Some Qi Gong healings, not necessarily in Chinatown but in America, have things where people are healed over the phone or remotely even in another country.
The scientific explanation for this usually is "Placebo effect" or if you want to be mean you would call it charlatanism. But there are even scientific studies on these type of healings too. I wouldn't call them fake. But is it the same as the purely physical Qi Gung? Maybe it is moving more towards the spiritual. But still there is no "faith" involved. For instance, practitioners of this type of Chi Gung would tell you that they would heal you whether you believe in it or not. To be clear, I have friends that I respect that practice this type of Chi Gung. I do not myself practice it, nor can I explain it. I feel like I understand Chi, but I do not at all understand Chi going outside the country from me. Is it possible? Sure but I feel like now we are moving more towards the spiritual realm and have to talk about Chi like the "FORCE" or God or the energy of the universe as opposed to something that your body is producing through respiration. That doesn't mean it is fake. (But maybe it is.) But it isn't the same is it?
Finally on the far spiritual side is stuff like Falun Gong. Technically Falun Gong would not classify itself as a religion. Others would classify it as a cult. For me personally I am leaning towards cult because I read parts of the book and it really angered me. You would be surprised to find that Falun Gong actually is pretty anti-Chi Gung and anti calling a bunch of stuff Chi Gung that is usually labelled as such in Chinese culture. Like having Gung in your brush stroke. But a lot of people, Chinese people too, lump all Chi Gung, or people doing poses (Chinese Style Poses) into one category. And they think that people holding a chi gung position for exercise are right there with the Falun Gung people (who, honestly, may be holding a very similar position)
Somehow though, Yoga does not get lumped into this category for Chinese in Chinatown, nor does say, holding a posture for strength training at the gym, or for break dancing purposes...But if we are going to lump stuff together... you might as well lump that in there too if you ask me.
But you can't say that this religious and cultish aspect is completely divorced from Chi Gung practice either. Some people, Chinese people, have come to me asking if they knew any good Chi Gung masters. (Uhh... me?)
But when asking more details I found that they were actually looking for something that in the European tradition would be considered a witch or a wizard. They were looking for magic or at least shamanism. Which I found interesting because I never considered Chi Gung (or my chi gung) to be part of that aspect of things... although that type of thing certainly does interest me. I don;t even care if it's real or not. Just like religion... it fascinates me, perhaps because I don't understand it.
I will tell you, I got approached by a guy once who wanted to take me as a disciple (I explained to him that I could not do this because I was already someone else's disciple)
And after hearing more of his claims, I realized that maybe we shouldn't even hang out as friends... (well this is what I thought then) part of it was because I thought he was crazy. Basically he told me he knew a two man plum blossom fighting form (sounds normal) that could control the weather (not so normal, in fact crazy.)
But now that I am writing the blog.. I mean I would totally want to get video of this and test it out. Not to prove it right or wrong. What fascinates me, again whether true or not, is that he believes it to be true I'm not saying I want to make fun of him. I would love to practice this thing (why not?) and see what happens. In fact I realize that before, the reason why I never would have practiced this or esoteric stuff like Taro Cards or whatever, is not because I didn't believe in them. If you don't believe in this, then you have nothing to be afraid of. It's like being afraid of bowling.
If you are afraid to do these things then on some level you believe it can harm you, which mean that in a way, you believe these motions have power and are not just fake.
Of course is I said, "Let's video tape it." Maybe he wouldn't go for it, but still okay let's practice it (still can't be your disciple though) just for kicks. let's see what happens. I mean that's what I would say now that I am blogging about stuff.
Maybe there is some benefit or some hidden meaning. You never know unless you try. After all, most people think that I am that crazy guy anyway, doing my mein lay jum over there. Who am I to call someone else crazy?
So should I try Falun Gung? Okay that I am afraid to try because I know so many people who get hooked into that cult with bad consequences.
However, what;s the harm in interviewing them? They are a part of Chinatown. You can't deny that.
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