Scientific Qigong ExplorationFrom Amazon.com: Scientific Qigong Exploration is the first book written in laymans’s terms by Professor Lu Zuyin to introduce modern scientific research on the external qi of qigong to the general public. An accomplished nuclear physicist, Prof. Lu spent ten years conducting scientific qigong experiments since the early 1980′s until he passed away in 1992. This book recounts Prof. Lu’s fascinating personal experience of collaborating with the renowned qigong master Dr. Yan Xin and the ground breaking results never obtained before. There results verify the physical existence of external qi and demonstrate that the human body can affect substances such as water, DNA, and atomic nuclei without physical contact. This book recounts Professor Lu’s Qigong experiments over a 10 year period in China. While interesting, the experiments themselves The six people present saw the amazing change. Therefore repeated experimental observations are required. began to emit qi… the light spot at the lower part of the screen was gradually gaining intensity and became much brighter. the third one. the results are interesting: Three qigong practitioners were asked to emit qi at the liquid crystal… The first one emitted qi for ten minutes and there were no changes to the light spots… Five minutes after Guo. However. In this experiment Lu tests whether external qi could affect the refraction of a liquid crystal.all suffer from the same problems. p. The methodology is sound and if true. in scientific research. We all know that. I’ll return to that point in a minute. p.30-31 This is one of many purported examples that are alleged to verify the existence of qi. reproducibility is a necessary condition to confirm a new phenomenon or to verify a new law. let’s use one experiment as a discussion point. However. there is a problem with the science. 79 The author attempts to account for this problem by suggesting the following: ■ ■ Qigong masters cannot repeat an experiment numerous times due to limited mental energy There are few Qigong masters so the sample size is small . ■ . If the mental energy is limited simply conduct a longitudinal study over several years. psychological. …These results verify the physical existence of external qi and demonstrate that the human body can affect substances such as water. in theory. Cannot be replicated due to limited mental energy of a given master Apparently the good doctor does not understand replication. Take the same Qigong master under the same conditions and conduct the same experiment repeatedly. while the spiritual method seeks to join them. This is interesting and contradictory when one considers that the author spends the next 300 pages attempting to use the scientific method to verify that qi exists. and emotional state so the results may not be identical each time Ironically. 1. and atomic nuclei without physical contact. It is a good experiment and from a scientific perspective it is certainly one that could. over several years. Let’s go back to the above-mentioned liquid crystal experiment. Therefore. You do not have to repeat the same experiment hundreds of times in one setting. be replicated. the scientific method is flawed due to the fact that it separates the observed from the observer. DNA. the book states at the very beginning that the scientific method and spiritual method are two contradictory ways of understanding the world.Qi emission is related to a given master’s physical. the liquid crystal test is certainly plausible and testable from a scientific perspective.2. you would not want to test a new drug on only one person so researchers typically will test it on numerous people. and emotional state Were this a true problem in science then there are quite literally hundreds (if not thousands!) of psychological tests that could not be conducted with anything approaching scientific reliability. Zuyin and Lu are half correct when they state the sample size of true Qigong masters is small. Moreover one could easily get a large sample of non-Qigong experts to try and use their qi to influence the liquid crystal. psychological. A small sample size increases this rate beyond 5% while a large sample decreases it. What this means is that if the same experiment were repeated 100 times we’d expect 5% of the results to be due to random chance. 3. . Qi emission is somehow related to a given Qigong master’s physical. predictability. Small sample size so the reliability of the results are in question Levels of significance in research range from less than 1% in medical research to 5% in the social sciences. If a significant percent of these non-experts could. and replicability. then qi might be in question. If the editor or late author do not understand that very simple fact then it certainly casts doubt on their fundamental understanding of the scientific method. If they could not but the master could then that would also suggest something. Still. For example. An awful lot of junk gets published and it often is latter refuted by repeated tests. All of the techniques and medicines that your doctor uses were developed through this same flawed scientific method. see if qi can heal something that an antibiotic would normally treat. a few bacteria cause about 90% of pneumonias in previously healthy people. The latter is of high regard in the international scientific community while the former appears to be unknown. or. In fact. may have ceased publication as many journals often do. I don’t know about you but the next time I’m ill I plan to stick with medical science. Most notably the bulk of them were published in The Nature Journal. Despite the fact that these were published there are concerns. the doctor will choose an antibiotic that will kill these bacteria. As someone who teaches. Don’t believe me? Then the next time you are sick or injured do not go to your doctor.In the appendix the editor lists eight scientific studies that were published in Chinese science journals. Until more research is done on qi my money is on the mostly positive record of medical science. In another example. I’ve learned this much: just because a study is published does not make it true. What it does mean is that it could be little-known in the United States. helps with. If you are diagnosed with pneumonia. I cannot find it. This does not necessarily mean it does not exist. This is the scientific method and it works pretty darn good. This is not to be confused with Nature. . nor does it mean that it’s not reputable. Instead. it could also be low quality journal. and on occasion conducts research. Moreover. many could be conducted by a high school science class. I’ll leave you with this thought: If any number of the amazing experiments in this book were ever verified by replication. like the above liquid crystal experiment. -------- .Lastly. That in and of itself should also say something. someone could easily win the Nobel Prize.