This is the first in a series of excerpts from
our patent application that are of general
interest in the area of energy work. The purpose
of this portion of our patent application is to
present evidence of the existence of chi (also known
as "prana," "subtle energy," "life force energy," "orgone,"
and others) to a patent examiner who might not be
familiar with this idea.
Similar information about chi was determined independently by different
cultures and individuals
Throughout history, the maintenance
of health has been a human endeavor of the highest priority. Prior to advent of medical science, there
were numerous healing modalities that flourished, many of which are still in
use today. Particularly, Yoga, Qi Gong,
Acupuncture, Reiki, and various other forms of biofield/subtle-energy therapies
(a.k.a. energy healing) have been used for hundreds, and in some cases,
thousands of years.
Central to all of these modalities
is the notion of a life-force energy that is involved in nearly every aspect of
physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. There are many names for this energy, Chi, Ki, in China and
Japan, kundalini in India. Yogic
traditions refer it as Prana. Sufism
teaches about an essence of life called baraka. Aristotle believed in a fifth element. Mesmer studied an elusive force he called
animal magnetism. Baron Karl Von
Reichenbach (the inventor of Kerosene) studied a version of this energy, which
he called the odic force. Wilhelm
Reich studied a similar energy which he called orgone.
More interestingly, there is a high
degree of similarity between the energies described in each of these
paradigms. Common among many of them
are the following attributes:
- The notion of a life-force energy that is universal,
that is in all things, and which flows from a Creator (i.e. God, Spirit,
Universal Mind, Source Energy, etc.)
- The notion that there are energy systems that
regulate how life-force energy flows in the body. Chakras, acupuncture meridians, and
doshas (Ayurvedic) are three examples.
- The notion that balance in this energy is a
desirable state that contributes to a state of optimal health, and that
energy blocks, can disrupt the flow of this energy, and are at the root
of many physical and emotional health problems.
- The notion that energy blocks can be the result of
physical or emotional trauma to the individual, and can result in issues
in the physical health years later
- The notion that this energy is associated not just
with humans and other living organisms, but also with physical spaces and
objects as well
- The notion that this energy can be of a higher
vibrational (positive energy) or lower vibrational (negative energy)
nature
- The notion that energy of a lower vibrational nature
can be cleared through a variety of techniques and raised to a higher
vibration
- The notion that energy can have vibrational qualities
above and beyond being high or low.
For example, energy can be yin or yang, 3rd chakra
energy, or fear energy. Energy
can have a mental or a spiritual quality to it, or many others.
It seems highly unlikely that so
many individuals and cultures would have independently come up with such
similar paradigms relating to a life-force energy if it did not, in fact,
exist. The people who developed these
paradigms lived thousands of miles apart, on different continents, and there
were thousands of years between the development of the earliest and the most
recent of these paradigms.
A paradigm that includes chi can explain anomalous phenomena
One of the more dramatic and
well-known examples of working with chi or life-force energy is martial
arts. Central to many martial arts
practices is the cultivation and use of energy to support one in one's self
defense. The fact that a person can
break a board or a brick with their hand is anomalous within mainstream
science. There is no explanation for
how a person can accomplish such a feat at all, much less using the soft
tissues of the hand, and without sustaining injury. It is the opinion of this inventor that the martial arts
practitioner is directing their life-force energy through that brick or board,
and that their hand is just the vehicle for directing this energy. It is the person's chi that breaks the
board.
Modalities involving chi are used by millions of Americans and being
actively researched by the National Institute of Health
This notion of a
life-force energy has been conspicuously absent from our modern, science-based
healthcare paradigm. However, that is
changing. The National Center for
Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a branch of the National
Institute of Health, has been actively studying Reiki and other forms of energy
healing. NCCAM describes itself as
follows: NCCAM is the Federal
Government's lead agency for scientific research on the diverse medical and
health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered
part of conventional medicine. NCCAM explores
complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous
science, trains researchers, and provides authoritative information to the
public and professionals. Here are
some excerpts from their website:
According to the 2007 National Health Interview Survey, which included a
comprehensive survey of Complimentary and Alternative Healthcare (CAM) use by
Americans, more than 1.2 million adults had used an energy healing therapy,
such as Reiki, in the previous year. The survey also found that approximately
161,000 children had used an energy healing therapy in the previous year.
People use Reiki for relaxation, stress reduction, and symptom relief, in
efforts to improve overall health and well-being. Reiki has been used by people
with anxiety, chronic pain, HIV/AIDS, and other health conditions, as well as
by people recovering from surgery or experiencing side effects from cancer
treatments. Reiki has also been given to people who are dying (and to their
families and caregivers) to help impart a sense of peace.
There
are a number of studies ongoing and completed regarding energy healing. Current information may be obtained at the
NCCAM website.
There is a YouTube video
demonstrating a simple exercise that enables most people to feel their own chi
as a direct experience
If one is curious and desires to
have a first-hand experience of their own life-force energy, there is a simple
exercise presented in a YouTube video.
In this video, entitled Chi Exists, here's proof (Qi), Joseph Geyer
demonstrates a simple exercise that enables a person to feel their own chi. In
this exercise, he holds out his left hand, fingers aiming forward, palm facing
to the right. His right hand has the
first and middle fingers extended. He
then positions his right hand so that the tips of the first and middle fingers
are about 1/2" away from the palm of the left hand, directed toward it at a 90
degree angle to the plane of the palm of the left hand. He then moves the right hand in a circular
motion so as to draw a circle on the palm of the left hand. This is done while maintaining the
approximately 1/2" distance between the fingers of the right hand and the palm of
the left hand, so that the hands do not touch one another. The circle is drawn a number of times,
until sensations are felt in the palm of the left hand.
It is common for
people who try the exercise presented in this video to report a variety of
sensations in their left hand, for which there is no scientific
explanation. Interestingly, people who
try this exercise often feel sensations similar to what they feel when they
position their hands over the present invention, when in operation. (See The present invention makes an energy
field similar to chi later in this patent description.)
Modalities involving chi are beginning to be used in hospitals
There is even more evidence of therapies and practices
involving the life-force energy of the body coming into the mainstream. According to betterhealthandliving.com, over
50 hospitals employ some form of energy healing as an adjunct to their
traditional medical treatments (as of 2006).
If you enjoyed this article, you might
also enjoy the second excerpt from our patent application, entitled
"There are
limitations with how science is currently practiced
regarding determining the existence of chi".
