Qi Department: Qigong

ELECTRIC QIGONG-AN ANCIENT THERAPY EVOLVES By Amelie de Mahy

In a small, dimly lit treatment room in downtown Taipei, Wesley Chen instructs his patient to lie down. A frayed wire, which he has wrapped around a small piece of metal, is now plugged in. He covers the metal with a wet cloth, grips it, and place

electrical wiring, hand crank genera-tors were used.

es his hand on the patient. Electricity surges through his hands and into his patient's body. This, he says, is electric qigong.

Electric qigong, or dian qigong, is a means of treating a patient without the exhaustion of the practitioner's own energy. Its purpose is to supply and

Electric qigong, or

dian qigong, is a means of treating a patient

without the Though the ability to prop-

erly harness electricity is a relatively recent development,

exhaustion a realization of the power of electricity and how it relates to of the

move qi within the patient's body. It is simply another tool practitioner's of Chinese medi-cine can make use of. There are many tools available to a prac-titioner of Chinese medicine, Chen states. It is important to understand the functions of each. All are valid.

The term, he believes, is a bit misleading; giving people the illusion that electricity can be created and transferred by the practitioner. The tech-

qi dates back centuries. Accord-ing to Chen, early observa-

practitioner's own energy

tions of nature, specifically lightning, led people to the conclu-sion that this force was pure qi energy. Crude attempts at trying to filter that energy into one's body were unsuc-cessful, to put it mildly. Within recent history, before the advent of modern

In Asia, some believe that people born in the Year of the Horse may be tyrants, revolutionaries, or thieves. On the other hand, they have great capacity to excel. Others are often in awe of them, worship them, but seldom understand them.

Horse personalities are good at handling money, but often lose interest in their goals. Chinese believe that horses are born to race or travel, therefore horse people leave home at a young age, and remain restless throughout their life. They are impatient, yet quick-witted with a huge ego. They have a hard time belonging anywhere for long.

Horse people do well in groups and are never short on conver-sation. Social contact is important and they often

nique mimics that of standard medi-cal qigong with the major exception of the use of electricity. He says that by using electricity one is able to conserve their energy, as opposed to depleting the body through the pos-

2014-YEAR OF THE HORSE form close relationships with others and will give up anything for a good romance. But romantic love is not a top priority for the horse personality in a horse year.

The horse represents desires and wishes and is usually associated with males. The ancients deemed the year of the horse to have masculine attri-butes. The hour of the horse falls at high noon and the month of the

horse includes the summer solstice, which are both strong yang forces .

Astrologically, the horse is placed directly

opposite the rat. The rat is the creator and the horse is

the "consumer" . Therefore a horse year may be marked

by an increase in business and commercial activity, par-ticularly those involved with non-essentials like luxury cars,

4 QI-The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health & Fitness

sible transference to the patient. Within Chen's native country of

Taiwan these techniques are consid-ered the domain of folk medicine. Such skills are not currently taught in modern TCM schools, nor can one currently be licensed as a practitioner of electric qigong. In Chen's case, it was through years of studying martial arts and qigong that his teacher chose to relay this treatment method to him. His academic background, which is in electrical engineering, reinforced his desire to move in this direction as opposed to studying at a TCM school. Chen's personal interest is in the evo-lution of techniques with the available technology, as opposed to a reliance on more traditional methods.

Like much of Chinese Medicine, Chen believes many are deceived by electric qigong's seeming simplicity. Individuals interested in experiment-ing with practitioner methods often overestimate their ability to pass a current through their body to devas-

high fashion, alcoholic beverages, athletics, and anything "male" ori-ented. Unfortunately, it is often a year of waste. A household should be careful to make sure they don't overspend their budgets during a horse year.

The astrological start of the Year of the Horse is February 4th in China and February 3rd in the USA (beginning of Spring), but New Year's Day, which is the popular cel-ebration (Spring Festival) begins on January 31 (new moon of the first lunar month). 2014 is associated with the Horse, the color green, and the element wood.

Popular greetings for New Year include i1'JT1ftR:~ (xin nian kuai le, Happy New Year) and ~%~M (gong xi fa cai, Congratulations and Prosper-ity) .

'j Qi Department: Qigong

tating results. The fact that one can handcraft a 'machine' by wrapping a frayed wire around a piece of metal has led to many injuries amongst those who mistake great practitioner skill for ease of practice. The tendency, amongst most people, is to hold onto the metal conductor and be unable to release it. An effective practitioner must learn how to control the flow of the current. They must control them-selves in dealing with shocks to avoid damaging the body.

A standard electrical outlet has alternating current (AC). The body must learn to handle these fluctua-tions in power. There is a difference, he believes, between knowing how to use electric qigong and knowing how to use it correctly. Some know how to use this tool but don't understand why it developed or how to apply it.

According to Chen, a common mis-conception is that being a practitioner of qigong will lead to the ability to handle electricity. This skill, he states, is not attained through general practice but through a particular style of qigong that was developed for this purpose. Through this style the body quality is altered so that the electricity does not harm the practitioner. In Chen's opinion it is his years of practicing this style and his increased understanding of energy that protect him.

The means by which Chen diag-noses patients is based on a technique he learned from his master. By observ-ing the patient and running his hands over their body he is able to detect problems with their qi. He describes this ability as sensing holes in the body's energy as well as sensing the color of the energy. Certain colors, he states, are associated with sickness and others with health. Even personality

and mood are sensed and evaluated. The length of treatment, as well as the length of each session, is based both upon the strength of the practitioner and the level of patient need. An aver-age session can last between one and two hours.

The sensation felt by the patient depends largely upon the amount of electricity the practitioner passes through his or her hands. This feel -ing can be quite similar to that of a TENS machine. Patient descriptions range from a tingly flood of energy to pain due to strong muscle contrac-tion. Chen also believes that these dif-ferences in sensation depend on the strength of the body and how much electricity a patient can tolerate. The patient serves as the guide for what is and isn't comfortable. As with e-stim, electric qigong is contraindicated for people with pacemakers and defibril-lators.

As Wesley Chen finishes the treat-ment his patient takes a moment and then slowly sits up. The shrill, operatic-like singing that mimicked the electrical current's intensity has finally stopped. Chen steps out of the room and begins preparing tea. The result of the treatment is written on the patient's face: total relaxation.

References Chen, Wesley. "Electric Qigong."

Personal interview. 23 Mar. 2012.

A me lie de Mahy is an American acupunc-turist, who spent the last two years study-ing Chinese medicine in Taipei, Taiwan. She recently returned from India, where she did medical work with the Tibetan religious community of Northern India. She is a graduate of the Academy of Ori-ental Medicine at Austin.

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