Qi Emissions

By Al Simon

Recently I taught one of my beginning qigong classes a simple exercise in qi emission. In this exercise, students learn to feel internal energy as it emanates from the palms of their hands.

We approached this exercise with a healthy amount of skepticism. I didn’t want the students to visualize, imagine, hypnotize, nor will themselves into feeling their qi. I wanted them to keep their eyes open and not "space out." Above all, I wanted the students to be honest with themselves – either they felt the qi coming from their hands or they didn’t. Either experience was considered to be valid and acceptable.

One student didn’t feel anything in particular during class, but the next day, he sent me this email: "Al, I was practicing that exercise this morning and I felt that sensation between my palms. I can't believe it! Is it truly real or is it a part of my imagination? If it’s real, what is it? Is there a scientific explanation?"

Measuring Qi Emission

Scientific research over the last few years has arrived at an explanation for qi emission in terms of infrasonic waves. Infrasonic waves are sound waves vibrating below 20 Hertz (Hz) - too slow to be audible to the human ear.

Every living person emits these waves from the palms of their hands, generally in 8 to 12.5 Hz range at an intensity of 40 to 50 decibels (dB).

In one research study, 29 Americans with no prior qigong training had the intensity of the infrasonic waves from their palms measured both before and after a week of qigong practice. Before the training, the average intensity for the group was 47dB. After one week of training, the average intensity rose to 54dB.

Well, a 7 decibel increase might not sound like a lot, until you realize that decibels are a logarithmic unit, meaning that you cannot add and subtract them like ordinary numbers.

So when these 29 students had an average increase of 7dB, they were actually producing five times the energy after qigong training! And as part of the same study, one Qigong master generated waves of 78db, which is 1000 times greater than the average person emits.

Now qi emission may actually involve more than just infrasonic waves. But the fact that at least one component can be measured suggests that qi emission is more than just part of our imagination.

The Effects of Qi Emission

And while science is beginning to detect qi emission, medicine is beginning to research the healing effects of such emissions. Even mainstream Western physicians are reporting its effects.

In the summer of 2000, the American College of Physicians published an article that reviewed clinical trials involving distant healing. Distant healing includes "strategies that purport to heal through some exchange or channeling of supraphysical energy." These strategies include therapeutic touch, a method in which the hands are used to "direct human energies to help or heal someone who is ill."

The article, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, review a total of 23 randomized trials involving 2774 patients. What surprised most physicians was that 57% of the trials showed "significant treatment effects" from distant healing.

The article went on to note that in the trials that failed to show a significant treatment effect, the reviewers found weaknesses in study design (such as inadequate sample sizes) that may have contributed to the failure. The actual percentage of effectiveness may even be higher.

Experience It Yourself

Here’s the exercise in qi emission that we teach beginners. Sit comfortably in a relaxed position. Take your two hands and place one over the top of the other, as if you were about to clap your hands. The centers of the palms should be in line with each other, but the hands should not touch.

Now slowly begin to move your hands in one of two ways. 1) Circle your hands with one hand moving clockwise, and the other hand moving counter-clockwise, or 2) Move them towards and away from each other slowly in a pulsing motion, as if you were clapping in slow motion, but without the hands touching. Do this for two or three minutes, keeping your body and mind as relaxed as possible.

At some point, most people will feel something between their hands. The "something" may feel sticky or gooey, like pulling salt-water taffy, or may feel like two magnets attracting or repelling each other.

This something you feel is the qi emanating from your palm. Again, this not a visualization or imagination exercise. Just honestly ask yourself, "Do I feel something?" If you do feel something, you will know it with certainty.