Ok, well, I've just starting Bagua QiGong (I get trained for free by a family friend) and you
CAN feel what these people are calling Chi! Although, for me to feel it requires tendonal/muscle/whatever stretching in the hand forearm area. Your hand starts to "pump", as if there's air rushing through it. It is a noticeable, real, quite intense and very interesting feeling. There are a few hand positions that can make this effect. One is rotating your left hand as far left as you possible can without snapping your arm off, while having your 4 fingers outstretched as far as you possibly can and your thumb outstretched but pushed inwards a little so that there's a large ball-shaped groove in the middle of your hand, and hold that position. I don't think it's constricting veins and the resultant increase in pressure as blood pumps through them, as it's not in sync with my heart beat (I can sometimes feel ~20 small "pumps" in a few seconds).
Now, the person that's teaching me says that after more training you can;
A) Induce this same feeling through you head (so up your front, over your head, and down your spine).
B) You can induce mild pumping without actually doing anything, but just by thinking. (Although, this could be a type of autogenics).
I have no reason to suspect he is fibbing and I'm going to be trained to that level eventually anyway so it would be silly to lie, A) would be extremely interesting.
He also claims you can move the Chi into whatever area you desire. Although, I'm not sure if he means you can move the actual obvious pumping to a desired area, I will ask him this.
I'll report back when I'm better trained.
rplatter said:
Personally I believe the exercises to provoke something (Psychosomatic or not), mainly because of the similarity between the descriptions of various practitioners. I don't know what it is, but I do believe there is something there that bears investigation.
Yes, it is a non-imaginary, obvious feeling.
Try it out right now, and hold the hand position for 5-30 minutes. I guarantee you will feel some slight pumping. This pumping will grow massively with practice. Another hand position is having your left arm outstretched in front of you, having your thumb pointing to your right sholder, your fingers stretchted upwards as far as possible, make a hollow ball in the middle of your hand, and have the left side of the palm of your left hand vertical to the ground with your forearm parallel to the ground. This angulation is impossible without practice, but go as far as is safe and you will eventually feel the pumping.
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OH, another thing. He can make the pumping in his
stomach just by thinking.
I know what you're thinking. He CAN actually do this. I put my hand on his stomach and I feel rumbling. I actually feel it.
He claims that some master in China he trains with can put his hand on his stomach and his stomach will grumble much stronger than usual. He states that his master can grumble his stomach area ("dantien") so that it's audible.
Also, whenever he swings his arm around (to get blood into it and to develop power, one of the exercises we do), you can feel pumping around his kidney area and next to his shoulder (on the soft part, near the neck). He says he didn't have this before he started going to China - he met some master who told him what exercise you do to enable this (Horse stance, body twisted as far as possible, swing arm). I haven't developed it yet but I've been very lazy with this exercise. What the hell?
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Here's 1 of the hand positions you can try.
. The guy isn't doing it properly and therefore will feel no pumping but the corrections are in there. Hold it for 1 hour and you should feel significant pumping.