Ah good, glad you've solved the puzzle. Now lets have a shred of proof, or evidence? Shouldn't be too hard, if its any form of magnetism then someone using chi should divert a compass.
Oh dear, here we go again *L* The levels of emittance in regards to human bioelectricity are so minute that they would not alter a compass, this does not mean bioelectricity does not exist.... it is clearly proven within the realms of western medicine already.
Bioelectricity yes, through ionic chemicals rather than more classical current. However this does not mean that chi is bioelectricty, and particularly does not mean it is 'biomagnetism'. If you want a better test, simple, get a sensitive compass (yes, they do exist) and place it near a person. Now get them to use chi. If chi is actually 'biomagnetism' the compass needle should waver. Either way, if chi is biomagnetism and your development of chi improves your sensitivity to it, every chi practitioner should quickly learn to be able to point true north in a fully enclosed room after being spun around several times.
This always makes me laugh. First of all - if it's as simple as that, it's measurable. That means if you demonstrate it not only will you win a Nobel prize and get millions of dollars, you will also give human knowledge a huge push for the greater good. So why don't you go out and prove it, or get a 'master' to give us a quantum leap in global knowledge?! Second - it reminds me of the "magnet therapy" that's trendy now - wearing magnets on your body. I was talking to a scientist friend of mine who regularly works in labs with huge magnetic fields, in order to do experiments. If chi/magnet therapy worked, he would be f...ed (excuse my french), but he's fine (and also an avid tai chi student, so he knows all about cultivating/sensing chi).
I did not claim that Qi was biomagnetism, only that the bodies bioelectric current is too weak to alter a compass.
Personally I was referring to the thread rather than your post specifically, but even so the human body's electromagnetic field is not exactly a challenge to measure, and its true that if someone can sense it in themselves and others then they should be able to consistently point out magnetic north whenever asked.
I've always considered Chi to be a more complex blend of concepts, some of which might be explainable with modern medical science, some not (eg, muscle memory can explain some power generation). And I think it also represents the power of the human spirit to an extent - there is alot of potential there to be harnessed.
Oh no. I think that we might have exhausted this argument last week. That said, the bio-magnetism argument hasn't really held water in the past, IMHO because chi is directly related to your mind and intention, which may or may not be magnetic (I know mine is ).
this post was meant to be a joke, sorry i didn't put any emoticons in it. but i was serious. i absolutely intend to research it, which of course is quite comical since i'm a real person posting on a message board rather than a distant idol backed by a cambridge education and harvard grants. i saw a word in a qigong book i have, in reference to the blood. dipole! OF COURSE! it makes so much sense! dipole...iron content of the blood...face south to meditate...rare earth magnet fountain of youth finger clips....MRI machines... my head just about exploded. as i pondered and meditated that idea, i came to the dual conclusion that qi can probably narrowly be defined as the phenomenon of blood flow reacting to magnetic forces created within the body, but is enjoying the continued application to that of all the systems of the body...in other words, there is an inexplicable medical phenomenon that chi already covers, but chi also works with separate principles, like blood flow, nervous system, certain respiratory systems... that's probably because china learned to work chi as a whole...separate techniques working separate systems...and never differentiated. since one aspect is unsolved, it comes down to us as an entire entity...no one says "that's just improving circulation, not chi!" how much of this is the "same old song and dance"? you know what would be a good idea? what if everyone who was interested enough to fight on a message board about chi could possibly exchange ideas in a meaningful sense...maybe, just maybe being able to admit when we're wrong ONCE...just maybe one of us will lift a finger to do some actual research instead of speculation... hopefully, with the iron shirt of knowledge, i'll be able to debunk some of the adversarial prodding of the nonbelievers and maybe one day give someone a leg up on sorting this mess out.
Good luck, god We're all different and it'd be pretty cool on one level if you sussed it all out. The way I see it is that if the old way works and you're so worked up about it, why aren't you mastering it instead of fannying about with all this intellectualisation and research of things that have already been found. The amazing thing about new ways of understanding old things is that there's no point in it if you're not doing it. Rgds, David then to beat it you should master it, then improve it because otherwise you're
in the days before hot-air baloons they knew smoke rose. and it does of course...they made preliminary hot-air baloons using THIS principle...not the principle that warm air rises. of course this was ridiculously inefficient...when they discovered that just hot AIR rises they found a more efficient and practical source to achieve that hot air and thus buoyancy. of course, the smoke worked too.... why master the art of building wood-burning hot-air baloons before you see if they're practical?
I think I previously posted a link to a scientific paper that a MA group presented on ki...... will look it up for you because it has some good information in it
I believe one term is "standing on tehshoulders of giants". It would be like saying right........i'm gonna learn how to use my chi to improve my fighting ability, but not worry about stances how i strike etc
Many years ago I read about a study of men's and women's differing abilities to navigate underground (follow a maze of tunnels and have a sense of where you are without a compass or external reference point). In general, the study showed the male students were much better at judging where they were and which direction they were heading. The researchers theorized that this had to do with the level of iron in the blood stream, which was generally lower for the female students participating in the study. Yes, there are magnetic fields on earth that effect biological processes in people. NZric is right--the effects would be miniscule in martial arts practice. I think it's a real stretch to try to rationalize a belief in "chi" by relating it to electromagnetism.
The whole principle of chi is that you can feel it. If you stand next to a magnet, you can't feel it. So what has magnetism got to do with the idea of chi??
first of all, since my post was a response in opposition to a completely totalitarian post suggesting i forget about all that intellectual stuff and rather just do it...questioning the very purpose of understanding to begin with...assuming that my intent was to ignore all the research on chi and never even pick up a book on it would be offensive to the angst-filled teenager deep within me and completely out of context. second, chi as an idea is not a giant. it's a stump. the more effectively "proven" scientific research/theory in an idea, the bigger it is and the more solid it is....qi has all that, but it's weaker than twigs. it's all theory, and my idea here is to make THE KNOWLEDGE ALREADY THERE into a real, solid tree. i'm not attempting to sit on top of all this "proven" knowledge on qi and extend it, which would be more appropriate to your giant analogy...there's nothing to stand on...
