The Power of Belief in Chi in the Martial Arts

Dr. Tom Morris received his Ph.D. in both Philosophy and Religious Studies from Yale University. For more than 15 years, he was a Professor of Philosophy at Notre Dame.

In one of his books, Philosophy for Dummies, he writes about the power of belief and tells the story of when he bought a gas grill. The Sears delivery crew wouldn't hook up the propane tank because of liability concerns. As Tom hooked it up, he held his breath so he wouldn't breathe any propane fumes. Every minute or so he would walk away and breathe fresh air, then he would return to the grill. He accidentally took a few breaths while at the grill and almost got sick from the powerful smell of propane. The fumes began making him light-headed and he began feeling sick, and even when he hooked the tank up, he could still smell the gas.

He called Sears to report the problem. They asked, "Where did you fill up the tank?" He hadn't filled up the tank, and didn't realize that Sears delivers a new grill with an empty propane tank.

Tom's family got a big kick out if this, and as a philosopher, it drove home the power of belief. He thought the gas was there, he could smell it and he felt ill. "The mind is a powerful thing," he writes. "And false beliefs can have a big impact on us."

And there you have the "science" of chi. People have a tendency to automatically believe a black belt or a chi "master" without questioning, and when they tell you that you will feel something, you are conditioned to feel it, and then you believe it's real. It's a gigantic leap of faith, and quite a leap of logic.

If you are lying in bed at night unable to sleep, do this experiment: close your eyes and pretend you are on a small raft on a lake. Within a few minutes, you'll feel the gentle bobbing of the waves and it will feel as if you're on a raft.

This doesn't mean you're really on a raft, but it does show that the mind is a powerful tool and you can feel anything you want. If a teacher tells you that you will feel tingling when you do a chi kung exercise, if you try hard enough you will indeed feel tingling.

That does not mean chi is real any more than it meant that you were on a raft while lying in bed.

In 2001, there had been several articles in national martial arts magazines showing "chi masters" knocking down their own students without touching them. I offered $5,000 to any chi "master" who could make me even wobble without touching me. Inside Kung-Fu put my offer on the front page of the magazine and I waited for a chi master to accept my challenge. It would only take them five minutes to earn $5,000 -- all they had to do is knock me down without touching me, or just make me wobble.

No chi "masters" ever took me up on that offer. I contacted one by email -- Richard Mooney, who had made a lot of money taking fees from gullible martial artists who thought they could learn the "No Touch Knockout." Mooney did not like the fact that I didn't believe he could do this, and I received insulting emails from him and a couple of his students.

Still, no "chi master" took me up on my offer. The reason--they understand that without a willing partner -- without someone who played along with the gag -- chi doesn't work.

People say, "But Ken, chi has been around for thousands of years. What do you know?" I reply, "Astrology and witchcraft have been around for thousands of years. Some people believe each of them."

Chi is a great mental visualization tool. You can use it when doing chi kung to relax the mind and get your mind off of distractions. You can use it as a mental visualization tool to align proper body mechanics in martial arts. But as far as science goes, it has never held up to real scrutiny, and no chi master has ever been able to duplicate his feats under double-blind conditions.

The Randi Foundation has one million dollars in escrow that they will give to someone who proves a miraculous claim. The Randi Foundation tested Richard Mooney to see if his claims were true, but they removed the ability to cheat by conducting the test in what are called "double-blind" conditions. In other words, the people he was trying to move did not know what he was trying to do so they could not play along.

More than a dozen people were put before him -- one by one -- and he failed to move any of them. It was a complete failure. And yet, people still are willing to believe and magazines will print fantastic stories. Tai Chi students and teachers will tell stories of the long-dead master who had amazing chi powers. And people will relate personal anecdotes about how a tai chi master or chi master touched them and it felt "like an electric shock" and knocked them back 10 or 20 feet.

There is nothing mystical about Tai Chi or other "internal" arts such as Hsing-I or Bagua. These are martial arts that rely on physical skills (not metaphysical).

There is nothing mystical about Chi Kung (qigong). It is a method of calming the mind and body to ease stress -- nothing more.

Never automatically believe a miraculous claim made by someone who is making money off of that claim. Always look for the "trick," because there is always a trick. And just because you feel something, make sure that feeling isn't the result of your own expectations. It takes a lot of emotional and mental strength to overcome this very human tendency.

Chaucer wrote, "many have died from mere imagination."

It's a lot like an empty propane tank, if you believe the gas is there. And people will always believe if they choose to believe, no matter how flimsy the evidence and no matter who is making money off of their beliefs.


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Ken Gullette is a 36-year martial arts veteran, tournament champion, and the owner/instructor of the most extensive online internal arts school in the world. For the latest news about the internal arts and advice on training, visit his blog.