pain is dispersed or at least greatly
reduced by the end of the
treatment session. If too much pain is left,
then it will tend to come back, as if
you had cut a weed from the lawn but left the root.
Adverse effects the patient may experience:
1. Confusion.
2. Nausea.
3. Dizziness and palpitations.
4. Light headedness.
5. Sudden fainting.
(1997 Mooney 17)
The weekend had been quite
an interesting experience. I had encountered some strange
phenomena in my martial arts training and in my research I had read
of unusual occurrences but, nothing could quite prepare one for a
first hand encounter with such a demonstration. Rich had demonstrated
and proven remarkable ability to my satisfaction. From my observations
and participation I can only conclude that there was a definite phenomena
occurring which merits further investigation and experimentation.
Rich has some very interesting
theories about what he is doing and why it works and it would be best
to let him present his ideas in his own words:
The Chinese medical paradigm
is based upon the theory that all health is based upon the smooth
and unobstructed flow of Qi. Where there is an excess or deficiency
of this substance, therein lies the onset of illness or disease.
It is through the practice of External Qi Healing (EQH), that
one can directly influence the energy field of the client, so
that it is brought back into a condition of homeostasis,
or balance.
By using your
energy to treat a client, you may drain off areas that are excessive,
and fill areas that are deficient. When you were born, you received
your original source of energy from your parents. This is what
is called Inherited Qi. After your birth, you then had to rely
upon outside sources to maintain your internal healthy Qi. The foods
we eat, the water and other fluids we drink, the air we breathe, and
the environment in which we live, all provide what is called Acquired
Qi. The average person goes throughout their entire life without
the slightest knowledge of the intrinsic force that is part of each
and everyone of us. They live their lives as they see
fit, and when they get sick, they go to a doctor. The doctor
finds out what the symptoms are, and then he prescribes an appropriate
medication to treat those symptoms.
The patient goes home,
and takes the medicines prescribed to him by the doctor, in the hopes
of curing the symptoms of the illness that is currently plaguing him.
Sometimes the drugs that were prescribed were not the right ones,
so back he goes to the doctor, and woe betide him if he has
very little in the way of insurance! This is the current situation
among most people in America. Treat the symptoms, not the person.
If an organ goes on the fritz, we have transplants. If a cancer
makes itself present, we have chemotherapy. If one batch of
drugs do not seem to do the trick, we have stronger ones waiting.
In the end, most patients
go home not feeling any better than when they went in to see the doctor
in the first place, sometimes they feel worse! If the wrong
drugs are prescribed, then anything from a simple reaction to death
may occur. If the surgeon in the operating room gets a piece
of paper with the wrong info on it, the patient may also still die.
It is pretty scary out there, and all the people making the
money - the Lawyers and the Insurance CEO's, are laughing all the
way to the bank.
With the EQH ability
gained from diligent standing meditation practice, we can begin to
take hold of our own pains, and the pains of others. The EQH
method is a beneficial and non invasive form of pain relief treatment
that can take effect almost immediately, and can also be used for
a wide range of indications. With EQH, you are treating
the person as a whole being, not as a piece of that being, which is
afflicted with some painful symptom. (1995 Mooney 94-96)
Rich explains many of the "technical" aspects of qigong
healing in the following:
Now, you might ask,
how does EQH work in healing pains and injuries. Well,
simply put, when you have pain or an injury, the energy in that area
is in a state of chaos or disorder. It is confused and
needs to have a direction in which to go. Additionally, the
energy in an injured area may be trapped, and it must be shown a
way to escape and rejoin the rest of the ordered energy of the body.
By projecting EQ I am able to bring order out of the chaos that
exists within the energy field of the client, and help it to
resume its normal, orderly flow.
I am not going to get
into the diurnal cycle, or five element theory. There are plenty
of books out covering those areas. The healing of pains and
injuries by the Lin Kong Jing practitioner is best done at the original
site of injury to the client. The treatment should be done as soon
as possible after the injury. If the pain is allowed to linger,
it will soon set up house in that area, and be harder to remove.
Where there is deficiency, you must stimulate.
