Scientific Theories on Chi

[Heroic Wolf]

Hi everybody,

Since the concept of chi has been around for so long, I think it may have been referring to a real phenomenon when the term was first coined (why would ppl 1000s of years ago spread pseudo-science on purpose?), but then the term got more and more far-fetched.

Any ideas on what the original scientific basis of chi could have been?

Some of my ideas of what chi may have referred:
1. The activation of the survival instinct/adrenaline-rush, which certainly has been proved by scientists to increase maximum muscular exertion by quite a bit.
2. The use of energy-efficient leverage in grappling
3. Attacks to an opponent's pressure points/life-force/chi points
4. The use of efficient breathing/exhalation to further strike power
5. The development of muscular tension to help better resist strikes
6. Simply getting stronger bones or muscles, before people could explain this in terms of cells in the body developing from exercise/conditioning, they explained it with chi

[l0rca]

Chi probably had more to do with the Tao than any sort of physiological item. Either way, this thread should be renamed "philosophical hypothesis on chi", not scientific, and certainly not scientific theory.

[TTEscrima]

blog.vortexdna.com » Blog Archive » The Himalayan monks' blood is boiling

[kingoftheforest]

All the papers I've read.

Well my understanding is that scientists have determine that Chi is basically your bodies electrical flow. Your body does have a flow of current that runs through it and Chi is just that flow of energy.

It's nothing mystical or magical all that crap is hype. That's why when you are sick or injured there is a break in that currents natural flow causing the problem like a short in an electrical wire.

Things like getting enough sleep, eating right, and proper exercise, help regulate your bodies natural flow of energy and keep it strong. Certain exercise and postures also can effect this flow, hence Chi gongs and Yoga.

No magic no mysticism just being human.

[Heroic Wolf]

Lol, I have a friend in the special operations, maybe I can get him to teach me how to manipulate my body temperature, but probably not, lol.

[l0rca]

Edit: Nevermind.

[carlcarlcral]

hey, first time poster here. I've been doing the Tai Chi forms for about 2 years, and I've noticed that my palms tend to feel heavier at the end of my practice. I'm pretty lazy so I just do it once or twice a day. This has led me to believe that the long-mystified "Chi" might just be the blood in your body. The ancient Chinese probably didn't have the advanced medical technology to produce an accurate visualization of the blood vessels in the human body. I dunno. Do you guys think it might be plausible? Just some food for thought...

[kingoftheforest]

hey, first time poster here. I've been doing the Tai Chi forms for about 2 years, and I've noticed that my palms tend to feel heavier at the end of my practice. I'm pretty lazy so I just do it once or twice a day. This has led me to believe that the long-mystified "Chi" might just be the blood in your body. The ancient Chinese probably didn't have the advanced medical technology to produce an accurate visualization of the blood vessels in the human body. I dunno. Do you guys think it might be plausible? Just some food for thought...

Well the history of medicine shows that Asian countries especially China had and still have far greater knowledge of the human body and how it works.

But I believe I saw a documentary where several Easter and Western professors of medical science came to a conclusion that Chi is just the flow of eletrical current in your body.

[Bjjexpertise@be]

Well the history of medicine shows that Asian countries especially China had and still have far greater knowledge of the human body and how it works.

But I believe I saw a documentary where several Easter and Western professors of medical science came to a conclusion that Chi is just the flow of eletrical current in your body.

Action Potentials .

[Grixti]

I also heard that the flow of Chi around your body is actually a natural electrical current. The meridien lines that make up part of the theory in chinese medicine and martial arts could be thought of as wires in the body through which this electical current flows.

What i find amazing is that this flow of electricity was discovered and used before people even knew electricity existed. The idea of Chi, disregarded as magic or supersiticion (if thats the way to describe it) by alot of people, actually has a scientific base.

Does anyone know how the concept of Chi was first formed? Is it just a product of centuries of trial and error?..

[Red Rum]

The electrical flow around the body has been proved scientifically through special photography

Everyone has different ideas of chi

It is often the Western schools that claim it to be some kind of mystical force

One guy I knew who was into the traditional arts was brought up all his life in Foshan and showed me how tricks of the mind can be used to substantiate the falseness of 'magical chi'
A simple one is when you press a persons hands together and ask them to push against your hands. You take your hands away after about a minute and the persons hands start to move of their own accord
Many fools think this is chi power when it is merely a reaction of the muscles

Leung Ting did a clip on Mind Body and Kick Ass Moves where he explained a lot of tricks that people employ claiming them to be from chi

[taoistscholar]

Word. Chi is nothing mystical at all. Actually it is simplest thing (if it even poses to be a thing) the nature can provide. Tao and Chi to me ARE one in the same. Chi is energy. Proof? Look at our planet, look at our solar system, look at our universe. What makes apples fall? What makes rivers flow? what makes wind blow? what makes current flow? Whether it be gravitational difference, pressure difference, temperature difference, electrical difference, and so on. a potential difference is the ONLY source to energy on this planet.

[kingoftheforest]

To Tao or not to Tao

Word. Chi is nothing mystical at all. Actually it is simplest thing (if it even poses to be a thing) the nature can provide. Tao and Chi to me ARE one in the same. Chi is energy. Proof? Look at our planet, look at our solar system, look at our universe. What makes apples fall? What makes rivers flow? what makes wind blow? what makes current flow? Whether it be gravitational difference, pressure difference, temperature difference, electrical difference, and so on. a potential difference is the ONLY source to energy on this planet.

This post would be great if this thread was philosophical theories on Chi. And while it may be true that the Tao encompasses everything to paraphrase the Tao Te Ching

"The Tao that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging Tao"

Therefore if you are calling the Tao, Chi it's not the true Tao.

[taoistscholar]

this is 100% true but im not giving it a name just a relation.

Chi to me is nameless as well.

Names mean nothing. you can call something chi, you can call something tao or call it something completely different. It is what it is not what it's called. if you know what i mean.

[xyl]

gotta agree with kingoftheforest. this is not a science thread but philosophical. the electricity is an interesting thought but have yet to see a paper in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. if someone
could point it out to me id love to see read it though. of course the root of the problem is just theres no
real definitive answer on what chi is... if there was one it has been lost. Without a definition that has
observational and testable predictions then its not in the realm of science. not thats its wrong its just
that the scientific method has no hope of giving u an answer.