Nice article, but . . . . The author talked about Empowerment v. Enlightenment, with Empowerment being ego-based and Enlightenment meaning relinquishing ego. There's as much ego in the healing arts as there is in the martial arts.
On the other hand, he mentions conflict dissipating around him in his job as a bouncer, after he became involved in reiki tummo. Robert W. Smith's baguazhang (pa kua chang) teacher Paul Kuo mentioned the same sort of thing from martial training, saying he felt that "the boxing spoke through him" and dispersed near-riot situations in his job as a police officer. (See Smith's classic book,
Chinese Boxing: Masters and Methods.)
So far as I know, aikido is the martial art that most explicitly talks about extending ki. Any aikidoka out there able to address whether reiki or similar practices have helped?
After I was introduced to energy healing, I began to believe (but can't prove) that the striking methods of the internal martial arts were shaped with the idea of projecting energy. I especially notice it in xingyiquan (hsing-i ch'uan). (An external type of strike feels like a stronger version of a hard push, and often leaves a bruise on the surface. An internal type of strike generally doesn't bruise the surface, but the recipient feels as if something is exploding deeper inside his body.)
And one of my taijiquan students, who is a gifted healer, introduces her own taijiquan students to the push-hands exercises of taijiquan by having them feel her sending qi into them. She says it's worked well. And she's moved them off-balance just by sending qi into them through a light touch while keeping her hand still. (FWIW, I had her try it out on me, but it didn't work -- I noticed that I was automatically sinking my qi into my root to compensate. But I think it's still a good intro for students, so that they understand it's not about muscling their way through.)
On the flip side, one of my taijiquan-and-qigong teachers, when asked about qi in fighting, said there's "an evil qigong" that involves drawing qi out of the opponent. I didn't know what to make of that, until experiencing something similar some years later. But flipping it again, that sort of ability is useful when treating conditions of congested energy.
And after all, what's the ultimate goal of martial arts?
"The ultimate goal of studying the arts of war is not to harm but rather to heal, enhance, and preserve life "
~ From 'Way Of The Warrior ', Chris Crudelli
Sounds similar to something else..
Some of Crudelli's episodes are pretty silly, but I agree with that quote, at least as applied to the state of the martial arts after firearms became prevalent.
Bruce
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