Wherever there is a excess,
you need to sedate. In order to sedate, take the energy and
circle it out in a counterclockwise manner. That is to say,
you start at the center of the locus of pain, and spiral it outwards.
This takes all the concentrated and excessive energy and mixes it
with the ordered energy, and causes it to lose its excessive force.
The force which had built
up and caused the pain is reintegrated into the whole, and the
pain is thereby relieved. The allopathic solution to this type
of experience is to prescribe pain killers, which just work
on muffling the nerve endings. The pain, and the cause of the
pain are still there, its just that your nerves have been fooled into
believing that there is no pain.
Where there is a lack of
energy, you need to stimulate. In order to stimulate an area,
you take the energy and circle it in by using a clockwise motion.
That is to say, that you start about 2 to 3 inches from the locus
of the pain, or weakness, and spiral it inwards. This takes
energy from the surrounding area, and brings it in to support the
area of weakness being treated.
Excess conditions can be
seen in headaches, migraines, toothaches and sciatic pain, to
name a few. The energy flowing in these areas reaches a blockage
or a restriction, or a short circuit in the nerves. When the
energy cannot flow through fast enough, it dams up, and this is what
causes the pain. When you work on large
areas, it is best to use a flat palm form, you can either use contact
to help speed the healing, or hold your hand away
from the injury at a distance of a few inches away. The energy will
flow through almost anything; clothing, casts, seat cushions, blankets,
etc...
Deficient conditions can
be seen in infections of the bladder, the kidney, and in cuts.
There is not enough substantial energy flowing in these areas to keep
it safe from bacteria. By stimulating the energy flow to these
areas, you are helping the energy field of the client to boost its
immune system responses. When you work on small areas, it is
best to use a small tool, such as the "Secret Sword" formation.
Always use the right tool for the right job!
The limit on time, as to
how long you want to spend working on someone can best be described
as this: If their pain abates as you work on them, then you
are done. If you leave just one seed of pain in their body,
then the pain, like a weed in a yard, will grow back if their
own energetic field cannot kick it out. Pain is funny
thing, and I am not talking funny as in "Ha Ha". When pain encounters
ordered energy, it literally runs away! This fact can work to
your advantage. For example, if your client has
pain in the shoulder, and the pain starts to run down the arm, keep
working your way down the arm, until the pain has left the limb.
If the pain is in the back,
and it starts to run down one of the legs, then follow it down, and
eliminate it as it leaves the foot. It is also a wise idea to
involve the patient in their treatment. A patient who is actively
involved in their own healing process will tend to heal faster,
than someone who just lays there and soaks up your energy.
Pain found in the upper body
should be led out the arms, and pain found in the lower body, should
be led out the legs. Any pain in the midsection can be led out
from wherever it tends to go. Do not lead pain out from the
neck and into the head. Lead it down and out of the arms instead.
If pain is not fully dispersed,
or pulled out, as you lead it down a limb, it will remain where
it is left at, and cause pain to linger in that area, as well as the
original area it was being led from. That means that if you
were treating someone for shoulder pain, and some pain was left in
the elbow, then both the elbow and the shoulder would be afflicted,
until the innate healing mechanism of the body of the client takes
over.
Some people, those with a
long standing complaint, will take more treatments than someone with
a fresher injury. The longer they wait to see you, the longer
it will take for the chaotic energy to be evicted. The fresher
the injury, the faster the healing response. Most simple
pains take about 3 to 5 minutes to take care of. This
includes headaches, toothaches, sprains, and twisted joints.
More complicated issues,
like chronic sciatic pain can take anywhere from a few weeks
to a few months of treatments to resolve. The point is that
the treatments are cumulative in nature. The force of
one treatment adds to the force of the next.
Make sure that when you treat
someone, that you don't pull your own store of energy into the
healing session. Pull in your energy from your surroundings!
Pull the force in from your heels, and the earth force below them.
Pull it in from the air around you.
If you use your own supply
of energy, you will come out of the session drained and weary.
