Physics is based on explanations of observable phenomena as well as predictions of not yet discovered observations. The question then is whether the field concept of Qigong can lead to some explanations of observable phenomena and predictions of not yet discovered observations. This article discusses some speculative thoughts on this question.
In the March 2021 issue of my website, I made some speculative thoughts on the scientific basics of Qigong. [1] The idea is based on the concept of “fields” which is so prevalent in physics in describing what matter is made of, or the fundamental building blocks of matter. [2] Until recently, there are four fundamental fields in physics, corresponding to the four forces of nature: the gravitation force, the electromagnetic force, the strong force, and the the weak force. Since the discovery of the Higgs particle in 2013, now a fifth field, the Higgs field, has been added. [3] Historically, the reason of introducing the concept of fields is to remove the need to answer the question, e.g., of instantaneous action at a distance. Instead of saying that an object of mass M exerts instantaneously a force on any other object in the universe, we say that the object of Mass M creates a gravitational field that permeates all of space, then any other object in the universe will be affected by the presence of that gravitational field. Thus we don’t have to explain “action at a distance”, i.e., how does the object of mass M instantaneously affect any other object in the universe no matter how far away that object is from the object of mass M.
Can the field concept of Qi help to explain any observable phenomena?
We know that many Qigong practitioners can exhibit unusual strength or power, which cannot be explained based on the practitioner’s physical size or normal strength. See the two sample videos in Ref. 4: One by Sifu Liang De Hua (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGEP5X78G1w), and another one by Sifu Adam Mizner (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuW4UfaC-l8). We know that these are real phenomena, although currently we don’t have a scientific explanation of the phenomena. The question then is: Can the field concept of Qi help to provide a scientific explanation of these unusual and unexpected physical phenomena? Finding an explanation will be a major breakthrough in Qigong and will help to establish Qigong as part of science.
What Sifu Liang De Hua and Sifu Adam Mizner [4] (as well as other Qigong masters have demonstrated in other videos we can find in the web [5]) is that skills such as theirs can also have many interesting and useful applications. For example, they can be used in the sport of American football. An obvious example is by offensive linemen to protect their team’s quarterback, running backs, or other players from being tackled or sacked by the other team’s defensive linemen or other players. Or conversely they can be used by defensive linemen to push back the offensive linemen and attack the other team’s quarterback, running backs, or other players. Finding an explanation of this phenomena perhaps can also lead to finding a method that can train people to learn these techniques in a reasonable amount of time (like within a year or two, or even more optimistically within several months) so that it can become a practical technique in football.
Can the field concept of Qi predict new phenomena that have not been seen before?
In physics, a field affects the space all around it. That most likely will also be the case for a Qigong field. Therefore, the Qi field from a Qigong practioner should also affect the space around it. This means that the Qigong field exerted by an expert Qigong master can also be felt by someone else in the vicinity of the Qigong master’s Qi, thus possibly explaining the therapeutic value of Qigong therapy. There are many important questions related to the Qi field. For example, how does the strength of a Qigong field drop off with distance? Is the Qigong field short range, like the strong field, or long range like the gravitational field? How does the Qi field get circulated in a person’s body? Does it get circulated via the body’s blood vessel system, or does it get circulated via the body’s nervous system, by perhaps first converting the neurological information into perhaps chemical signals and then transmitted via neurotransmitters?
In physics, the quantum fields are represented by ripples or flickering or fluctuations in space. These ripples or flickering or fluctuations in space may manifest themselves in physical particles, like a photon (a fundamental constituent of the electromagnetic force), or quarks (which are the fundamental constituents of the strong force). In the Qi field, are there fundamental constituents of the Qi force?
We don’t know the answers to these questions, or even whether they are useful questions. But introducing the concept of field to Qigong may open up new ways of examining and understanding this ancient art of Qigong and the associated Chinese martial arts.
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[1] “Some Speculative Thoughts on Qigong”: https://www.dontow.com/2021/06/some-speculative-thoughts-on-qigong/.
[2] See, e.g., “Quantum Fields: The Real Building Blocks of the Universe” by David Tong – February 15, 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNVQfWC_evg (1:00.17)
[3] Since the Higgs particle was discovered in 2013, physicists have also introduced a fifth quantum field, the Higgs field, associated with the Higgs particle and through its interaction with other quantum fields leads to the mass of particles. See also Ref. 2.
[4] “Wonders and Mysteries of Chinese Martial Arts”: https://www.dontow.com/2021/12/wonders-and-mysteries-of-chinese-martial-arts/
[5] Besides videos of Sifu Liang De Hua and Sifu Adam Mizner mentioned in Reference 4, one can find other similar videos demonstrating similar extraordinary strengths. Here are a couple more such videos:
- Sifu Patrick Kelly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIz6hpoOkKQ
- Master Lin Kuancheng: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q21hC_eNaGo
