Conference Report
The First National Conference on
The Bigu Manifestation, Health Effects and Scientific Research of Yan Xin Qigong
Sponsored by
•
The Pennsylvania State University Science, Technology and Society Program
•
University of Arizona Program in Integrative Medicine
•
Friends of Health Washington, D.C.
•
Traditional Acupuncture Institute Columbia, Maryland
•
Internationall Yan Xin Qigong Association Internationa Scientific Research & Health Departments
June 23-25, 2000
University Park, Pennsylvania
Conference Report
The First National Conference on the Bigu Manifestation, Health Effects and Scientific Research of Yan Xin Qigong Rustum Roy, Conference Chair Yi Fang, Conference Coordinator Materials Research Lab, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
From June 23 to June 25, 2000, over 500 enthusiastic scientists and scholars descended on the picturesque campus of The Pennsylvania State University for a unique scientific conference on qigong health practices and the bigu phenomenon. The Conference was sponsored by the STS (Science, Technology and Society) Program of Penn State, the University of Arizona Program in Integrative Medicine, Friends of Health (an organization championing the cause of all integrative medicine), etc. The Conference Conference is considere d a historical event in world qigong scientific research development as it was the first of its kind for the new millennium in which the Western scientific community systematically introduced the “bigu” phenomenon of Yan Xin Qigong to t he public. The Conference Conference was was also viewed as the launching of a scientific discourse between Eastern and Western philosophical and scientific systems that will add significantly to human health and world peace.
Great Group, Great Setting: Audience at the Bigu Conference Conference
Qigong is an ancient Chinese practice for body-mind development and healing with several thousand years of written history. Some startling benefits in the realm of healing of cancer, managing difficult pregnancies, stressrelated diseases and so on, were reported. Experiments on the effects of “qi” (chi) by the grand master Yan Xin (a kind of combination of Michael Jordan and Albert Einstein in talents), directly measured from chemical and physical reactions in leading universities, were as new as the report by Roentgen 100 years ago when he discove re d X-rays. The most most intriguing, intriguing, first time ever, public presentation was the extraordinary phenomenon called “bigu” (without food). Many of the Yan Xin Qigong practitioners find themselves in this state— where they do not need to eat solid food at all for days, weeks, months or even years. The Conference had over 100 attendees who had experienced this state while maintaining more than normal active professional lives in U.S. corporate and academic research centers. A
Prof. Roy opens the Bigu Conference Confer ence
1
dozen persons were present who had not eaten soli d foo d fo r 5-10 5-10 years. Large groups of scientists, doctors, both Chinese and Western, reported on their own experiences experiences with b igu.
The Conference attracted many senior scientists who commented on the relationship to current scientific paradigms: Prof. Rustum Roy, the organizer of the Conference, founding director of Penn State’s Materials Research Laboratory and a member of the National Academies of the U.S., Sweden, Japan, India, and Russia; Prof. Hans-Peter Duerr, past director of the Max-Planck Institute of Theoretical Physics in Munich (Albert Einstein was its first director), successor and colleague of Werner Heisenburg (a father of quantum mechanics); Prof. Della M. Roy, materials scientist, member of the National Academy of Engineering; Prof. Larry Brown, member of the National Academy of Sciences; Prof. Jerry Worlf, Harvard Medical School; Prof. Joie Jones, professor of radiology, University of California at Irvine; and Dr. Johanne Boisvert, program manager of Quebec’s Agriculture Department, Canada. The majority of the attendees had advanced degrees in science and technology, including over 150 PhD’s.
Prof. Duerr presents at the Bigu Conference Conference
mental clarity, physical well-being and strength. About 50 scientific reports were presented, including individual bigu case reports, experimental studies of bigu at the cell level, qigong health effects, effects of qigong on physical, chemical and life science as well as industrial applications of qigong. People from from all walks of life reported their bigu experience, including a dozen each of the U.S. medical doctors and university professors. Families with young children were among the most intriguing and attractive subjects in this bigu state. Extensive research, including continuous 24 hrs/day TV monitoring at a major U.S. university, provided more evidence on the special nature of this state. One of the findings presented at this conference was the blood chemistry research that showed the chemical difference and metabolic response that differentiated the bigu state from fasting. To hint at what could be happening, Prof. Roy used the analogy of a very efficient car like the new Toyota, which can run about 80 miles to the gallon instead of only 15 or 20 miles per gallon. The bigu state is a mind-body “balanced” state which needs only 250-300 calories or even less instead of the usual 2000 calories to run the human engine for a day.
Yan Xin Qigong belongs to a traditional Chinese comprehensive and scientific discipline newly formed and awaiting substantive exploration. The “bigu” “bigu” phenomenon, phenomenon, which occurs among certain qigong practitioners, entails the cessation of eating solid food for periods of weeks to months and even years while maintaining a normal daily life. During bigu, people also experience increased energy,
A large number of reports presented the effects of qi-emission measured directly on the most sophisticated scientific instrumentation. In 1999, 1999, in in the internationa in ternationall journal “ Materials
Western representatives with bigu experiences
2
Research Innovations” published in Germany, a paper reported on some of these results obtained by Xin Dr. etYan XinRes. andInnovat collaborating scientists (Yan al., Mat. (1999) 2:349-359) from leading leading universities. The results indicated that the external qi of qigong effects changes in the structure and properties of certain materials from water to lithium niobate. A whole whole series of papers described the biological and health effects of qigong practice, and with qiembedded powders. Remarkable healing at the personal level, and effects at the cellular level were reported. The implication of these claims can no longer be avoided.
conducting phenomenon in materials science. He considered bigu a special, yet natural, process of the human body for self-purification, healing, and optimizing towards an advanced, highly healthy life state with a harmony of the mind, body and spirit; individual and society; and human human and nature. “The significance of bigu and related Yan Xin Qigong phenomena in health, environment, medicine, science, especially life science and related technology, for the whole world in the future cannot be overestimated. Although, scientific exploration of the related mechanisms requires tremendous efforts”, said Dr. Fang. Fang.
This Conference attracted a tremendous amount of attention from well-established scientists in the West. Many scientists realized that Yan Xin Qigong may bring a prospective future to various disciplines of science, especially life sciences, and deserves more indepth research. Dr. Yi Fang, the Conference Coordinator, called bigu a super-efficient state of the human body analogous to the super-
The Conference was a landmark event as a call to the science and medicine communities to study carefully the value of bigu and qigong to the U.S. and world society. For further information about the Conference and the proceedings, please check the Web site http://www.clubs.psu.edu/yanxinqigong/
A family that has been in bigu for years
A group of professors with bigu experiences
3