Another good idea is to schedule your appointments so that you can
do some standing meditation before the treatment time. Then,
after the client has left, and you have cleared yourself off, as described
earlier, you should do some more standing mediation. (1995 Mooney
96-98)
Rich also provided the following case histories:
I had a student, named Rick, and
I was used to having him come by with his daughters, both of
whom had teeth pain due to cavities. Rick came to my house one
day, and brought his uncle, a farmer from the midwest. His uncle,
named David, was in his 70's, and had been a farmer for most of his
life. Rick had convinced him to come by
because I had done so well with his pains, and the pains of his daughters.
David had a badly swollen right elbow joint, and his range of motion
was severely limited to only a few degrees of movement in any
direction.
I took one look at his painful arm, and I said that
I would work on it. I first took the stagnant energy that
was in the joint, and got it moving, and then I drew it down and out
the hand.
David immediately began to
get relief from his pain, and by the end of the session you could
definitely see that a lot of the swelling had diminished. David
thanked me profusely, and before he left I taught him a Qigong exercise
to help him continue the healing process.
The next day was a
Sunday, and David went to a Service. He told one of his
friends there what had happened to him the day before, with me.
The friend then told David, that he had better be careful, and that
what I was doing was surely "Witchcraft". David got quite irate
at such an accusation and fired back at his friend, he commented that
he had been giving money to this particular church for years,
and that he never got any relief of pain for his efforts, and that
when he came to me, I did not ask him for one cent.
The day before he left to
go back to the midwest, David told Rick to let me know that I would
be getting some money from him. Money that he normally gave
to the church, for my efforts in helping to ease his pains.
Another interesting
case concerns my visit to a local High School. I normally give
talks to students in a Life Management Skills class, on a quarterly
basis. One time while I was discussing the benefits of
EQH, a teacher, named Marge, said that it was all a bunch of
mystical mumbo jumbo. I had seen this teacher limping into class
earlier. I asked her right then and there if she would be willing
to see what I could do for her. She said that she would, just
to prove me wrong.
Her problem stemmed from
an acute case of water on the knee, and it was extremely painful.
I went over to her and took the energy from the knee, and drew
it down and out of her foot. She did not know what to say, except
to thank me for what I was able to do for her. (1995 Mooney
98-100)
Michael Lomax-Professional
Qigong Healer
Michael is a National Board Certified (NCCAOM?) Oriental
Bodywork Therapist with fifteen years of hands-on experience with
Chinese Medicine. He has completed Advanced Qigong Healing,
Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Acupuncture studies in China.
As well, Michael is an American Oriental Bodywork Therapy Association
(AOBTA) Certified Practitioner and is Nationally Certified in Therapeutic
Massage & Bodywork (NCTMB) and has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical
Engineering from Mississippi State University. He also has an
interest in Native American shaman healing and regularly studies with
Native healers. Michael's style of Qigong that he practices
and teaches is called Jing Dong Gong which comes direct from the Baoding
Qigong Healing Hospital in Hebei, China. Michael studied Qigong
healing with Wang Juemin, the Principal of the Baoding Qigong Healing
Hospital & Chairman of the Baoding Qigong Scientific Research
Association, at the Baoding Qigong Hospital, Hebei, China.
Master Wang is well known in China for his Qigong and is considered
a "National Treasure" by the Chinese Government. Master Wang
has endorsed Michael to teach his Qigong in the USA.
Michael owns and operates the
Qigong Institute of Natural Healing in Brandon, MS which operates
as both an herbal and vitamin shop and as a healing clinic.
There he does Qigong healing specializing in the reduction and elimination
of chronic pain syndromes and has taught Qigong to several hundred
students. He usually sees 15 to 20 people a week for sessions
that last from 30 minutes to an hour and for which he charges $60
per session.
The fact that Michael teaches
Qigong in addition to his healing stems from the nature of and purpose
of Qigong. Michael explained to me that in China such a system
of treatment and teaching was necessary because they have so many
people and so few doctors. There Qigong healing is used to fix
what is wrong and then the patient is taught Qigong exercises to keep
them healthy. The emphasis is on preventive medicine and Qigong
is seen as an extremely effective prevention method to use.
