WORK IN PROGRESS -Copyright (c) John Bracy 2008      ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

One challenge to arriving at a concise definition of internal energy is the multifaceted use of the term. In one context, internal energy refers to an invisible force underlying the machinations of acupuncture.  In the world of Asian calligraphy the same term applies to the unseen animating force that vitalizes the strokes of a master in the same way that the terms is used as a label describing the invisible force that is supposed to explain the secret of effortless power generated by some martial artists.  If the diverse manifestations of internal energy are difficult to fathom, we are not the first who have been challenged when discussing the range of applications attributed to the invisible life force. Harvard Professor of Medicine, David Eisenberg, MD, earlier in his career as the first American medical exchange student in China, described a range of phenomenon purported to be examples of a master's willful control over chi energy.  his list includes acupuncture, stage performances-demonstrations of a master bending iron rods with bare hands, protection while concrete blocks were smashed against a persons body, yogic self-healing exercise, manipulation of internal energy outside the body, manipulation of internal energy within the body, psychic powers like telepathy, energetic massage, apparently light strikes which enabled a performer to break rocks with his hands and at least one example where a performer effortlessly broke rocks by smashing them against his skull. [i]  However, although in each example just listed, practitioners claim the demonstration represented the ability to  manifest internal energy, one must consider whether or not all of these are authentic examples of willful control over subtle human energy.  

[i] Eisenberg, David, MD, Encounters with Qi: Exploring Chinese Medicine, Norton & Norton, New York, NY, 1985