De-mystifying the oriental arts is one of those proverbial chestnuts that needs to be cracked open. I personally have no problem with the concept of qi, and yet at the same time as a teacher believe that the whole idea is riddled with the pseudo religious, cult like meanings.

Vague references to elixir fields, oceans of qi, universal qi, talking in hushed tones, endlessly expounding gentle and seductive imagery only compound what is really an act of faith,expectation and fantasy. Focusing on the energy aspect of practice is like trying to gain sustenance from breathing air alone. That ones been done already!

And so I am presently a bit down on qi, where the movement is going?  why are teachings high-jacked by charlatans in the UK/, unsurprisingly the same happens in China too! 

So I try my best to give concrete examples of practice not esoteric theory. For example, I was recently teaching at a Qi Gong! workshop in Wales and I told the audience exactly that, "I am not happy with talking about qi", and so I attempt to give to everyone a clear and unambiguous example of the qi delusion and how it is created and that talking, imagining  or thinking about qi flows simply does not work as a training methodology for qi gong training. What!!.... I will say that again...talking, imagining or thinking about qi flows simply does not work as a training methodology for qi gong training.

We started by going through some of the principles of structural alignment and then attempted the integration of a few basic forces. Now, I take issue with the commonly held belief and utterly ridiculous rule of suspending from the top of the head. If you said dangle from the top of your head I would have no problem with that. If you attempt the suspend stunt and assuming that the rest of your body is balanced then you will have successfully have messed up all the good work you have done, your whole body structure with one seemingly innocent command will not amount to much at all.

So I stand in structure and get everyone in the room one by one to come forward to test my posture and its stability by pushing into my the side of my neck, which by the way is the place where I want to bring my force, (not the top of my head)  they push, my posture holds and I feel no discomfort. Then I ask for the same push this time I focus on the act to lifting from the top of the head and .....surprise my posture is compromised and over I go, I no longer feel so comfortable.

Then we make have more fun. I then again bring force to my neck and again the push is repelled, neutralized, fantastic my structure is back. Now here comes the delusion part................. I still maintain force in my neck and of course my whole structure as well. As I get the push I start talking  about my qi, " here it comes descending like an ocean filling my body", see it clearly, I imagine with all my mind and would you know it my structure crumbles even more spectacularly. Visualize, think, its all the same your structure will disintegrate.

Simple tests, interesting results. If anyone has a story of their personal experience of the qi delusion, of strange practices or questionable teaching methods then please write in.

If anyone would like to see the above test so that you can replicate it yourself then simply let us know and I will film it and put it on the news site. If you also would like me to present the anatomical theory for  the above test, then let me know.

Many people are now visiting the real taoism site on a regular basis and it would be helpful if you could let us know if there is anything you would like to see, or have discussed, why not drop us a line. Happy practice CRC