Michael has a good cooperative
outlook of using Western medicine along with TCM. Michael's
wife is a Western trained medical doctor who has been studying acupuncture
when she and Michael are in China. Michael has patients referred
to him from Western doctors, based on his reputation in the area of
pain relief, and has achieved success where Western medicine could
do little.
I had the opportunity to speak
to one of his patients after a healing session. She was a Western
Medicine trained nurse who saw Michael for stress relief treatment.
She had tried massage therapy before and had come to know of Michael
from his reputation as being "very good" with pain relief. She
had been coming for treatments for about six months and said that
she noticed a definite difference and improvement in her condition.
I was a participant observer
at a qigong seminar where Michael taught the Jing Dong Gong form of
qigong. At the seminar I learned that this form of qigong was
a composite of several styles that Wang Juemin had studied.
I found this interesting, especially in light of the similarity of
this qigong to the Yan Xin qigong form and the fact that the Yan Xin
qigong was a composite qigong also, and the thought occurred to me
that perhaps these two forms shared a common ancestry somewhere down
the line. As well, when we learned the form it was quite similar
in posture to the Yan Xin form with the main differences being in
how the exercise was opened and closed and without the audio tape
accompaniment of Dr. Yan Xin speaking. Eight students attended
the seminar and we sat in a circle to begin our training. The
exercise begins by sitting cross legged and placing the right hand
and then the left over the Dan Tien area (just under the navel).
Next, three clockwise rotations and counter-clockwise rotations are
made from the waist and then three bows forward. Three breaths
in the nose and out the mouth and then you sit in qigong meditation
for an hour and focus on the Dan Tien area. This seemed simple
enough except that in this position I experienced a lot of spontaneous
movement and shaking, which I later learned is part of this qigong
form. This movement was supposed to be from the Qi energy being
absorbed by the body. As well, it could have been from sore
and tired muscles from sitting in such an uncomfortable position for
so long. I observed some of the other students were experiencing
similar movement and others were not. Michael also added some
shamanistic experience to the meditation by beating a drum and blowing
on a flute. Periodically, during the meditation, he would walk
around and project Qi to each of us in the circle and blow his breath
or a noise at each of us. After doing the closing exercises
and some short discussion the class for the first day of the seminar
came to a close. That night I found that I had so much energy
I was unable to go to sleep until around five in the morning.
The next day of the seminar
started at nine the next morning and we went outside to a forest where
we did some standing meditation and were shown various areas that
had different energy "feels" to them. After this we spent the
remainder of the seminar day doing the Jing Dong Gong qigong.
The seminar left me with an interesting feeling of being very energized
for the next several days. I had found the seminar to be very
interesting with the way in which Michael blended qigong practice
with shamanistic practice and explained how he would use some of the
techniques to complement each other.
//Follow Up// Michael
also offered a 100 hour Medical Qigong healing course which I participated
in over a year period and finally completed. In this course
advanced healing techniques were taught along with advanced Qigong
methods. From this coursework I have now developed my own personal
Qigong practice to the level of being able to project Qi and effect
healing in patients. One important distinction that Michael
teaches is that healing is not necessarily curing and the healing
process is simply helping the patient's own body to heal itself both
physically and spiritually.
Dr. Morton-Chiropractor and Energy Healer
Dr. Morton is quite an interesting
healer in that he is trained as a chiropractor but, continues to expand
his knowledge of healing into other fields that relate to and have
been adapted into the healing concept of his profession. He
does not call some of the extra methods he uses Qigong, however, a
TCM healer seeing him at work would. Chiropractic medicine uses
trigger points which correspond to acupuncture points in TCM.
Some techniques that have been developed and taught in workshops to
chiropractors, as well, utilize the TCM paradigm meridian system.
The best way to describe much
of what he does is a very Westernized and modernized version of many
TCM principles and techniques, some of which were borrowed and some
independently developed. Many of the techniques involve the
use of muscle testing to determine the strength and weakness of particular
organ systems and to zero in on specific causes of disease.
In the time I have known Dr. Morton I have seen the techniques he
has learned become more comprehensive and adopt more concepts from
TCM. For example the relation between emotions and the acupuncture
meridians is recognized. Dr. Morton can use these techniques
to determine the cause of a malady with surprising accuracy.
On my last visit with him I had been suffering from a sinus infection
that had moved down into my lungs and given me a bit of congestion
there. I had already gone to a Western doctor and gone through
two rounds of antibiotic treatments with little effect. I had
mentioned none of this to Dr. Morton and he had no way of knowing
this. He was demonstrating some new techniques he had learned
since the last time I had interviewed him some time back. He
was going through a testing out of my "systems" and when he got to
lungs there was a positive response that there was a weakness.
He then went through a series of testings and determined that I had
a viral infection of the lungs. Well this presented me with
a new perspective that I had not yet taken on in my fieldwork as I
now was acting as a participant observer in the form of a patient.
Dr. Morton then "treated" me using his fingers to access and turn
off the sickness response by using a trigger point around my stomach
and then one under my nose both of which corresponded to acupuncture
points. This would be considered Qigong acupuncture in TCM by
using the points without needles or touching. As well, his finger
and hand configuration while so engaged matched that of the Qigong
healing hand posture known as "secret sword." He then gave me
a nutritional "treatment" for my specific problem. This was
another new development in Dr. Morton's healing approach as
it had only recently become legal for him (under the law covering
chiropractors in Mississippi) to advise patients on nutrition.
Dr. Morton considered nutrition to be a very important factor in prevention
and treatment of disease and a major cause of it. He as well
commented that he had experienced a great deal of trouble with patients
who took vitamins. He explained that there are some good vitamin
preparations, but the majority of them are "just not good" and in
fact caused problems. Dr. Morton found that when he had his
patients stop taking such vitamins they got better. I was rather
impressed with his ability to zero in so accurately on such a problem
and as well, very impressed with how much better I got very soon after
this "treatment." I would not have been so impressed if he would
have just found a problem with my lungs but, when he found that it
was a viral infection (and I as well, believed this to be the case,
as two courses of antibiotics had had no effect or improvement on
me over the last month) I found myself quite amazed that he was able
to "diagnose" such a condition using energy meridian based muscle
testing.
Mary
Mary is a yoga teacher at
a local health&fitness center at which I am a member. I
have been attending her classes twice a week for about two years.
Occasionally, I will teach the class when Mary is unable to attend;
and often, during the class, she will have me teach a segment of qigong
to the class. The main focus of the class is hatha yoga which
focuses on asanas or poses which are seen to stretch the energy pathways
and to strengthen certain organ systems and/or functions. This
is one of the main benefits of yoga I notice in my practice.
I find great advantage in the asanas ability to stretch and work places
on my body that would not receive such benefit from more popular types
of physical exercise. Yoga pranayama is the practice most closely
linked to qigong as it is the art of yoga breathing. Many of
the asanas are very similar to, or exactly the same as, many qigong
movements and there is little question that both India and China had
a great deal of cultural exchange in forming the practices of qigong
and yoga. In many ways they are the same practices only called
by different names on different sides of the border with some cultural
adornment and differentiation. Yoga often is seen to contain
more extreme contortions of the body while qigong is seen as more
gentle. The practice of holding different asanas or positions
in yoga is seen as a preparation for extended periods of sitting meditation
whereas in qigong practitioners usually attempt to go straight into
extended meditations from one position. At higher levels there
are few if any differences between Yoga and qigong practice.
Yoga, much like qigong, also claims that it can build up special abilities
with diligent practice. As yoga has been known to the West much
longer than qigong more research and work has been done on its health
benefits. Numerous studies have shown advanced yogis having
the ability to control such involuntary functions as heartbeat and
even change the shape of their heart.
Summary
These ethnographies, along
with the survey data analysis and research of the literature, demonstrate
that the energetic healing modality has resulted in several distinct
but very similar approaches to the same conceptual framework of the
human body. If something is around long enough and crosses ethnic
and political boundries different peoples are going to have slightly
different ideas about how they see it operating within their world-view.
The similarities are much more numerous than the differences and many
of the differences are of degree and not of kind.
Chapter 5
